Radio Friends

Ok, here we go…

Got a minute? Watch this, because it’s true:

So, the question today is how do you make tens of thousands of individual listeners feel you are their friend, and they are yours?

Vulnerability is the key.

But what if you don’t want to share all your personal foibles and failures with tens of thousands of people you don’t even really know?

Well, think about your real life friendships.

Note that I used “friendship” rather than “acquaintance.”

We are all acquainted with lots and lots of people, but we are true friends with only a very few.

And those very few are real friends because we have entrusted them with our true selves, our ungilded persona. Chances are, they have done the same for us.

We have seen each other when our hearts are broken, when we’ve lost our jobs, when the diagnosis isn’t good.

Unguarded. Vulnerable.

Would you bare your soul to someone who’s only attempts at connection are to be funny, who looks for the joke in any situation?

Similarly, would you choose to be with someone who never seems to have any good news to share?

What if you start out with a baby step?

What if you begin by sharing something true from your life that doesn’t make you feel totally naked, like how you felt when your pet died?

What if you trusted your listeners enough to let them see that you actually get sad and cry, that you’re human for God’s sake?!

Or that your spouse did something so incredibly thoughtful for you, you just have to share it — just as you would with your real closest friends?

Or the worst first date you ever had, or the most embarrassing thing that’s ever happened to you?

It doesn’t have to be sad. It just has to be real. Authentic. You, not at your best…

Is that impossible for you?

Is it impossible to be a real person when the mic goes on?

I hope not, because you’ll never truly be thought of as a friend until you do, and until that happens, at least in their perceptions of you, you’re leaving true stardom on the table.

Come on, try it this week. You’re gonna like it. Truly.