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Jane Goodall is a world-renowned primatologist. She’s spent the better part of six decades studying and protecting one species, the chimpanzee.
Now she’s turned her attention to another: the homo sapien.
Her new book, The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times, written with Douglas Abrams, is a handbook for humans on how to build and sustain hope.
Much has been written about Goodall’s remarkable career, beginning with her first trip in 1957 to Gombe Stream National Park, on the eastern shore of Lake Tanganyika, in Tanzania, to study the chimpanzees.
But what’s less appreciated is the way she has used her platform and voice to speak and raise funds for the Jane Goodall Institute and its “Roots and Shoots” program.
Right up until the COVID pandemic, she kept up an astonishing, grueling travel schedule.
She travelled the world an astonishing 300 days a year, sharing her story and speaking about animal intelligence, the threats facing primates, and conservation — and inspiring new generations of environmentalists.
She would walk on the stage, hold her head back, and begin hooting like a chimpanzee. Then she would smile and announce: “That’s chimpanzee for ‘hello!'”
She would walk on the stage, hold her head back, and begin hooting like a chimpanzee. Then she would then smiled and announce: “That’s chimpanzee for ‘hello!'”
Nowadays she still hoots, but it’s on Zoom and Skype, from her family home in Bournemouth, on the south coast of England. She says it’s not the same.
“I think the hardest thing about this life I’m leading now is giving a lecture,” she told the Financial Times.
“Because if you’re in an auditorium with 5,000, 10,000 people, there’s a whole lot of energy and excitement and feedback. If you say something funny, people laugh. If you say something moving, you see them dabbing their eyes. If you say something they really like, you hear applause. But when you’re just looking at the little green camera atop a laptop and you see nobody and nothing, that’s the hardest thing to do, to get the same energy and emotion into the talk.”
In her new book, Goodall even has a chapter on “From Shy Young Woman to Global Public Speaker” — describing how she learned to step up and use her public voice.
She gave her first public talk for an audience of 5,000, for National Geographic, which was her sponsor.
She travelled the world an astonishing 300 days a year, sharing her story and speaking about animal intelligence, the threats facing primates, and conservation.
“I worked out what I was going to say, and I practiced on my poor family,” she says. “And I made a vow — two vows. One, I will never, ever read a presentation. Two, I will never say “um” or “uh.”
She became a gifted speaker who shares her authoritative knowledge even as she projects warmth and compassion.
Want to see her in action? You can watch one of her countless videos on YouTube. Or sign up for her MasterClass on communication and public speaking.
Thank you Jane Goodall for showing us the way!
© Copyright 2021
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