I recently received an honor that caused me to reflect on an entire career.

I was inducted into the 2026 Legends of the Speaking Profession.

For someone who has spent decades speaking professionally, you might assume that communication always came naturally to me.

It didn’t.

As a teenager, I had a speech impediment that prevented me from properly pronouncing the letter “R.”

My name is Ron Karr.

Three R’s.

Today, I can laugh about that irony.

At the time, it was painful.

I was teased. I was bullied. My self-esteem suffered.

Eventually, I went to a speech pathologist and asked if she could help me.

She said yes, on one condition.

I had to be committed.

When things weren’t working, I had to keep going.

When I became frustrated, I had to keep going.

And when I wanted to quit, I couldn’t.

That experience taught me something much bigger than how to pronounce a letter.

It taught me the power of commitment.

The Lessons Follow You

Years later, I found myself using almost the exact same words with a college student who was failing one of his courses.

I told him I would help him pass — but only if he was committed to doing the work.

He was.

He passed.

And later, he told me that conversation helped change the direction of his life.

That moment reinforced something I have come to believe deeply:

Sometimes the greatest lessons we receive become the lessons we are eventually meant to pass on.

Those lessons followed me through my career as a speaker, consultant, author and eventually President of the National Speakers Association.

And they followed me all the way to this recognition.

What This Honor Really Means

Being inducted into the Legends of the Speaking Profession is meaningful because of who the recognition comes from.

These are people who know what it means to stand in front of an audience.

They understand the preparation.

They understand the skepticism.

They understand the responsibility.

And they understand that the work is never really about the person standing on the stage.

It is about the people sitting in front of you.

That is one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned in speaking.

When I become nervous before walking onto a stage, I try to stop thinking about myself.

I think about them.

What do they need?

What are they struggling with?

How can I help?

That shift changes everything.

Adversity Is About What You Do Next

My late mother and mentor, Miriam Karr, taught me a lesson that has stayed with me throughout my life:

Adversity is not about what happens to you. It’s what you do with it when it happens.

Those words were with me when I accepted this honor.

So were the lessons I learned from colleagues, mentors, audiences, clients and friends throughout this profession.

And so was my daughter, Amanda.

I said during my acceptance speech that you can give me any award or title, but none will ever mean as much as being called Amanda’s dad.

I meant it.

This recognition was an extraordinary honor.

But the greatest value of a moment like this is not the title.

It is the opportunity to recognize the people, lessons and experiences that allowed you to reach it.

I may have been inducted as a legend.

But I got here because I learned from legends.

And for that, I am deeply grateful.