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The Pitch Episode 90: The Gift of Pitch

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Without these words there may have been no Ashley Brown at Carnegie Hall the other night. Learn how to carefully wrap your words in encouragement and love.

The Pitch Episode 90:
The Gift of Pitch

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The other night I witnessed a gift of pitch in Ashley Brown accompanied by The New York Pops. Ashley was the featured soloist in Carnegie Hall’s annual holiday performance, and she is gifted with a pitch perfect voice. At age 36, she already has an accomplished career being Broadway’s original Mary Poppins and playing key roles in many of Disney’s shows including Belle in Beauty and the Beast, but she made a point in the middle of her performance to stop and thank a couple from her hometown church in Gulf Breeze, Florida for recognizing her gifted voice and encouraging her to make it her own. Without these encouraging words, who knows, maybe there would be no Ashley Brown on Broadway or at Carnegie Hall. Ashley’s story is a perfect reminder that words have such power and influence in the lives of others and your encouraging words may be the greatest gift of all. Before you speak, think about the implications of your comments. Are they discouraging and rooted in envy or are they encouraging and rooted in love? “The Pitch” challenge today: Observe and listen to someone younger than you. The holidays are a great time to do this as we are surrounded with family and friends of all ages we don’t normally get to visit with on a regular basis. Then recognize a gift that a younger person may possess that could benefit from your older and wiser words of wisdom. Tell them what you see in them and encourage them to follow that gift. You may be shaping the future career of a comedian, writer, dancer or financial analyst. Over the course of my career I’ve had several younger people I’ve mentored come back to me and say, “Do you remember when you told me I was good at pitching?” And then they proceed to tell me what they did with that gift of pitch and it’s ironically not always becoming a publicist, but it propelled them on a career path of confidence and success that can’t be matched with any physical gift I could have ever wrapped up for them. 

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Which of your gifts or talents did someone else recognize?
How did this shape your future?
What gift do you recognize in someone else that you haven’t shared with him or her? Can you do something to recognize that for him or her today?

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