Kevin Stafford 0:00
Hello, everyone, and welcome to another fine episode of the conversations with coaches podcast. I’m your host, Kevin. And today I’ve actually got someone who I’ve already been on a podcast with just this one. I got to talk with general Landry on a on Jeff Cecil’s podcast who’s been a guest on the show as well. And I was just so I’m just gonna drop additives. I was impressed. I was delighted. I was tickled. I wanted more. So I just I asked Jen, if you wanted to come on my podcast, she said yes. And I got really excited because she was so much fun to talk to. So let me soft introduce you to Janet, and then I’ll let her take it from there. Jana, is known for her sought after ability as a communication and vocal coach. She works with high level leaders in finance, law, hospitality, as well as public figures and entertainers. She is, I dare say a dynamo. I love everything she has to say and the way that she has to say it. So I’m gonna get out of the way. And let Janice Say hi. Hi,
Janna Landry 0:59
everybody. Hi, Kevin. Thanks for having me. Yes, I’m and more than talking, telling your story of what I do, I go and coach and teach people how to learn how to tell their story on all levels, because that’s really what communication is. It’s connecting on the eye level, the soul level, the audible level with your voice, all of it. You know, it hits all those really wonderful points that we as humans need.
Kevin Stafford 1:27
Yeah, and I remember something something somebody told me. I think the earliest point in my life, I remember this very early, like, I’m still like, maybe I’m in middle school, or maybe like, it’s definitely like, I’m still in like young teenage Kevin, which we don’t need to talk too much about because he was a mess.
Janna Landry 1:44
young teenage people were messes.
Kevin Stafford 1:48
There was somebody telling me really early on that you’re always communicating. Yes. So
Janna Landry 1:54
here’s a very interesting statistic, Kevin, over 70% of our communication is nonverbal. Now, I’m gonna say that again, because it is such a rockstar thing that I lead with, when I’m coaching when I’m giving keynotes and when I’m just talking to people over 70%. So here’s the thing. Yes, we need to learn how to use our voices. And we need to be compelling and interesting with the vocal quality and the pacing, and all that stuff. But more importantly, we need to connect, or we need to understand that we do connect on a nonverbal, you know, nonverbal platform, with our eyes, with just the facial expressions with our body language, with all of these wonderful things that we use as a species to communicate, it is the voice, but it’s also everything else. So it’s kind of a cool thing. People get really freaked out when they hear that over 70% is nonverbal. Think about that.
Kevin Stafford 2:51
Number, that’s a lot. And it’s, it totally jives with what I’ve been experiencing, especially in the last few years. Because I mean, at the height of the pandemic, we’re all here we have half our faces covered most of the time we were in public at the at the Peak Peak Peak, and you can you can see people’s eyes. And that’s about it. And so I remember thinking so frequently about making sure that when I smiled at someone that they couldn’t see my mouth, but they and so I would let my smile, I would consciously make sure that is your whole face smiling, is your body smiling, are you lying, I would be thinking about my posture, moving around in public spaces, thinking about how much more that can it’s almost like when you like, the way that when you’re when you lose a sense like you go deaf or you go blind, your other senses get sharper. I really felt like that sense of how I was communicating really got I’ve my awareness of it was more enhanced. And I feel like I learned to pay more attention, not just to what other people were saying with their body in their eyes and their nonverbals. But also what I was saying with all of that as well.
Janna Landry 3:51
Yes. So here’s an interesting thing about that too, as well is it taught us a lot, the pandemic taught us a lot about communication, because we couldn’t use the audible again, or we could but it was masked by a mask, you know. So eyes were important body language was important, just connection was important face to face connection was important, even though we had this mask on. And that’s a lot about what I talk about in my coaching, it’s a it’s a big hairy deal is you’ve got to connect on a lot of levels, not just with the the voice, the voice is the most important element of all the senses when we’re communicating. But it’s not the only element. So a lot of what I talk about with people is understanding how your body works. You know, don’t be disconnected from your body. When you get up in front of people, your body is a big part of it. Make sure that you’re engaged in all in all aspects of your communication. So that’s, you know, and the good news about that is we kind of do that naturally, when we’re just walking through life, you know, so it’s just a matter of not being intimidated by doing that then in front of people or when you have to give important information. So it’s kind of it’s it’s cool. It’s a fun thing.
Kevin Stafford 5:00
What let’s let’s talk about that a little bit it from the perspective of you and how you got your height. How did you become this this person that you are? How did you become this? How can you exist? No. But did you have to get your start as a coach? Like was it? Was it a realization that coaching was the best expression of your gifts and the impact you wanted to have? Well, that’s the big. The big question. So yeah, that’s a great question.
Janna Landry 5:24
And I’ll tell you, Kevin, so I started actually, I started performing professionally as a as an entertainer, as a singer and an actor first singing at a very young age. I mean, I was singing in choirs and doing solos and doing all the theater things and all those little showbiz things that moms and dads are like, Oh, Lord, did I birth one of these? What? But yes, yes, Mom and Dad, you did so. So I think a lot of theater and voice started teaching when I was like 1718, and had a pretty, you know, pretty strong career as a vocalist and an actor through my 20s. And such, I started teaching at 21, with a very well known voice teacher in the Hollywood area. So I was teaching people, young adults that were actually working in TV and film and recording at a pretty young age, and I was passionate about it. So I’m not one of those typical teach, if you don’t know how to do I was doing first and then teaching and continuing to do both. And there are a lot of people that do that. And what happened as I continued to do showbiz, and I still am in, you know, aspects of showbiz, I still am a professional singer, and I’ve got, you know, I sing, I do some acting still a lot of theater and that kind of stuff. But what I’m really passionate about now is taking the skills that we learn as professional performers and actors, understanding how number one the body works, how to tap into your emotion easily and quickly. And, and authentically, that’s the biggest thing I know authentic is a big buzzword right now. But it’s true. It’s finding that kind of stuff. And then and then being able to communicate it, whatever it is. And what happened in my kind of 30s is I started having as I moved in more balancing professional, just like working in the, in the world, with the showbiz working in corporate America and doing small business stuff, is I found that a lot of people were having struggle with the skills that we as performers learn pretty early on. And that’s to tap into real emotion, to use your voice, as an instrument for your passion for whatever that is, and to understand how the voice works. And again, what we talked about a little earlier, how to connect all the other stuff with, you know, the voice and first and foremost, with your little soul, with your heart with your passion with your why. And so I found a lot of people were coming to me and saying, Jan, you know, you do this on stage in a masterful way. Because you’ve been doing it for a long time. You do it on camera, you do it on the phone, you can you know, you do it in webinars, how can I learn how to do those, you know how to do that have those skill sets. And so that’s a lot of kind of what transitioned me into the coaching part of it. So my whole thing, what I tell people is I take some of the showbiz acumen and the showbiz skills that we learn as professional performers. And I roll that into how can you learn this skill set? as just a professional business person? How can you tap into it in a fairly easy way without, you know having to spend 10 years and singing lessons or 10 years with acting lessons or whatever? Because the truth, Kevin is it’s not, you know, brains, surgery, it’s very, these are natural. This is natural, fundamental skills that we have as human beings to connect and to communicate and to talk about our passion, you know, talk about what it is that we like doing, or what we want to educate people about. It’s that and so I yeah, I have a whole little regimen that I put people through about, yeah, you got to know about how to breathe, of course, you got to understand really Rockstar breathing, because that is kind of your gasoline to your little machine. And then you got to know how to use your voice, how to pace, how to pace dialogue, so that when there are important points to make you understand how the voice can really capture your listeners interest by how you use your voice, you got to look into people’s eyes, when you’re talking to them, whether you’re talking to two people or 2 million people, there’s, there are tricks to learn how to do that. And then you just got to understand how to kind of not write a speech, but how to engage conversation so that there are ups and downs to it. There’s interest to it, when you’re delivering really important information. How can you do that in a way that your listener remembers? So there’s all these little tricks. Yeah, there’s just all a lot of these little tricks and that’s kind of what I have carved out in my coaching is how to go in and teach one person or a group of 25 or an entire room of you know, 250 500 people how to use these skill sets and really, you know, become a much stronger communicator, but also Just a stronger presenter, a more interesting person for somebody to listen to. And that’s really what I, you know what I do?
Kevin Stafford 10:07
Yeah, I love that you identify you identify this very powerfully in the way you speak about it. And I think it’s so important to realize that this is something that we already do. And it’s also something we want to do. And what you’re bringing is some some intentionality to it another big word that gets thrown around a lot. But doing this with intention, and intention has like almost two prongs, as I see it. And this is where a coach is just the ideal person for something like this kind of development is you get the actual the tips, the tricks, like the practicality, this is what you do, this is what you learn, develop the skill, practice this, and you’ll get all the concept stuff, where it’s like how to make sure you speak from your heart and speak from a position of self awareness and vulnerability and connection. And so you get all like the high concept and the boots on the ground, like, do it this way, five steps, seven steps, you know, focus on your breathing, this is how we’re gonna do that. It’s like, it’s practical. And it’s, you know, high concept in a way that like, Notch I mean, it naturally belongs together, it fits together beautifully. But it just so it addresses the, the full spectrum of developing your ability to express yourself.
Janna Landry 11:06
That’s exactly right. And here’s the here’s the beauty, I can find something interesting, in every single person that I talked to, I can, and I can find their little fun, whatever their little core or their little sizzle, as I call it, you know, whenever that little element is, the beautiful thing is everybody has, has a few little aspects or elements to their persona or their presentation that people are going to relate to. That’s the cool thing. And you just have to have somebody like me find that in you. If you don’t know where that lives, you know what I mean? Because we all have these wonderful little personal traits that can connect to other people. I say even introverts and even nerds like people say, Well, how do you pull like somebody that’s just very analytical and has kind of a monotone voice, there are ways to pull energy and pull fun little things out of everybody. So you, it’s not just for the person who has the big, bold, beautiful voice or the, you know, big huge personality that is compelling and interesting to listen to, as a keynote or as a boss or as a politician, or as a whatever, you know, I can find that in anybody. And it’s not again, it’s not, you know, anything that’s just tremendously complex to find. It’s really finding that human element that makes everybody who they are, and pulling it out and, and teaching people how to tell a story around it. Now, yes, you’re absolutely right, Kevin, we got to give important facts, a lot of times, we got to give some content. Because here’s what’s not good is when you get up in front of somebody, and you just blow a bunch of personal stories. Without content, we really desire. Some of that knowledge to that whoever is speaking is giving. But it’s the key is wrapping a bunch of fun stuff around it. You know what I mean? So no, yeah. Oh, my God, that was so interesting. And I learned something. Like you said, I learned five points, I learned seven points, or I learned, you know, the, the 20 Minute way to blah, blah, blah, but around that information that’s very important that that keynote, or that speech person or that whomever is trying to give, you do want to connect on a personal level with some fun stuff, and some, you know, some of your quirky whatever that personality is. So and that’s what I do. I show you how to use all those elements to build a very strong sense of your personal communication and kind of brand you as I call it, you know?
Kevin Stafford 13:35
Yeah, yeah, yes. That’s really what it is right there. That branding, which is just another word for your character, your personality. You we’ve talked a lot about, like, basically the how, like, how you go about coaching people? Who do you have a particular focus a certain type of person or a certain industry that you focus on? beyond what you’ve already spoken to? In regards to like entertainment and corporate? Is there? Is there like, what are your what’s your, what’s your clientele look like today? And what’s like, what kind of coaching Do you tend to focus on, you still do a lot of one to one coaching? Is it you know, groups of like, anywhere from, you know, three to 30, or 300? is, I mean, all of the above? I don’t know if this translates to like a book form. But do you like do you have books or like workshops that you put together, like basically, like, Who are you coaching these days? And how are you going about reaching them?
Janna Landry 14:19
So the big the big overview picture is I coach anybody that wants to enhance their communication. So I have three different levels as to how I do it. Great question. I coach individuals, especially people, like let’s say your Millennials or your, you know, Gen Xers that are in that, let’s say 30s, to late 40s, and they’re transitioning to leadership, they’ve been in kind of that mid level management or whatever, and they suddenly are transitioning to leadership, and they don’t necessarily feel like they have the skill set to understand how to communicate with everyone. So it’s that mid level. Of course, I work with CEOs and you know, like, I’ve worked with a few politicians where They are running for mayor or they’re running for an office and they need to be a lot more compelling on a wide range of ages and types and socio economic, that kind of thing. That’s, that’s the individuals Yes. And physicians that are transitioning from a corporate structure, let’s say and suddenly they’re opening up their own practice, and they do have to be their brand, especially in national, a lot of physicians that are again at that mid level where they want to go out and branch off on their own. So that’s a big one. But my what I enjoy doing is working with like you said that that group of people that are like 2530 in a room and we talk about okay, let’s just get down to the brass tacks of some real important fundamentals. So I have one called dazzle your listener and that’s the name of my book. My book is basically a simple book about community learning how to communicate better, it starts with the history with kind of the structure of the voice and a simplistic way how to exercise that voice. It moves into understanding generational communication and then it kind of gets into brand you and what are your fun little Sisley, you know kind of quirks that you have that you can build upon. And then I talked a little bit at the end of the book about understanding communication on a lot of different platforms like the zoom, and the phone call and email and, you know, talking to three versus 300, you know, and there are differences there and some of the body language things that you can get into. But what I have been the most tasked to talk about now in my keynotes, and my lunch and learns is interesting. For the first time in history, we have four really specific generations in the workforce, we have our baby boomers, who have been in the workforce for 25 years, whatever. And they have a real specific way that they like to do stuff, they they are these lifers you know, they are the people that are going to be very dedicated and to their business and very competitive. Then you got your gen xers that for the first generation that kind of had that mixed media, they understand emails, and texting and all that. But they also have the influence of the old way. And the old protocols. We got our millennials, and that’s one of the big ones that I have a lot of my friends in that 40s 50s 60s to say, how the heck do I talk to them, you know what’s going on with them, they don’t want to work, they want to bop around from company to company, you know, so there’s that generation that is very much a self starter, they don’t really like to team up, they don’t want to, you know, they like to kind of figure things out on their own. And then we have our ever loving Gen Zers which is one of my favorites because I own one I haven’t 21. And the whole Gen Z thing is they don’t know how to talk face to face, the everything they’ve learned has been through technology, everything in their life is technologically driven. So they don’t know how to look at somebody and speak and so that keynote, believe it or not, Kevin that one is the one I’m getting the most requests to do at lunch and learns and businesses and women’s groups. And you know, so it is very interesting that a lot. So kind of the gamut is is the short answer to your question. I work with individuals, I work with groups in businesses, one of the segments that I really am passionate about, and I would like to build in my practice is going into that small to mid level business and working with a company for 90 days. And that means you get me for a couple of times a week to do workshops, wherever you know, in your lunch room in your in where you can either pull in groups, different groups at different times, or you can work with the same set up that mid level management or your sales teams and work with businesses for like a 90 day period because it is a game changer. And a lot of what I talk about is first let’s get the individual really hip to who they are and how they communicate. But then let’s get your whole team on the same page. So that you are messaging the same, you know, the same whatever it is the same speak, sales speak or management speak or any of that. So that you’re all messaging in a very consistent way with all of these different generations in the workforce. Because you’ve got your young adults that are used to communicating in very short little I always say it’s like non complete sentences. And there’s not gonna be a lot of eye contact and you know, this kind of stuff. And I mean, I get my Gen Z was a bad rap but the truth is, they’re also the the generation that kind of wants to fix everything that’s happened before them, you know, so But truly, I mean, think about this, we’ve got these four generations in the workforce and if they all communicate in a different way, like that can be a a brand nightmare, as we say or you know what I mean? They’re not all speaking the same language and the same brand within the company structure and the company’s sort of mission statement or whatever. So that’s that’s a an area that I really am passionate about and would love to expand on. You know, I do good. I have a strong the individual stuff If and I love doing keynotes, I also do some women’s leadership, you know, things where a woman is, in, let’s say, in an industry that is mainly male focused. And I’ll and I’ll talk about, like some of just some of the things that a female can do to really level the playing field in the way we communicate a little bit differently than maybe, you know, a man would in a situation. So there’s all of that it’s kind of interesting, Kevin, it’s like a big fat, you know, melting pot, it’s like, it’s like a gumbo, you’re just throwing it a whole lot of different peoples and types. And, you know, inclusion is big right now. So it’s understanding just really how to communicate on a fundamental level where everybody kind of understands what you’re talking about, that really is the thing.
Kevin Stafford 20:45
Yeah, it’s so foundational to me, I mean, I mean, literally, everything that we do in life personally and professionally, that when you when you start to, like, scratch the surface a little bit, it’s like, okay, where, where can this be useful? How can this help? It’s bad, the better question is, where wouldn’t this help? And the answer, it’s gonna it would, it would help everywhere, everyone could benefit from this kind of development, because we all need to connect and I love I love, love, love your focus on the intergenerational communication and intergenerational connection, because it’s, I feel like both there’s such a strong need for it. There’s just there’s the end, there’s a few it’s not like, like, You’ve been saying, it’s not that complicated. But it needs some attention, some care, and some guidance and some work. how passionate you are about moving into that.
Janna Landry 21:30
I really like that too. Because here’s the deal. It’s gonna make everybody but it’s gonna make everybody feel better, like when you when I go into these businesses and do these lunch and learns, and I just talk to everybody, because the interesting thing is, there’s usually four generations sitting there looking at me, and the older generations, you know, the more baby boomers and our older Gen Xers have kids that are now starting to be in the workforce. So they’re like, for the love of the Lord. I can’t talk to my 20 year old Jan, what do I do? You know, like, Okay, so let’s just cut, let’s get down to brass tacks, you’ve got to understand that communication. So here are my three C’s, this is my takeaway. And I talk about this in my book, and I talk about it almost anywhere I go. And that is clear, concise, and commanding. So you’ve got to be real clear about the language you use. You can’t get too trendy. You can’t because that identifies you as a Gen Z, or or, you know, like, my, my son used to talk to me. And when he was like, 1617, and go, Hey, bruh, which is it’s the slang bra is the slang for bro, which I had to learn, you know, and he wasn’t football stuff. So it was very, you know, multi ethnic and all Thai, whatever. It was just funny. So he’d say, hey, brah to talk to me, like when he’s 60. And I said, Okay, first off, I’m not you brah. I can take you out? No, I didn’t say that. It’s like, it’s like so so you’ve got to be real. So the clarity in my first see is, you know, you got to just like cut, cut all a lot of the noise out that we are absolutely barrage with every day with video and social media and TV and radio, and billboards and all that and just get to the real simple, clear, beautiful language. And that’s how you start, you know, how do you feel? What do you want from me? Am I understanding you correctly, you know, these kinds of things that are just basic, let’s just talk about whatever it is we need to talk about. That’s the clarity, concise, again, is not getting too long winded, but trying to keep it to simple phrases, simple ideas, simple concepts, so that everybody, again, on a human fundamental level, we all kind of oh, we all go Oh, okay. That’s what he means or Oh, okay, that’s what she’s saying. So that it doesn’t get too flowery, too long winded. You don’t wrap whatever it is, you’re trying to say, around too much goo as I call it, you know, get rid of the gray matter and get down to the black and white kind of thing. And then the commanding of course, is that that’s where I come in. That’s where you understand pacing, pitch, pauses, those are three P’s I use. What’s interesting is we’re always trying to fill up the space because we’re so now our attention span, right is getting shorter and shorter with all of this messaging that we get at such a fast level and everywhere. It’s everywhere now on shopping carts in the sky, you know, everywhere. So a lot of the commanding part is don’t be afraid to just set some white space in there, set some silence in there, set some, a few seconds of just silence to let the brain relax, to let everybody relax in the room and kind of regroup and that is a really compelling and important thing that I talked to people about in communication. It’s okay to stop and let some space go and let the air Let there be no sound and let movement and breath have been, you know, because that’s actually interestingly kind of that’s how we learn the brain, the brain retains information. And here’s another, another cocktail party, you know, thing that you can say at a cocktail party that will make you really popular. The brain learns in odd numbers more easily than an even so when you’re giving information to somebody, whether it’s one person, whether it’s your kid, whether it’s a roomful of sales executives, or you’re a politician, if you give facts or information that you want them to remember in threes, fives or sevens, they’re going to remember it more readily than in twos fours or sixes. Isn’t that interesting? Is Yeah, yeah, for some reason, we remember odd numbers a little bit easier, we retain odd numbers a little bit easier, we can, we can kind of summarize them, and we can place them in order in our brains a little easier. So that’s one of the commanding things that I talked about, make sure that you’re giving information in a simplistic, organized fashion, but also give it to them in threes and fives, and that’ll that’ll set a little bit easier. So these are things that I talked about a lot in just, again, get that language simple and commanding, but also concise for your listeners. And cross generations, it’s going to be a little bit easier. And it’s going to set more with all the generations.
Kevin Stafford 26:25
As expected, I lost track of time, and we’re already running late. I honestly, I could do this all day with you. And we I’m well, I was gonna say I might do it again. We will be doing this again. I’d love to. It’s such an important topic. And there’s so many different ways to explore it. And you have so much to the surprise of no one you have so much to say on it. That’s like very insightful little nuggets here and there big stuff like practical stuff. So anyway, before I let you go, and I do have to. But before I do that, where can people best learn more about you just learn more about who you are, what you do, how you do it? And also where can people best connect with you if they want to start a conversation, maybe start a relationship, maybe get some of your coaching maybe, you know, buy your book like it’s there. So where can people find you over people connect with you?
Janna Landry 27:08
Okay, so it’s really easy. Jana landry.com. I mean, that’s where and I will full disclosure, I’m going through a website redevelopment a little bit so it’s going to be Yeah, I’m in transition to expanding a little bit more. But the truth is, Kevin, I’ve got everything on there. Except my book, you can just go to Amazon, Janel Landry, the title of the book is dazzle your listener. And again, it’s on all levels. It’s a workbook. It’s got some little homework at the end of a few chapters for you to start to think about who you are, and how you started in communication. But yeah, I’ve got I’ve got my personal email right on my website, you can email me I am very accessible. I love to talk to people about their issues. Email me and ask me anything when I am doing keynotes or when I’m in with businesses I say asked me anything. Honey. I’m from showbiz. I’ve heard it all. Oh, Kevin, you cannot imagine some of the questions I’ve gotten.
Kevin Stafford 28:09
I probably don’t want to
Janna Landry 28:12
some of the things people have asked me is pretty interesting. But that hey, that’s another podcast.
Kevin Stafford 28:17
That’s that that’ll be that’ll be for the after dark episode.
Janna Landry 28:22
That’s that’s the after midnight with a glass of wine or something. But anyway. But truthfully, I mean, yeah, I I’m very accessible. Just go to Jana landry.com, my emails at the bottom of all the contact pages or all the pages and just email me, then we can start a conversation there.
Kevin Stafford 28:38
I love it. And though I hate to say it, let’s end our conversation here. Jenna, thank you so much for talking with me today. Thank you so much for your energy and your passion. And then the cocktail party anecdotes that now I’m like filing these away in my brain. Like, that’s interesting. So thank you for being here with me today. And also thank you for doing what you do and go out the way you do it. I think it’s I think where you focus your energies in your work is so it’s so needed. It’s so necessary and so valuable right now. So I’m just I’m I’m grateful on a personal level that you were here and I’m grateful on a general level that you’re out there.
Janna Landry 29:09
Well, thank you, Kevin. I’ve really enjoyed this. That’s, you know, again, I love talking about talking, you know?
Kevin Stafford 29:16
Well, on that note, that’s a perfect place to end it to the audience. You know what to do next links in the show notes. Jen is really easy to find. Reach out Connect, you won’t be sorry, and we will talk to you again here very soon.
Janna Landry 29:28
Okay, thank you.