Daniel Habif is a Mexican speaker who is taking Latin America and the US by storm. His specialty is motivating or, as he would say, “teaching how to roar to unleash that cry, long silenced, that will tear down the walls and bend the bars that enclose you”. .
While his videos accumulate more than 500 million views, he is followed by 24 million users on social networks (almost 10 million on Facebook, 9 on Instagram and 5 on TikTok). Habif is also the author of three books: “Inquebrantables”, “Las trapas del miedo” and “Ruge or expect to be devoured” (Planeta), his latest work that he has recently come to promote in Spain.
Before becoming a speaker, the author of “Ruge” was an actor, singer, commercial, concert producer and much more. His figure is not without controversy: his detractors accuse him of selling fantasies and a cure-all positivism. Even so, it is undeniable that Habif has carved out a pool of followers within the reach of very few. Having started in the performing arts when he was only six years old has helped him over the years to turn the stages into his second residence. More than a million viewers have attended his more than 350 conferences in 150 cities in Latin America, North America and Europe.
Habif shares with La Vanguardia his secrets to deal with his interventions in public and the strategies he uses to distribute his content through digital platforms.
What is contained in the roar that gives the title to his latest book?
It is a wild call that lives within us, capable of tearing down the walls that contain us. Each person has a cry that is often closed. This leads us to silence our dreams. The book that I have written tries to free these jaws, that long silenced cry, to begin to live in an audible voice and in the tone that one deserves. The frenetic present imprisons and tames us.
What would be, then, the ultimate goal of roaring?
Dare to be who you are. It is one thing to know who you are and another to accept it. The most complex challenge is to be who you are in a society that encourages you to accept yourself as you are not.
He is known for lecturing before large audiences. What keys must be touched so that attendees leave wanting to change their lives?
It is not necessary to touch here or there, but what is said must come from the heart so that it can reach the entrails of the other. There must also be an authority on facts, rather than assumptions. The advice I would give is to self-evaluate and internally explore what you have experienced and use it, not so much to move, but to push the listener to carry out the same process.
What advice then to excite?
To connect with people, I insist again, you have to convey authenticity and truth. You have to be honest. You can have an extraordinary verb, a great vocabulary and wonderful body expression and not reach your audience… If you don’t believe what you say, it’s impossible to touch the fiber of the listener. If you are going to talk about marriage, for example, and you are not married, it is impossible to support the information you offer.
Some manuals propose to make an impact at the beginning of the intervention and to explain it simply, what is your recipe?
I started pantomime at the age of six. More than a recipe, there are ingredients. If you want to conquer your audience, you first have to conquer yourself and fully understand yourself.
Maybe it’s about trying out different registers as an actor until you find out what role you’re most comfortable with…
Total. But more than playing a role, one must know how to mutate and have an endless number of hats, caps and suits because knowing how to read an audience is a matter of smell. You have to know how to move, project your voice, use your hands…
To lose your temper, some experts recommend imagining those present naked or looking at friendly faces. What works for you?
I started practicing at family gatherings to learn to modulate my voice and gradually lose my fear. But that fear never completely disappears because it is an emotion that reminds you of the respect you owe to the people who listen to you and to your vocation. Therefore, I do not consider that there is that nirvana that allows one to speak in front of an audience and not be afraid. I have had to speak before audiences of 300,000 people and what has worked best for me is concentrating a lot on what I will say and not so much on what they will say… When I started, I had a stutter, so pantomime was a gift to me because it allowed me to express myself with my hands. Amplifying language with gestures is very important.
Where do you recommend looking when facing a large audience: some indeterminate point in the back of the room?
In my case, I usually look at three or four people in the audience who represent different archetypes: a woman of x age, a young man, a couple and an old man, for example. These people serve as a mirror for me to gauge the effect my words produce and whether what I am saying is reaching people. I usually take between 10 and 15 minutes to gauge the atmosphere of the room. Another thing I do on occasion is use tragicomedy, that is, resort to comedy to give the audience a first bite.
The bad thing, I imagine, is if the joke is not funny…
Eye! There are people who do these things so adorably wrong that it’s touching…
It seems that clothing is important to you: wear well-cut suits, quality watches, shiny chains. What colors or clothing have you noticed that best capture the public’s attention?
Clothing should be an extension of yourself. I really like elegance, but elegance is not limited to wearing silk shirts or impeccable suits, but is found in the very essence of each one. The clothing must be adapted to what is to be communicated and to the context. If someone doesn’t like to wear suits and is more comfortable wearing jeans and tennis shoes, wear them, otherwise the clothes will be too tight and you won’t be comfortable. You may have seen pictures of me in a suit, but I’ve got tattoos on all my hands and on my chest too. I have also given talks in ripped jeans or walked on stage barefoot. This is very good advice: dress completely contrary to the symbolic code expected of one in order to thwart the expectations of the public.
What is the difference between communicating in person or through a video?
There is nothing that can be compared to talking to someone face to face. If you ask me how I make my videos, I usually write what I have the idea to say on camera. But, in the end, 50% of the content I launch is improvised because while I’m talking, new ideas come to mind within the context that I want to communicate. I also try to keep the message simple, that is, not to raise an intellectual pedestal that tortures the viewer of the video, but to use very simple aphorisms and truths that the viewer then deepens and leads them to ask questions.
Is there a maximum time limit?
I try never to exceed five or six minutes. Also, regularly, my wife or a videographer who has been working with me for years records me, because I believe it is important to have a certain intimacy and privacy in order to communicate well.
Look at the camera?
No. In fact, I could say that in more than 60% of my content I’m not looking at the camera, because I get distracted… I don’t correct my mistakes either. For example, if I get stuck or say a wrong word, I care more about the emotion that comes out of my guts than the way I express myself, so I keep the mistake.
What is the most important thing you have learned from TikTok?
That in a minute you have to be able and open to feel tenderness, lust, desire or sadness. Another thing I’ve learned is that what works best on TikTok is massiveness and repetition. Do not upload what you have left over, but be very constant in the creation of content.
That is, repeat the same ideas but from different angles and many times.
That’s how it is. The constancy of the message is essential. And also add to the narrative of something that is happening at the moment…
You give conferences in the US, Europe and South America. Is there something like national schools of motivation? How differently is a person from Latin America, the US or Europe motivated?
It is the same decalogue.
But I imagine that motivating an American is not the same as a European… I am telling you this because the US is a very young nation and, surely, the mecca of marketing… On the other hand, we Europeans are, in general terms, more skeptical and resentful
I have never thought about that. I give the same conference in all places and, if I change anything, it is the idioms and the political situation, because I am always very aware of what is happening. I always use this to connect. Also, I will tell you that North Americans have a lot of Europeans and Latinos.
What two or three important things would you recommend to a boss of any nationality so that his employees follow him?
That there is a big difference between being a boss and being a leader. For me, the facts are more powerful than any theoretical class. Another piece of advice that I would give to be a reference among employees is not to become indispensable. It is very important to make it clear to people that they can beat you. Finally, I think it’s important to look at how employees live outside of work. Connecting personally is essential to work on corporate happiness.
I have read that after being a child actor, he was the singer of a rock band, a furrier and an artists’ entrepreneur, that he lost everything and even thought about committing suicide. Was this where his spiritual awakening occurred or was it when he contracted lyme disease from a tick bite?
It was all those situations. It was like a perfect storm that brought me almost to a collapse. Pain, in my case, was a tool to rebuild myself. Without that storm, without that pain, I can tell you that I would not be the type that I am today. Loneliness, desolation and sadness forge you and either leave you completely rooted to the ground, or turn you into a star that implodes so that light can finally come out, that is the reality.
In his talks, his allusions to Christ and the Lord are constant. What does it mean to you to follow God’s authority?
That’s all. My freedom was hypothetical until I started following God. I am not someone who goes around evangelizing, because I consider that it is a personal and very arduous path. But I share my beliefs because they have been extraordinarily beneficial to me. I don’t know if believing in God covers everything but, at least, it has allowed me to make everything I’ve experienced bearable.
