Purpose over Platform

Purpose over Platform by Efrem Smith

I have had the privilege of serving as a preacher and internationally recognized speaker for close to 30 years. In my home country of the United States, I have spoken in large arenas before 8,000 people, in business conference rooms to 200 people, at music festivals in between hip hop and rock bands where I couldn’t count the sea of people, on stages set up in the middle of a park with more people walking by than standing and listening; and in small church buildings. I have spoken across the nation in metropolises and Midwest towns and all have allowed me to grow as a better person and communicator.

When I first started speaking in the early 1990’s I was excited to get invited to speak anywhere. If I was asked to speak and the date was open, I went. I just wanted to speak whenever and wherever there was an opportunity. I saw speaking as an on ramp to motivating people to live their best lives possible. I started first, in the church, during my senior year in college. But, to both my surprise and delight, soon I began speaking in various settings, mainly across the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul in Minnesota.

Many times, I would receive a small honorarium for speaking. There were times when my pay for speaking was in the form of a gift bag, gift card, or tickets to a sporting event. On one occasion my compensation for speaking was a t-shirt, hot dog, chips, and a soda. And there were the times when I received nothing at all. But over time, the speaking platform became consistently larger. I began speaking more in arenas, at large festivals, large churches, in convention centers, and grand ballrooms. The honorariums grew as well as my reputation as a national speaker. To be more transparent, I started to get disappointed when a few months went by and I didn’t have an offer to speak at what I perceived as a major event or conference. My passion had somehow shifted and the event and the size of the platform seemed to be most important. I didn’t stop speaking at smaller events, I just had a growing desire to speak at the larger ones.

Let me be clear, there is nothing wrong with a desire for influence. Much of our culture today is driven by “influencers”. I mean the company my wife Donecia and I own is called, Influential. There is also nothing wrong with the desire to have a greater impact with the gifts and talents you have. The big question for me became, “am I speaking primarily for a platform and more directly, the size of the platform?” I eventually came to the principle that my purpose for speaking is more important than the platform I’m speaking on. As a matter of fact, your purpose should inform the platform. What I mean by this is my purpose for speaking should be so important that it would cause me to turn down platforms no matter how large they might be, if they don’t align with my purpose.

My purpose for speaking is to utilize my gift for the transformation of lives and communities in connection to my faith-based calling. I utilize this gift for the purpose of transformation, rooted in calling, mainly in the areas of diversity and inclusion, racial reconciliation and righteousness, community engagement, and leadership development. It is this over-arching purpose and these focus areas that inform my speaking and subject matter. Being led by this purpose and these focus areas, I can consider a variety of speaking platforms. So whether the platform is a grand ballroom, or community center; I ask myself, “does this align with my purpose and life mission?” When one is clear on their purpose and mission, you can have an influential experience and incredible impactwith 5,000, 500, 50, or 5 people. Your platform might be a speaking stage, an executive conference room, a podcast, a church sanctuary, or middle school classroom. The question, regardless of the platform is, “are you living in the sweet spot of your purpose?”

It’s been my hope that it’s God’s purpose for my life that has developed the platform that I have. Some compromise their purpose in order to gain the platform. Don’t sellout for a stage. Let your true purpose and life mission develop your platform no matter how tempting the many big stages may be.

I encourage you to take inventory. Ask yourself,
‘What is my purpose?
What is directing me and shifting my focus?
With this new awareness, you can determine if your purpose is bigger than your platform.

Efrem