July 2006 - Pocket of Greatness

Can a speech writer be a "pocket of greatness"? The term comes from Jim Collins' best seller Good to Great. Several clients have quoted, handed me copies, done presentations about, and otherwise been completely swept away by Collins' recently published monograph applying the good to great (g2g) principles to the social sector. With some good reason as Collins puts into simplistic terms the elements necessary to propel an organization forward.

And that gets me back to the question of whether you can be an individual "pocket of greatness"-- this is more than stringing words together; it's a huge level of value. The answer is yes: you can write a speech that reveals the best of leadership, that inspires an audience to follow when they have the choice not to (think "volunteers"), that taps idealistic passion, that clearly communicates what the organization is best in the world at, that challenges the building of its resource engine, and/or that demonstrates success and strengthens the brand. These are all elements of Collins' g2g framework.

I think every speech can help to potentially push the organization's flywheel forward ... if the words are true, i.e., the leadership's day-to-day actions are living them. What's equally true is that a speech fails to make any real difference at all. That's what happens when an executive doesn't realize the opportunity he or she has with each speaking engagement, whether a keynote, a fund raiser, a press conference, a staff meeting, or any other speaking opportunity. And that's where a speech writer can be a "pocket of greatness" by maintaining an unrelenting focus on how all of the small events contribute to the big picture of where that organization is going to best achieve its mission.

It's as Shakespeare captured long ago: "We know what we are...but not what we may be."

Check out Jim Collins for yourself at www.jimcollins.com

June 2006 - Coming Up Short when Standing Up to Speak

The results of a recent study found that all too often nonprofit leaders fall short when they stand up to speak. Andy Goodman, whose findings are published in Why Bad Presentations Happen to Good Causes and How to Ensure They Won't Happen to Yours, cites three main reasons for poor quality in presentations: "lack of preparation, low expectations about what it takes to be effective, and denial about how a presentation has been received."

While much of the criticism is leveled on amateurish PowerPoint presentations, which I think falls under "low expectations about what it takes to be effective," the lack of preparation and failure to recognize the art of creating remarks that resonate with audiences apply to any keynote whether PowerPoint is used or not. What's the answer?

Get help. Recognize that every speaking opportunity is a chance to promote, connect, and show leadership. And to maximize those values is worth the time and financial investment.

Here's a full review of Mr. Goodman's book from The Chronicle of Philanthropy http://philanthropy.com/premium/articles/v18/i17/17003401.htm

January 2006 - The Persuasive Power of Analogies

Lots of people use analogies, which is the art of drawing similarities between things that are otherwise dissimilar, both in speaking and in writing. You may well remember how we in D.C. were treated to a summer of baseball – and not just by the Nationals; Chief Justice Roberts got the first hit and was soon joined in the field by scores of others. But whether their analogies worked all depended upon how well the intended audiences knew baseball (and lawmakers clearly know how to play the game as Roberts hit a home run on his confirmation hearings).

Like all of you who write speeches for a living, I’m constantly on the lookout (as well as ear-out) for creative presentations. More often than not, the strongest speeches paint a picture, often making use of analogies and metaphors. Analogies can make words come alive; they can make it easier for listeners’ to relate to, and remember, abstract concepts. They can turn an impersonal speaker into an impressive spokesperson. They can turn a speech from a one-night (or morning, or afternoon) stand into a standing ovation.

Life May Not Have a Dress Rehearsal but it Does have a Metaphor

Like grains of sand on the beach, there’s no shortage of potential analogies out there. Leigh Buchanan wrote in an opinion piece for Harvard Business Review (“No More Metaphors,” March 2005) that she had compiled “an A-to-Z roster [of business metaphors] that began with Antarctica (Shackleton’s Way: Leadership Lessons from the Great Antarctic Explorer) and ended with Zeus (Gods of Management: The Changing Work of Organizations).” No doubt the Yankees made the list with a book by Joe Torre, as did those works comparing business to the behavior of ants (resource allocation and supply chains) and mice seeking cheese (change).

But are all of these metaphors successful? Consider an example that appeared four months later in HBR’s July-August 2005 issue (“Virtuoso Teams”). The authors, Bill Fischer and Andy Boynton, used West Side Story to discuss the characteristics, habits, and benefits of bringing the best and brightest together in teams. Their model was neither the Sharks nor the Jets; it was choreographer Jerome Robbins, writer Arthur Laurents, composer Leonard Bernstein, and lyricist Stephen Sondheim. It was a beautiful tribute to the team, whom they credit with changing American drama, but I must admit the article didn’t play well with me. There was so much necessary background information on each of these gifted men that the message that businesses should take the risk (and accept the potential headaches) of super-power teams was diluted.

Another example from this past summer was in Leader to Leader (No. 37 Summer 2005). In the article “Leadership T’ai Chi: A Beginner's Guide,” by Robert Goldberg, extrapolating the principles of this ancient martial art to helping folks develop effective leadership. Since I’ve never done T’ai Chi, I found it hard to focus.

The very next article by Stan Davis and David McIntosh was “The Art of Leadership.” It opened with a paragraph using the familiar analogy of business as war on a battlefield, then described it in sports’ terms, followed by machinery and then principles of hydraulics. They contrasted the four of these metaphors with one of their own: art. Their message was how to find “beauty, excitement, and pleasure in business.” I immediately envisioned Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” and the rest was lost.

Lost in Translation

For an analogy to work, it’s got to ring true to the audience. These examples also illustrate one of the key differences between using analogies when writing for the eye versus writing for the ear. Explaining a complex or unfamiliar metaphor takes precious time—word-count usually doesn’t have the same limitations as a clock ticking away minutes. But even if time isn’t an issue, explaining a not readily understood analogy can detract from the key message. To avoid that, the analogy has got to be immediately familiar to the audience (whether it’s possible to guarantee 100% familiarity would be an interesting discussion topic). When a keynote will be delivered before a broad audience, or to an international audience, the odds of shared experiences, interests, or history – let alone language and culture – rapidly diminishes. Figurative language is a key tool of impact and persuasion. But it doesn’t work if the audience can’t connect the subtle points – or absolutely detests the topic (e.g., sports for a lot of folks, not just women).

Lest I be accused of being on a high horse, let me eat my own humble pie (mixing metaphors is another interesting discussion). Several years ago, a client asked for help to develop a keynote on best practices for recruiting and retaining information technology employees – a real challenge in the early ‘90s when competition for skilled workers was fierce (remember Y2K?). When I met with her in her office, hanging on her wall were a few gorgeous weavings she had collected. Weaving seemed like a powerful analogy to use, so we organized the key points using terms related to it – warp, weft, shuttle, etc. The overall message being it requires multiple steps and special tools to create a tapestry of success for any business.

When we were finished, the speech was logical. It flowed seamlessly. And we had beautiful photographs illustrating the weaving terms to display on a huge screen – radically different from typical PowerPoint bullet lists. However, what we actually wove was a tapestry of failure for two reasons. One is that it took too much time to explain the terms. And two, the truth was, the speaker was not a dynamic enough of a personality to carry it off – she was an extremely nervous presenter – and I should have taken that into consideration.

She actually did get some positive feedback afterwards (most likely from audience members who knew something about weaving beforehand), but the experience brought home a very important lesson to me – the analogy must fit the speaker. Not just in terms of being familiar with it (in this case she was), but also in terms of being able to dramatically sell it. Knowing the topic counts; so does being convincing and excited about it.

Cream Rises to the Top but it Takes a lot of Work to Make Butter

The last thing I consider when using analogies is whether they should be carried through the entirety of the remarks (as the examples above do) or on a point-by-point basis when applicable. If the latter, then the speaker is free to use different examples, just as there might be different quotes, throughout the script. So one analogy may draw an image of an animal, the next of mountain climbing, etc.

The caution with that approach is running the risk of creating a laundry list of unconnected points. In other words, there’s no central theme. When I was just starting out, one of my mentors, James Humes, drilled the concept of one theme into my head. (Humes has authored several books – his most recent is Speak Like Churchill, Stand Like Lincoln: 21 Powerful Secrets of History's Greatest Speakers.) His lessons about one theme are based on exhaustive study of Winston Churchill, who once told a protégée, “If people can’t say in one sentence what the speech is about, it’s a speech not worth delivering.”

If used creatively—introducing it in the opening, relating each point to it, and linking it to a strong ending—a metaphor can be the glue that holds a speech together. And the skilled speechwriter will make sure people don’t walk out saying the speech was about baseball, i.e., losing the message in the metaphor.

Three Things

So whether an analogy or metaphor works depends on three things: relevancy for the audience, relevancy for the speaker, and relevancy for the topic that can be conveyed in the allotted amount of time. Helping speakers’ draw a picture for audiences is one of the best tools speechwriters have to offer. Whether scaling a mountain, exploring where no man has gone before, throwing a red flag on the field, or not swapping horses in the middle of a stream, we can help our speaker talk like a leader – to be inspiring, encouraging, commanding – whatever the situation at hand requires.

Posted on the Washington Speechwriters Roundtable (http://www.washingtonspeechwriters.com)