- Today, I'll be reacting
to Ashton Kutcher's speech that he gave at the
Nickelodeon Teen Choice Award several years back. This speech is only three minutes but it really went viral at the time and has been since shared quite a bit. In fact, it's so good that
there's this politician that basically plagiarized it and gave this speech as if it was his and got in some trouble for it. So, you know you're good when
you're getting plagiarized. So I want to give you my reaction
to Ashton Kutcher's speech so that we can appreciate it, but also learn a little bit about how to come across ourselves. So let's watch this now. (upbeat music) - What's up? What's up? (audience screaming) Oh, wow. Okay, okay, let's be brutally honest. This is the old guy award. This is like the grandpa award. After this, I get to go to
like the geriatric home. - [Fan] We love you! - First of all, I don't have
a career without you guys. I don't get to do any of the things that I get to do without you. You know, I thought that... (audience screaming) I thought that it might be interesting, you know, in Hollywood and in the industry and the stuff we do, there's
a lot of like insider secrets to keeping your career going. And a lot of insider secrets
to making things tick. And I feel like a fraud. My name is actually not even Ashton. Ashton is my middle name. My first name's Chris. (audience screaming) And it always has been, it got changed when I was
like 19 and I became an actor. But there were some really amazing things that I learned when I was Chris. And I wanted to share
those things with you guys because I think it's
helped me be here today. So it's really three things. The first thing is about opportunity, the second thing is about being sexy, (audience screaming) and the third thing is about living life. So first, opportunity. - Okay, so here we are, and I can already see why
this is going to be powerful. So first of all, he starts
with some light humor, he thanks people, helps them calm down and
settle down a little bit. They're going crazy for him, by the way, not many of us get to
such an enthusiastic crowd when we speak, but he gives them time to settle down. He makes himself vulnerable and hooks them by saying he feels like a fraud and he tells them his real name. But I'll tell you the moment that got me, when he gave his main point, he said, I'm gonna tell you three things that I learned when I was Chris. Boom, right? That's a hook, it tells you what he's gonna do, and then he tells you
what the three things are. He says, opportunity, being
sexy, and living life. And by the way, when I hear someone give
a crisp preview like that, I know they have a plan. They know where they're going, and he even pauses in between those three
points of his preview. That's where you know, okay, it sounds like this speaker has a plan. Let's see where he goes with this. I believe that opportunity
looks a lot like hard work. When I was 13, I had my
first job with my dad carrying shingles up to the roof. And then I got a job washing
dishes at a restaurant. And then I got a job in
a grocery store deli. And then I got a job in a factory sweeping Cheerio dust off the ground. And I've never had a job in my
life that I was better than. I was always just lucky to have a job, and every job I had was a
stepping stone to my next job. And I never quit my job
until I had my next job. And so, opportunities
look a lot like work. - Okay. He knows where he's going, right? He started off giving us a preview, opportunity, being sexy, and living life, and so he's making good
on that promise so far. He talked about opportunity and then he, what I'm noticing though, not only that he has a plan here, is that he is tailoring
everything he is saying for this young audience. Remember at the beginning, he said, "Oh this is the old man award. And I'm gonna talk
about when I was Chris." He's showing who he is,
he's being vulnerable, and then he's saying that
these are the kinds of lessons you can learn, these are the
kinds of jobs you probably do, sweeping floors, and maybe
fixing roofs, and washing dishes. Those kinds of jobs that young people do. He's connecting this, everything I've heard so far
shows that he's connecting this directly to this
particular young audience. He's not speaking to the industry, he's not thanking his manager, all those things are fine, but he is talking to
them and you can see it. You can see it's taking shape now. (audience cheering) - Number two, being sexy. (audience screaming) The sexiest thing in the entire world is being really smart. (audience screaming) And being thoughtful, and being generous. - See, that's really smart. - Everything else is crap, I promise you. (audience screaming) It's just crap that
people try to sell to you to make you feel like less. So don't buy it. Be smart, be thoughtful, and be generous. - I mean, he's doing so
many things great here. So he's saying number two, being sexy, because maybe that's what he thinks his audience cares about, right? He's trying to connect
with his listeners here, but he instantly pivots it to being smart, being kind and generous. So he takes what they
might be interested in and then he loads his real
message into that conversation so that they can learn
from it through that hook. He's also extremely emphatic. He's got his non-verbals going, he's using his voice in powerful ways. He's really committed to this message. And it is landing. - The third thing is something
that I just relearned when I was making this
movie about Steve Jobs. (audience cheering) And Steve jobs said, "When you grow up, you tend to get told that the
world is the way that it is, and that your life is to live
your life inside the world and try not to get in too much trouble, and maybe get an education, and get a job, and make some money and have a family." But life can be a lot broader than that when you realize one simple thing, and that is that everything
around us that we call life was made up by people that
are no smarter than you. (audience cheering) And you can build your own things, you can build your own life
that other people can live in. So build a life, don't
live one, build one. Find your opportunities,
and always be sexy, I love you guys. (upbeat music) - This is great, this is one of those drop
the microphone speeches. So he really brings it home here. And again, he's tailoring it to them, he's talking about that their
life is what they make of it. They can create the
kind of life they want, they don't just have to live
in someone else's world, they can create the world
they want to live in. And that's a real powerful, it shows that he wants
his listeners to know that they have agency. They have something to offer. That's powerful. All three of these points, really the whole speech
was only a few minutes, like three minutes speech of
the total time he's talking. That's powerful stuff because it's tailored directly to them and he's fully committed, and he even recaps at the end. You know, he has his three
points at the beginning, he shares his three points, and then he recaps in one sentence what his three points were at the end, which is really, you know
this guy's got a plan. Now, big picture, I'll bet you that he practiced
this message 10 times, I would not be surprised if
he practiced this 20 times in the privacy of his own home. Probably sounded like a crazy person pacing around his house saying these over and over again because he doesn't use any notes and yet it doesn't sound memorized, it sounds like he's internalized
what he wants to say. I mean, that is a really
powerful way to do it, so much better than a lot
of the speeches you see when people get awards and they've got a little
crinkled piece of paper and they thank about 40 people
that no one's ever heard of. And I get why people do that, but boy, this was a huge opportunity. He was extremely prepared
and he just crushed it. Super impressed. Wow, did he surprise me! Ashton Kutcher had it in him! That is really amazing. Wonderful. So I want to tell you a
little bit about the channel, if you're new to it, well, I have something called the Communication Coach Academy and I offer public speaking and other communication
and leadership classes. I'll put a link to that
in the description below, you can check that out. Also, I would like to hear your comments on what you thought of
this speech, this message. I thought it was incredible,
but what do you think? And also, what are your suggestions? Write that down below. Who else should I profile
and react to next? I would love to hear your
comments and suggestions, probably you're gonna have
better ideas than I will. So thanks for watching and I will see you in the next video.
