How to Achieve Greater Success with the Five Fs with John Davis.

Welcome to Public Speaking with Peter George. Do you want to be calm, confident, and credible every time you speak in public? Then stay tuned as we discuss public speaking tips, techniques, and tactics that help you increase your impact, influence, and income.

What can a former stuntman, fight director, college professor, and motivational speaker do for you? My guest John Davis speaks to companies all over the world, empowering their teams to awaken their inner action hero using his Five F approach — a framework that hacks the fight-or-flight response. John is an internationally known keynote speaker, comedian, fight director, and stuntman who has performed in 28 countries across more than 4,000 live shows. He has performed for soldiers on six U.S. military tours. And he's done much of it after being paralyzed. Here's my conversation with John Davis.

What Is an Action Hero Speaker?

Peter: John, you use the term "action hero speaker." What's the difference between a topic speaker and an action hero speaker?

John: A topic speaker is someone you search for when you need, say, a leadership speaker. You're looking for someone to come fill a slot. But an action hero speaker — a rock star speaker — is someone who stands out from the crowd, delivers a dynamic experience, and has built a brand people search for by name. When organizations hire me, they're not just looking for a leadership talk. They're looking for the corporate action hero. That distinction separates you from everyone else.

And there's a huge difference between "a" and "the." I am the corporate action hero. Nobody else gets to use that. That's my brand.

Pricing Your Speeches with Confidence

Peter: You've raised your speaking fees over the years. Most speakers are reluctant to do that. How do you muster the courage?

John: Before you can raise your fee, you have to become completely confident in your product. When I transitioned from stuntman and fight director into corporate speaking, I couldn't see how a corporate audience would see me as one of them. So I booked a series of free speeches at Chambers of Commerce and got my product sharp. Once it was there, I set my first fee at $1,500. By the third month, I was at $5,000. Within a year, $10,000. Because I knew I was bringing something different.

When someone asks my fee, I don't hem and haw. I say: I am a $10,000 speaker. Matter-of-factly. Confidently. The moment you hesitate, you've lost respect. I've had people push back and try to negotiate. I tell them flatly: I don't undervalue my service. And I still get those gigs.

Peter: Do you think people underprice themselves because they're comparing the length of their talk to the fee — instead of factoring in all the years of work that went into developing it?

John: It always comes back to confidence. I don't believe in trading hours for money. I believe in trading value for money. If someone asks whether I'll take less for 60 minutes instead of 90, my answer is no. You're getting me for the day. After 90 minutes, the price goes up — but if you only want 15 minutes, the price is the same. The value doesn't change based on the clock.

Screens: Enhancement, Not a Crutch

John: The biggest issue I see in speaking today is over-reliance on screens and projectors. On a psychological level, screens split the audience's focus between the screen and the speaker — and that actually shuts off a part of the brain responsible for content retention. A screen should be an enhancement. It should not be the bulk of the experience.

I don't use a single screen in any of my speeches. My work is entirely in-the-room and experiential. For those who do use them, the most effective speakers I've seen use screens primarily for comedic effect — thought bubbles, visual punchlines. They're working with the experience, not using the screen as a crutch or a place to put content they can't hold in their head. Make it an enhancement. Never a substitute for preparation or presence.

Peter: A CEO once called me after I was booked and asked whether I'd be bringing a presentation. She meant slides. I said no. She said, how can you not have a presentation? You're a professional speaker.

John: I've had people not hire me over that too. And I'm fine with it. If that's the event, it's not the event I want. The belief that you need slides to make a point never ceases to amaze me.

Comedy and the Power of a Laugh

Peter: You've been a comedian for years. How important is humor in a presentation?

John: Important enough that if you want to make money, you have to make them laugh. Every great speaker I know gets the audience laughing — usually multiple times. A positive experience is non-negotiable. Even Tony Robbins gets them laughing. Humor is the thread that holds engagement together.

Peter: I tell my clients not to start with a joke — most people aren't skilled enough to land one reliably, the timing goes wrong, they forget the punchline, and then it's a long road back.

John: I'd agree — stay away from straight jokes. Tell a funny story from your own life instead, something relevant to what you're about to do. When I open my corporate talk, the introduction I've written mentions comedy sword fighter. I walk on stage and say: you heard in the introduction — comedy sword fighter. I thought I should explain. That means for many years I was wearing tights and living in the woods at Renaissance festivals. Please don't visualize. That's all I need. They're laughing, we're connected, and I move right into content. One line, tied directly to the introduction, and the room is mine.

Overcoming Limiting Beliefs

Peter: How do you suggest our listeners deal with limiting beliefs so they can go out and truly command a stage?

John: Limiting beliefs are rooted in fear — subconscious beliefs formed by past experiences. A parent who said you couldn't. A time you failed. Those become the voice in the background telling you that you're not enough. And all fear, at its core, is just negatively focused uncertainty. It's an emotional reaction to a future event you're imagining with a negative outcome. If you weren't focused on the negative outcome, you wouldn't be afraid.

Here's a technique actors on Broadway are trained in: when they lose their place on stage, they exhale and relax every muscle. It sounds simple — it isn't. But what that exhale does is shut off the primal fear response. The first thing fear does is make you hold your breath. Your body is conserving air so you can run. By exhaling deliberately, you switch off the fight-or-flight response and turn the cognitive brain back on. The lines rush back. The thought returns. It works on stage, and it works on the internal stage of your own beliefs.

I know this from the inside. At 22, I was paralyzed. I was on the path to becoming a stuntman and fight director when I had an injury that took all of that away. Doctors told me I'd never do any of the things I wanted to do with my life. I had to take control of my present moment — not the past, not the future. Just this moment. Because this moment is the only one where you have thought, word, and deed. Make this moment brave. Then make the next one brave. Stack those moments and your subconscious belief begins to shift.

The Five Fs Framework

John: The Five Fs are the system I use to help speakers — and really anyone — break through to the next level.

Fearlessness. Recognize that fear is just negatively focused uncertainty. Name it, exhale it, and make a new declarative statement about who you are and what you're capable of.

Focus. Get positively focused. On a psychological level, when you consciously focus on something, your subconscious mind begins showing you the pathway to it. Consciously focused on negative, you'll see negative everywhere. Consciously focused on a goal, your mind starts revealing the steps. I took wanting, needing, hoping, and trying out of my vocabulary — those are inactive words. I replaced them with declarative ones: I am creating. I am a $10,000 speaker. I am becoming.

Faith. This is the pillar everything leans against — confidence and belief that you can do it. Faith is developed through results over time, which means stacking present moments. Do what you need to do today. Make a video. Send the pitch. Say the fee out loud. Repeat. The results build the faith.

Follow Through. You actually have to do something. The plan, the vision, the belief — none of it matters without action in the present moment. Get up and stack the moments.

Flexibility. There will always be obstacles. When they appear, your subconscious isn't showing you what will stop you — it's showing you what you need to handle on the way to your goal. So you don't get stopped. You adapt, incorporate, or remove the obstacle and keep moving. Staying actively focused on the outcome means no single bump can derail you.

Peter: John, where can listeners find you and get more?

John: Go to corporateactionhero.com for everything — LinkedIn, Facebook, all of it. But for your listeners specifically, go to corporateactionhero.com/gift. That's the 5F workbook — completely free, no email address required, nothing for sale on the page. It's a gift. Use it. I've seen it take a woman who was agoraphobic — couldn't leave her house — to a solo trip to Africa, where she climbed a mountain and spent time with gorillas from the Jane Goodall group. One year on this process. That's what's possible.

Thank you for listening to this episode of Public Speaking with Peter George. Are you ready to be calm, confident, and credible every time you speak in public? Then visit petergeorgepublicspeaking.com and let's make it happen. I'll see you next time.