The first thing people say to me – and this happens every time I walk off the stage – they say to me, “Bo, how do you move the way you move on that stage?” Everybody asks that; it’s what they want to know the most. And that can all be summed up in one sentence that I heard a very smart person say:
“If you want to command Mother Nature, you must obey her.”
I move the way I move because I am true to my own nature. Most human beings who have been on this earth long enough are so far from their nature that they don’t move. They don’t move like a real human being, like a real human predator moves.
So let’s just think back to Mother Nature. We’re predators. You and me, human beings, are predators. We are the smartest predators on the planet, the most dangerous, the most lethal, also noble and trustworthy. We are just these magnificent beasts. We’re so apologizing for that now because I think the culture and society and the media have launched such an attack on this word predator.
In fact they’re giving this great title called predator, which you and I are – and that a tiger and a cheetah and a great white shark, they’re predators, they’re beautiful, they move with such efficiency – and we give this title predator to the lowest end of human kind. We give it to people who cross boundaries. Sexual predators. Why would we give the lowest end of our society one of the greatest monikers ever? That’s an attack on the achievers, on you and me, which is why we move, why most people apologize for how they move, they’re all self-conscious with the way they move they’re covering up their sexuality all the time. They apologize for everything they do.
We have to get back to our nature. I was re-trained, reintroduced to the predatory instincts that this body has by a guy named Jean-Louis Rodrigue. All of the people who work with me know Jean-Louis because I bring him to my events and he trains people. He trains my people just like he trained me. I’ve been working with him for 15 years. He works with the biggest performers in the world. He has spent his life studying predator animals – mostly predator cats: cheetahs, panthers, leopards, lions, tigers – what we do is we study those predatory animals because we’re so close to them. We’re much closer to them than we are to the human beings who are moving around this world today. We’re actually closer to that predatory, natural instinct to move with efficiency, to use the ground like a cheetah chasing down an antelope.
Do me a favor. Go look at some National Geographic stuff. Just pull it up on YouTube. Watch a cheetah chase down an antelope or some lionesses hunting a zebra. Watch how they move. They never apologize for the way they move. Their whole body is expressive. You can’t take your eyes off them. They’re so efficient. They never step on a rock. They never step on a leaf. They know where the earth is; they use the earth to push off. That’s how I’ve been trained. I use the stage. I use the ground in which I was given and I use all of it. I push my foot into the ground, which is what you have to do. Most human beings are just walking on top of the ground. They don’t use the earth.
I want you to think about this: there are certain occupations I can’t look away from. Those occupations are these: anyone who’s in life and death circumstances like Navy SEALs charging a beach head, army rangers taking a cliff, those guys storming Normandy beach – you can’t look away from them. They use the ground in certain ways. Firefighters – can’t look away from them. When they charge into a burning building where you and I are running out, you can’t keep your eyes from them. Elite athletes – the most elite of elite athletes – how they stretch and they’re so balletic and beautiful. They use the ground. They don’t apologize for their predatory instincts like the rest of us. What other occupations can you think of that you just cannot look away from?
Mikhail Baryshnikov. I got to spend some time around the greatest ballet dancer of all time. This guy is 10 feet tall on stage. You cannot look away from him because of the way he uses his body and never apologizes for the expression that his body has. I don’t want you ever again to look at another speaker to learn how to have stage presence. You must look at people who are predators and not apologizing for being predators. Mikhail Baryshnikov, the most elite of elite athletes, firefighters charging into a building, Navy SEALs, the most elite fighting force – if you can watch them move you see how they don’t walk around light on their feet. They sink their feet into the ground, just like a cheetah or a lion, and they go, “This is my jungle. This is mine and I’ve got this.”
That’s how I was trained, or retrained, so that I could be reintroduced to my true nature, which is what I want to introduce you to today – your true nature. You are a predator. You are dangerous. You are lethal. And you can move. You were put on this earth to run fast and procreate. That’s why you’re here – to connect. That’s what I do on stage, that’s why people go, “Bo, how do you move the way you do?” And I say, “I trust Mother Nature.” As far as I’m concerned, she’s undefeated. I don’t know anyone who’s beaten Mother Nature. Everyone attempts to beat Mother Nature but no one wins the fight. Mother nature is undefeated. l like winning. I choose the side of Mother Nature, which is predatory instinct. That’s a natural human disposition, that’s how I move on stage, that’s how I want you to start moving.
Start studying the occupations and the predator animals – the cats, the sharks and the falcons – start to study them. See how they use the ground. See how they don’t waste movement. See how they don’t apologize for being the size they are. They are what they are. I want you to do the same. Study them. Bring that to your everyday life. I promise this is what’s going to happen. People will come up to you and say, because this is how it occurs to the public, “Have you been working out?” or “Are you doing something new with your hair?” Or they’ll ask you out or they’ll get out of your way in line so that you can go first because a predator that will not apologize for being a predator, you can’t take your eyes off.
That’s my promise to the people who I work with – people will not have the ability to look away from you. But you must implement this; you must take on your natural instincts. Do it. Let me know what happens in your life. All the sudden, people are going to start being attracted because being a predator, and not apologizing for it, is undeniable. Get out there and try it.
