Public Speaking Kaleidoscope

Rakesh Godhwani

• Publisher: Business Expert Press
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9781631576492
• eBook ISBN: 9781631576508
• Topic: Betriebswirtschaft
• Subtopic: Besprechungen & Präsentationen

Why are some speeches more powerful than others? What makes a great public speaker? There is an ocean of literature out there which can be overwhelming, and this book can be your starting point to navigate your journey in this subject from an academic point of view. This book is designed to help the reader understand the various interconnected components of public speaking when viewed together from three broad academic lenses. Together, these lenses make a unique kaleidoscope for the reader to answer the question as to why some speeches are more impactful than others. This kaleidoscope includes more than 50 parameters that engage in interplay among themselves to create an impactful communication and serve as a foundation for future academic work on this topic.

CHAPTER 1

The Phenomenon—Why Some Speeches Are So Impactful

Introduction

On November 19, 1863, two distinguished men spoke in front of an august audience in Gettysburg, a military cemetery in Adams County, Pennsylvania, the United States of America. The first speaker, Mr. Edward Everett, was a learned gentleman and spoke for over two hours. He was the main speaker for the day. The second gentleman, Mr. Abraham Lincoln, spoke for less than 2 minutes delivering the historic speech known as “The Gettysburg Address.” The two men made remarkably different impacts on their audiences, so much so that Mr. Lincoln’s speech has become the stuff of legend and is remembered and studied even today although it was not the main speech on that occasion (Jamieson & Campbell, 1982). You can listen to Lincoln’s address here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1512410

It is said that Mr. Lincoln had accepted to be a part of the event a few months previously but had written the speech only a day before the actual event. Many people around the world would certainly recognize a sentence from his speech that goes something like this: “. . . government of the people, by the people and for the people. . . .” I recall studying this speech in my secondary school. TIME magazine refers to this speech as one of the top 10 speeches of all time (Top 10 greatest speeches, 2016).

Googling the words “Gettysburg Address” produces more than 2.5 million hits. The text of the speech and its speaker are cited countless times in academic journals, books, and publications focused on communication, rhetoric, and leadership. A historian, Prof. Tim Huebner, explained that this speech shaped the country and its future to a large extent and laid the foundations for abolishing slavery, inspiring the citizens to reflect on the fundamentals of the American Constitution bringing the country out of war, and charting its course toward a better future (Huebner, 2013).

Many scholars have analyzed Lincoln’s speech in a variety of ways. Some focus on the choice of words, some on how it was delivered, and some on the way it impacted its audiences. Some argue that given the fact that Mr. Lincoln was the president at that time, his position and power had greater impact on the outcomes compared to Mr. Everett’s speech. Some say that the words of the speech were very inspiring and took its listeners suffering from war and misery to a heightened goal of freedom and humanity. The speech is used as an exemplar in various courses of history, political sciences, and communication and is said to have created a positive impact on the world since its delivery in 1863.

Let’s take a more recent example from a nonpolitical context. Technology, Entertainment and Design (TED) is a platform that curates some of the best ideas from people around the world. They have thousands of videos of speakers who are experts in their fields. Each video is approximately 5 to 20 minutes long. Ken Robinson is one such speaker on this platform. His talk “Do schools kill creativity” has been viewed more than 43 million times and has more than 4,000 comments from audiences around the world. You can listen to it here: http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.

Ken Robinson’s speech is only one of hundreds on the TED site. But not all of them enjoy the same popularity as his speech. The other speakers are charismatic, distinguished, and accomplished in their respective fields. Yet, they have radically different impact. The same observation can be made concerning managers and leaders in the corporate sector. While some managers/leaders are very articulate and charismatic in their communication, many struggle to communicate their ideas to their customers, seniors, and peers.

October and November 2016 were eventful months in the USA. The entire world witnessed Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton fight each other with words. As a researcher of this subject, I observed that neither of them was debating or communicating effectively. The debates sounded like two children fighting on national television. And despite the fact that Trump’s words, actions, and style were nasty, unprofessional, and an example of “bad speech” for academic literature, he won the election and is now the president.

How does one explain the impact of these speeches through the various existing academic theories? Why is Abraham Lincoln’s address or Ken Robinson’s speech more impactful than others’? How did Donald Trump get away with his horrible words against women? What theories from academic literature explain this phenomenon? Is it the style of delivery that creates the impact, or the words, or a combination of both? Does the audience play a part in the impact as well? And lastly, what do existing academic literature and theories have to say about this phenomenon?

The point of departure for this book was an observation that I, as a researcher of communication studies, made, that the existing academic theories are not able to explain the success of many speeches that are commonly seen and heard today. An example of this phenomenon is the TED talk of Susan Cain (Ken Robinson also). You can access Susan’s speech here: https://www.ted.com/talks/susan_cain_the_power_of_introverts. You will note that Susan follows hardly any persuasive public speaking fundamentals that are documented in the theory of rhetoric. She even discloses that she was morbidly afraid to stand up and speak in front of an audience and took intense training in public speaking to gather the courage to speak that day. While she is speaking, there is no animation on her face, not much vocal variations at all. Yet, her speech has over 30 million viewers and thousands of comments from those who felt that her speech changed their lives. The majority of them were strangers before they viewed her talk. So there is no “credibility” or the “ethos” element working at all. Her book continues to be a best seller today. What does literature have to say to explain the success of her talk? This book will try to respond to this phenomenon.

Another observation that fueled this book was the many leader/managers in the corporate world who struggle to develop their ideas into persuasive messages that inspire action among their teams and stakeholders. Many young managers are not only expected to do their work, but also to recruit younger members from colleges, train them, and lead them successfully. Their organizations expect them to make sound decisions and influence their teams to follow them. This requires the managers to have strong communication and persuasive ability so that they can be effective in their jobs. It is evident that the organizational success depends on these managers’ abilities to lead their teams successfully toward a shared goal (Godhwani, 2014).

Strangely, the education systems that most leader/managers come from rarely teach them these vital communication skills. They are taught the hard skill subjects, and communication skills fall into a “soft” category that is not emphasized. The result is that many managers learn how to communicate on the job, which is very unproductive and inefficient. A lot of young managers also have low self-confidence, which is needed in communicating effectively. A handful are good communicators.

Studies show that the ability to communicate and present one’s thoughts in front of others is seen as a useful asset for fast-growing organizations. This situation leads to several questions: Why are some managers more articulate than others? How do they communicate and persuade others? What aspects/dimensions of their messages create the desired outcome? Are they born with these skills or can these skills be learned like any other management skill?

Another crucial factor that fueled this book was the sudden explosion of new communication media. Managers in the corporate world now have to communicate using a variety of media, including video conferencing, telepresence, and instant messengers through a variety of devices (e.g., laptops, handhelds, and smartphones). The Internet and social media also play an important role for managers in reaching out and communicating to their stakeholders. Yet another interesting dynamic to this phenomenon is the audience, which is now often overexposed to all kinds of messages and also has a broader worldview. Audiences realize how communication impacts them and can make their own choices of what they like or dislike.

An advantage of the proliferation of new media for this book is the availability of transcripts and videos of many speeches by famous and successful leaders on platforms such as YouTube and Ted.com. These frequently watched speeches illustrate how presentations are done in professional and business contexts. In many cases, there is a mechanism for audiences to share their views on the topic and the speaker. These discussion forums offer a rich source of information and data that bring out some very interesting data points, which will be useful for the discourse in this book.

I hope that this book will help you understand the various interconnected theoretical components of making a speech (or a presentation, which is a very common form of communication in the corporate context). The components of these theories are like small pieces of glass that create a kaleidoscope for you, the reader, to see a beautiful pattern comprised of many components that answer the previous questions. The book also provides a conceptual framework to help you make persuasive speeches and become a charismatic leader.

Why Is It Important to Study This Phenomenon?

In the corporate world, managers spend most of their time in matters that require urgent resolution and, in the process, communicate extensively with stakeholders who are both internal and external to the organization. Every year, the Graduate Management Admission Council publishes a report on the skills recruiters and employers want in MBA students who are about to graduate. Oral and written communication skills appear right at the top. Bloomberg reports a very similar need and pegs communication skills in a quadrant that is called “Most desired and hard to find” in MBA graduates along with critical thinking, strategic leadership and innovation. Communication skills are extremely critical for young managers; these are increasingly becoming a vital skill set at leadership levels as well and are often associated with how leaders “influence” their audiences to get what they want.

A manager has been described in academic literature as one playing 10 different roles at work. Of these, five roles (i.e., liaising, monitoring, acting as a messenger to disseminate information, being the spokesperson, and negotiating) are explicitly communication-oriented roles (Mintzberg, 2009). The other five roles (entrepreneur, resource allocator, disturbance handler, figurehead, and leader), which are execution-oriented roles, still depend significantly on the communication ability of the manager.

A typical day for a manager will consist of a variety of activities such as attending meetings, phone calls, video conferences, writing and responding to emails, creating reports and presentations for both internal and external stakeholders, and persuading them to particular actions. Studies conducted on how senior managers of Fortune 500 companies spend their day at the office confirm that the managers get very little time to themselves and are always interacting with others (Bandiera, Guiso, Prat, & Sadun, 2011). The ability to communicate and persuade is at the heart of all these activities and is seen as a vital skill that differentiates effective and successful managers from the others. Research on speeches by charismatic leaders also affirms the importance of the ability of the leader to use words and messages to change the beliefs of his or her audiences toward a desired outcome (Antonakis, Fenley, & Liechti, 2011).

Communication is a vast topic and dates back to the birth of civilization. The word “communication” is derived from the Latin word "communis," which means to share. The rise of information technology and economic trends in the world has created thousands of projects and created millions of jobs. Between 2005 and 2010, 27.2 million new jobs were created in India alone through various domestic and international companies (Mahambre & Nadkarni, 2011). The majority of these companies have a global workforce from different cultures working in offices in many parts of the world. The managers of these companies are much younger compared to their counterparts in other parts of the world. So they will have to shoulder greater responsibilities at a young age as compared to their older counterparts elsewhere (Knowledge@Wharton, 2012). The human resources departments of these organizations predict that the front-line managers will be expected to do more with less by leading and engaging better with their teams and preparing themselves to take on bigger leadership roles for the future. In such a scenario, effective communication by front-line managers is vital for the success of these organizations (Lucas & Rawlins, 2015).

Before the objectives of the book are laid out, it will be helpful to understand why this topic of communication has not been given the attention it deserves in academia. If one seeks to examine the famous speeches that have been documented and the canons of a persuasive speech, the theory of rhetoric by Aristotle and the Greek civilization comes into the picture. Considering its depth and soundness, it is not surprising that the 2,500-year-old theory still has a practical relevance to the speaking styles of political leaders today.

Though the speeches of kings and political leaders around the world have been studied and analyzed by many researchers, little effort has been dedicated to studying the messages of business practitioners until recently. So it is not surprising that, as yet, there is no clear answer as to the characteristics of a perfect business speech. There has also been little documentation or studies of the speeches of business leaders, as they were considered less important and influential than magistrates and political leaders.

However, the clout and power of the business class has increased significantly. Of 100 large economies in the world today, more than half are corporate entities and their influence in human and social affairs is significant in today’s democratic structures of governments.

Lastly, it will also be helpful if the importance and impact of this book are explicitly understood. Given that millions of jobs are being added to the corporate sector in a global world that is shrinking because of technological advances, there will be a need to have strong leaders who will successfully manage companies. It is evident that today’s leaders need to have strong articulation and persuasion skills, and this book could be very helpful in providing a theoretical and empirical framework for becoming a persuasive and charismatic leader.

On an academic front, this book can be a foundation for scholars around the world to build upon in order to create a global impact. The framework presented in this book can also be applied in curricula of various business schools, which can then produce managers who have the skills that the recruiting companies desire.

The Purpose of This Book

This book is intended for a broad audience including students, scholars, researchers, and professors in undergraduate and graduate schools as well as entrepreneurs and practicing business executives around the world. The book provides many examples and best practices taken from famous speeches of leaders around the world.

The core purpose of this book is to answer the following questions: What makes a great speech? What does academic literature have to say about elements of a great speech? What theories explain the phenomena of the great speeches that changed the world?

As a communication scholar, I discovered an ocean of amazing literature addressing these questions. This book will serve as a quick guide into the vast academic literature and help readers navigate through this topic. I hope that readers not only learn what it takes to make a great speech and start making great speeches themselves, but also that they will add to the theoretical foundation to help future scholars and readers.

CHAPTER 2

The History of Public Speaking and Its Importance in Leadership

Prince Albert, the Duke of York, made a disastrous speech at Wembley Stadium in 1925, in front of thousands of his subjects from Britain. Prince Albert had a terrible stammering problem and as luck would have it, he was in line to become the King of England because his brother, Prince Edward, who was the rightful heir, decided to marry a commoner and abdicate. This was now a big problem for Prince Albert. Though he had the right qualities to be the King of England, his stammering was a cause of great concern to him and his loyalists. The people look up to a king as a leader, a monarch, a representative of God who would show them the way. Never in the history of England did they have a king who stammered when asked to face an audience. Germany and the rest...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Chapter 1 The Phenomenon—Why Some Speeches Are So Impactful
• Chapter 2 The History of Public Speaking and Its Importance in Leadership
• Chapter 3 The First Lens—Communication Theory
• Chapter 4 The Second Lens—Persuasion
• Chapter 5 The Third Lens—Charismatic Leadership
• Chapter 6 The Public Speaking Kaleidoscope: Putting It All Together
• Appendix A
• Bibliography
• Contributing Authors
• Index