Fredrik Haren – Why I Speak

Fredrik Haren, Asia’s top Innovation Speaker, talks about why he speaks…

People often ask me: Why do you speak?

For me the answer is simple: I can think of few other jobs where you in person can change the lives of so many people in such a short period of time.

The positive feedback you get as a speaker is amazing.

As a speaker you are, of course, spoiled with getting instant feedback and appreciation when your work is done, by the crowd giving you an applause. Most people will never get that kind of instant, positive response in their jobs. A speaker gets it every day.

But the true reward of being a speaker is getting the emails from people afterwards. I have a folder on my computer where I save those kind of positive feedback emails that made me extra happy. I just passed 3000 emails in that folder.

The last few emails to be added were:

Yesterday I spoke for employees of HTC in Taiwan and one woman emailed me afterwards and said: “You have changed the way I think, I used to think I was not creative, now i think I am. Thank you.”

Yesterday I got an email from a woman in Poland who heard me speak earlier this year. She wrote” I’m still extremely impressed by your speech. It helped me a lot in few recents project. Thank you so much.”

A few days ago a young, Swedish, entrepreneur wrote: “Your speech inspired me, and more importantly, motivated me, to finally start my own company and move to Hong Kong. I want to thank you for that.”

And so it goes on with a number of emails every week.

Why do I speak? Because I love to see that look in the eyes of people when they feel they have learned something, gotten a new idea, or look at the world a little bit differently.

That look is priceless.