HIGH-IMPACT SPEAKING

The Leader’s Guide to Presenting

with Integrity and Influence
HIGH-IMPACT SPEAKING

CONTENTS

What Does It Mean to Speak as a Leader?................................................. 3

The 7 Essential Qualities of Speaking for Leadership

Integrity ................................................................................................................................9
Passion ..............................................................................................................................13
Energy ...............................................................................................................................16
Goodwill ........................................................................................................................... 21
Vulnerability ..................................................................................................................27
Empathy ......................................................................................................................... 29
Humility ........................................................................................................................... 34

Accepting the Challenge of Speaking for Leadership................. 39

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WHAT DOES IT
MEAN TO SPEAK
AS A LEADER?
Leadership is performance.
And nowhere is this truer than
in public speaking.
In the drama observed by stakeholders in your
organization or industry, you have the starring
role. The most successful leaders have an
intuitive sense of theater, performing many roles
and convincing others to play their parts. But your
performance abilities don’t only matter when
you’re giving a speech! Whenever you interact
with others, you’re in the spotlight. People make
judgments about you based on the way you
speak, sound, move, and interact with the world.

So, are you ready to speak for leadership?

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TAPPING INTO YOUR

NATURAL TALENTS
Speaking as a leader will transform the
most important component of your
personal and organizational success:
effective communication. In a recent
survey conducted by the presentation
software company Prezi, 70 percent
of working Americans agreed that
presentation skills are critical to
their career success.i And a Harvard
Business Review survey showed that
communication and presentation
skills are among the C-suite level
competencies that companies prize
most.ii Another HBR article said it all in One idea that can send you down the
the title: “Leadership Is a Conversation.”iii wrong path, however is that giving a
speech is something special. You may
The good news is that to embody
see it as an out-of-the-ordinary event,
leadership qualities when you speak,
a moment of high visibility in which
your most powerful strategy is a simple
you need to rise above your ordinary
one: tapping into your natural talents.
competencies. But the truth is, you’re
Public speaking, that is, reflects who you
always performing!
are. Should any role be easier for you?

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You know the phrase, “When in Rome, need is to let your natural talents come
do as the Romans do”? Well, you’re through—with some help from the best
already doing it. Throughout each day, practices in spoken performance, as
you adjust your demeanor and behavior we’ll explore below.
based on the needs of the people
and situation you’re facing. The “you”
presenting to your board is different from
the “you” at home with loved ones, out
with old high-school friends, or trying to
talk your way out of a speeding ticket!

The sooner you realize that even a

high-profile speaking event is just one
more performance, the more readily
you’ll let yourself be yourself. That’s
important because audiences just want
the real you. Any attempt to look and
sound “excellent” will advertise itself as
that. Listeners truly want to know and to
connect with you—and aiming for that to
happen is one of the ways you achieve
excellence as a speaker.
You already have the knowledge,
expertise, and experience that got you
to this place of leadership. Now, all you
RAISING THE BAR ON
YOUR PERFORMANCE
It’s time then to recalibrate: to consider
how you’ll reach the next level and truly
speak for leadership. To do that, you
need to understand the presentational
art. As an actor and speech coach, it’s
my job in this e-book to share with you
the most effective techniques—many
of them from the theater—that will have
you speaking at the leadership level
you’re aiming for.

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I’ll discuss those techniques a bit more in a moment. But

first, here are three “mantras” you can keep in mind to give
you a winning ticket in the Public Speaking Memorability
Sweepstakes:

1. Pay more attention to your purpose 3. Be action-oriented. At the height

than your content. Chances are you of America’s “space race” with the
already have subject matter expertise Soviet Union in May 1961, President
coming out of your ears. But do you John F. Kennedy boldly declared: “I
know what makes this audience tick, believe that this nation should commit
and how you’re going to change itself to achieving the goal, before this
listeners’ thoughts, feelings, and decade is out, of landing a man on
actions? the Moon and returning him safely to
the Earth.” We achieved that goal on
2. Establish rapport and a connection
July 20, 1969, the day Neil Armstrong
with audiences. Do you give
and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon.
some thought and practice time
As a speaker in your own profession,
to accomplishing this essential act
you should follow Kennedy’s lead by
of speaking for leadership? Can
aiming for action from your listeners.
you sound like you’re having a
It’s one of the best ways—sometimes
conversation with a large audience?
the only way—to measure the success
Have you watched videotaped
of your speeches and presentations.
speeches you’ve given to observe
whether it’s happening? (If you don’t
routinely have someone videotape
your presentations, start now!)

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TAKE A PAGE… AND

TAKE THE STAGE!
But your best guide for raising the bar
on your actual performance in speaking
for leadership is to take a page from the WHAT’S YOUR
actor’s art. Stage actors (as opposed LEADERSHIP ‘SIZE?’
to movie and TV actors) need the
Looking and moving
ability to project their persona across a
confidently in front of
considerable amount of space. Consider
audiences is a clear mandate
this: the distance from the front of the
of executive speaking.
stage to the last row of the orchestra in
Whatever the content of
a Broadway theater may be 150 feet—
your message, your physical
and even longer when one or more
presence needs to match
balconies are included!
your material in terms of
Okay, you’re not acting a role with the impact. Make your movement,
need to be heard in the last row without gestures, and overall energy
a microphone. But acting and executive- exactly large enough to reach
level performance share this important
the person farthest from you.
fact: To communicate with your audience
You’ll create just the right
in public speaking, you must cultivate
“size” for your speech in terms
the ability to reach all the members of a
of the audience and venue.
large group.

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That means developing and projecting this e-book, we’ll look at some specific
physical presence, as the sidebar above techniques of the theater that will
indicates. Whether it’s gestures, facial empower you to do this.
expressions, eye contact, or your use
Finally, as a leader who speaks, you
of the stage, you need to become
have a need to persuade and activate
comfortable in the art of presenting
key stakeholders, and sometimes “tough
not just information, but yourself. You
crowds,” from employees to boards to
need to become slightly larger than life!
external audiences. Clearly, this aspect
By doing so, you’ll embrace all of the
of leadership requires more than great
listeners in the speaking venue. Later in
platform skills.

Public speaking audiences have

sensitive antennae when it comes to a
speaker’s authenticity and credibility.
That’s where the 7 ESSENTIAL
QUALITIES OF SPEAKING FOR
LEADERSHIP come in. In the following
pages, each is detailed, along with
how you can demonstrate them in your
interactions with audiences.

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1 INTEGRITY
Whom do you know who When a person without integrity

speaks with integrity? speaks, we sense immediately that

trustworthiness is missing, and we don’t
As you think about the answer to that
believe what they say. Think of our
question, consider this: The person you
own former president, Richard Nixon,
eventually name is probably someone
who lacked integrity in the eyes of the
who holds a place of esteem in your
members of Congress who were about
thinking. It’s a perfect example of a sign
to impeach him and felt the need to
of leadership channeled through public
resign before they could act.
speaking.

When the opposite is the case, it’s just as

obvious.

In March 2017, South Korea’s President

Park Geun-hye was removed from office
by the country’s Constitutional Court for
corruption. (She was accused of helping
a friend secure bribes.) Defending
herself before the media, President
Park called the charges a “fabrication
and falsehood,” adding, “it’s completely
framed.” Clearly, Korea’s high court didn’t
believe her protestations.

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AUTHENTICITY AND
TRUST: THE BUILDING
BLOCKS OF INTEGRITY
Ethical speaking is as important as
above-board behavior in any other
aspect of your professional life.
Today, trust and credibility can be
lost in a moment of thoughtlessness
in an interview; in front of an open
microphone; or in an ill-considered
tweet. Unfortunately, we hear dishonest
discourse too often by representatives
of some of the institutions that rule
our lives. Each of us has the individual
obligation, however, to adhere to the
standards of our own integrity—perhaps
most of all when speaking in high-
visibility situations.
I remember clearly the first public
speaking workshop I conducted for
diplomats at the United Nations in New
York. The workshop was sponsored by
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UNITAR: the United Nations Institute
for Training and Research. In UNITAR’s
offices across the street from U.N.
headquarters before the workshop,
I noticed a poster. It showed a hand
gesturing, with the thumb rubbing
against the inside of the index finger.
Displayed on the poster was the same
saying written in at least a dozen
languages, and most prominently in
English:
Bribery is the same in any language.
So, in terms of authenticity and trust
when you give a speech, always ask
yourself: “Am I serving my listeners rather
than myself in what I’m saying? Is it
obvious to my audience?” Truly, to speak
for leadership, you need to speak to
change your world.
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That’s a definition you can use if you

INTEGRITY LEADS
want to speak as a leader. To persuade
TO INFLUENCE and inspire audiences—to get them
Listeners who don’t trust a speaker to buy into your leadership—you must
will never truly open themselves to be whole, in the sense of integrating
that person’s influence. Honesty is a your personality and values into your
key component here, of course. But performance. To do so is to achieve a
for speeches and presentations to rise form of integrity every executive needs
above the ordinary, the level of honesty to be a great speaker.
you generate must achieve actual
integrity. That’s because audiences
will only be willing to be changed by a
speaker who walks the walk. Speakers
like Abraham Lincoln, Frederick
Douglass, the Dalai Lama, and Rosa
Parks are in this category.

I love the definition of integrity in the

copy of the New World Dictionary of the
American Language I keep in my office.
The first definition given doesn’t concern
moral principles. It’s this: “the quality
or state of being complete; unbroken
condition; wholeness; entirety.”

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‘Mr. Integrity’ on “Equal Justice Under Law”

Sen. Robert A. Taft of Ohio, the son of the 27th president of the U.S., William Howard
Taft, was a leading member of the Republican Party in the 1940s and 1950s. In 1946,
he gave a speech in opposition to the Nuremberg war crimes trials, in which leaders
of the Nazi party were condemned to death. Sen. Taft labeled the prosecution as an
ex post facto procedure, meaning laws that are applied retroactively to behavior that
was not of a criminal nature (by law) at the time it took place.

The speech was unpopular in an America that had just gone through a war to defeat
the Nazis and Imperial Japan. But John F. Kennedy, in his book Profiles in Courage
considered Taft’s speech one of eight acts of bravery committed by U.S. Senators in
our history. In fact, Kennedy said that Taft, who was called “Mr. Republican,” should
also be known as “Mr. Integrity.”

Former presidential speechwriter William Safire included Taft’s speech in his book
Lend Me Your Ears: Great Speeches in History. Safire said of the speech that the
tone was “formal and dispassionate, the reasoning logical, the style legalistic and
bloodless, but in all carrying the weight of principle.”iv Here is the speech’s opening:

“I desire today to speak particularly of equal justice, because it is an essential

of individual liberty. Unless there is law, and unless there is an impartial tribunal
to administer that law, no man can be really free. Without them only force can
determine controversy, as in the international field today, and those who have
not sufficient force cannot remain free. Without law and an appeal to a just and
independent court to interpret that law, every man must be subject to the arbitrary
discretion of his ruler or of some subordinate government official.

Over the portal of the great Supreme Court building in Washington are written the
words ‘Equal Justice Under Law.’ The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution
of the United States and every pronouncement of the founders of the government
stated the same principle in one form or another . . . ‘equal and exact justice to all
men of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political.’”

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2 PASSION
with your audience. The problem often
pas • sion n. 1: a powerful emotion
is externalizing what you’re feeling so
or appetite. (The American Heritage
audiences get it. Audiences aren’t mind
Dictionary, Second College Edition) Any
readers. They must be shown your
powerful or compelling emotion or
qualities as a leader—including your
feeling, as love or hate. (dictionary.com)
commitment to an idea. Let’s look, then,
at how you can get listeners to share
Great speaking is never about just
your passion.
educating an audience—it’s about
creating an experience. For leaders, One of the most powerful ways you

especially, your ultimate success can do so is by using effective acting

depends largely upon your performance. techniques. Your goal here isn’t to win an

And that means sharing your passion Academy Award; it’s to bring out the best

with audiences. of yourself where speaking passionately

is concerned. Actors spend their entire
Think of some of the most effective
professional lives learning how first to
speakers from history when it came to
access, and then to externalize their
moving listeners, people like Theodore
feelings so audiences receive the full
Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, George
impact of the emotional moment. As a
S. Patton, Sojourner Truth, and Martin
public speaker, you should learn this
Luther King, Jr. Even if you don’t speak
lesson from the actor’s playbook.
at that level, you probably possess a
passion for your topic and sharing it

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Why is all of this important? Well, it

ACTING TECHNIQUES
deals with a fact that you must concern
AND PUBLIC yourself with as an executive speaker:
SPEAKING “acting matters” in business and other

David Thomson, a writer on theater and professional endeavors.

film, published a book in 2016 titled Why
Acting Matters. Actor and director Simon
Callow discussed the book in a review in
The Wall Street Journal titled, “The Art of
Persuasion.”
In fact, actors and business leaders so
often take part in the same activities—
engaging, influencing, and moving
audiences—that sometimes it’s difficult
to see daylight between the two. There
are differences of course, including the
most important one that actors play
other people while as a leader, you
play yourself. But the primacy of the
performance itself in both professions is
undeniable.

Let me put it this way: your performance

in a keynote, business meeting, board
presentation, panel discussion, or media
appearance is itself the essence of your
talk as much as what you speak about.
Do you consider that a radical idea? If
it isn’t true, why are you delivering the
speech at all? — You could much more

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easily email the content to interested
parties without your having to be present
to discuss it!
You therefore need to act when you
speak: not as a character, but as
yourself—externalizing your passion so
an audience sees it, hears it, and feels
it! In other words, your audience needs
and desires your content to be filtered
through you. Speaking this way is part
of the paradox shared by you and stage
actors: your audience is the “Be-all and
the end-all” (in Macbeth’s words), yet
you’re the most important person in the
room. You are the only one, in fact, who
can give the audience what they need,
which is far more than the content of
your speech can accomplish.
So be yourself at your best. After all, it’s
the performance of a lifetime.

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3 ENERGY
Here’s a secret that will give you a head
start over the competition when it comes
to influencing audiences:
Public speaking is an exchange
of energy.
If you like physics, you can tie this
directly to Sir Isaac Newton’s Third
Law: For every action there’s an equal
and opposite reaction. In other words:
the energy you give listeners will be
returned to you in the form of interest
and engagement.
Or here’s another visualization: Imagine
an invisible bubble that encompasses
you, the person farthest from you, and
everyone in between. It’s an energy
bubble—and everyone inside it feels the
power that emanates from you as an
energetic and dynamic performer.
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That’s the impression you should give an
audience!
Physically and vocally, you should
display vitality as you take hold of
listeners’ imaginations and say, “Wait until
you hear this!” Any speech that isn’t vital
in terms of an energized performance
will stay firmly glued to the earth—so
don’t place your talks in this category. As
an actor, I strove for that level of intensity
in every performance, and I still do as a
speaker. So should you.
THE INCREDIBLE
SHRINKING SPEAKER
Ever read Richard Matheson’s great
1950s sci-fi thriller, The Shrinking Man
(retitled for the 1957 movie The Incredible
Shrinking Man)? Poor Scott Carey is
exposed to a radiation cloud (after
HIGH-IMPACT SPEAKING

accidentally ingesting insecticide). The
strange combination makes him start to
shrink at a steady rate. Soon, he’s small
enough that he must fight for his life
against a backyard sparrow and his own
cat. As things get progressively worse,
i.e., as he gets smaller and smaller, he
faces the deadliest enemy of all: a black
widow spider!
Unfortunately, we have an equivalent
today in the world of speeches and
presentations. I call it THE INCREDIBLE
SHRINKING SPEAKER. Here’s the idea,
which comes directly from my acting
training and career: In past historical
periods, we expressed the fullness
of our personalities when we spoke
through our voice and body language.
That’s because we conversed and gave
speeches out-of-doors or in public
spaces such as marketplaces, lecture
halls, factories, fields, and backyards. To
get what we were saying across in these
spaces, we had to fill them physically. Yet
nowadays, cell phones, office cubicles,
and voice mail have shrunk not only
our vocal power, but also our physical
presence and personas.
Like Scott Carey, we’re steadily shrinking!
To speak as a leader, you need to
recover some of this energy and power,
which will make people literally look up
to you on a stage. Your speeches and
presentations, in other words, need the
high-octane version of yourself that
audiences expect and need.
Following are twelve ways you can
command a stage when speaking for
leadership. The list should remind you
that a dynamic performance combined
with powerful material is the winning
combination in all forms of public
address. Become familiar enough with
them so that they become your new
habit every time you speak.

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Twelve Ways to Command a Stage

Here are a dozen ways to leave no doubt in the meeting room,

auditorium, or convention center that you’re the real deal when it
comes to speaking for leadership.

1. Display a Leader’s Confidence and Control: Confidence in a

speaker is self-perpetuating. Listeners will simply be willing to
believe what you say—and to buy into your vision—if they see that
you’re confident in front of an audience.

2. Launch Strongly and Conclude Powerfully: What are the most

important parts of your talk? They’re your opening and closing.
Your speech is like a NASA mission. If it launches successfully, it
has a good chance of succeeding. If it doesn’t, the mission ends
right there.

3. Give Your Audience a Roadmap of Your Talk: Let the audience

members know where you’re going together—then take them
there. Audiences want to feel that they’re in good hands; and the
speaker who lays out a clear plan of action is one who sounds like
a leader.

4. Move Fluidly, Powerfully, and with Purpose: Learn this essential

lesson if you don’t already know it: what an audience sees where
you are concerned is an important part of how they’ll judge you.
Be the picture of self-assurance. When you use a gesture, make it
clean and emphatic, i.e., make it count!

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5. Take Charge of Your Performance Space: When you speak

as a leader, the stage is yours to use—however large or small
it may be. Don’t wander, and avoid pacing back and forth like
a tiger in a cage. Instead, make your movement purposeful.
And that lectern? Leave it behind and stand center-stage if
you can. That looks like leadership!

6. Speak with the Voice of a Leader: If your voice isn’t a

powerful executive asset, get help with it. Your voice is an
essential tool for influencing others. A theater professor of
mine used to say, “If a person’s voice is weak, he or she is a
weak person.” Not true by a long shot. But if your voice doesn’t
compel people to listen, you’re working uphill all the way.

7. Be Clear and Concise: Some speakers who are high-

achievers in their field don’t feel the need to prepare for
a presentation. “I can talk about this forever,” they tell
themselves; and unfortunately for their audiences, it starts to
feel like “forever.” So in your own speeches, spend preparation
time on being clear and concise. It shows you care.

8. Tell Stories: Storytelling is valuable currency for a leader.

Facts and data inform—but you need to get to the emotional
heart of your message. Stories light the fire of people’s
emotions and imaginations. If you’re not inspiring followers,
why are you speaking?

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9. Use the Magic of Language: Creative use of language will help

take your talks from the mundane to the magical. Lincoln knew
this, and so did Steve Jobs. Use comparisons, metaphors, and
similes, all of which can make your message come vibrantly alive.

10. Commit to Your Ideas: Few things compel attention more

than a speaker who believes heart and soul in an idea. A fierce
commitment to your message forgives a multitude of sins
concerning your other skills as a presenter. Play it safe, as many
business speakers do, and you may disappear without a trace.

11. Be Conversational: The Age of Oration sickened and died

sometime between JFK’s inauguration and Bill Clinton’s
presidency. George W. Bush bought the headstone, and Donald
Trump inscribed and installed it. Do you find it hard to just talk to
listeners? Remember, each audience member is the same person
you may have chatted with across the table at Starbucks.

12. Create Physical Expression of Your Message: Think of this as

your culminating speaking skill. Ask yourself this question: “Have
I literally embodied my speech?” When you speak as a leader,
it’s your persona that listeners are buying. Sending an email or
a report is one thing. But a speech or presentation? . . . Ah, now
you’re talking!

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4 GOODWILL
good • will n. 1: a kindly feeling of
approval and support: benevolent
interest or concern <people of goodwill>
(merriam-webster.com)
WHAT TYPE OF
SPEAKER ARE YOU?
Too many presenters today are more
concerned with their following, their
book sales, or their next promotion than
with the needs of listeners. “Goodwill,”
on the other hand, means benevolence
or concern with the audience’s interests.
Speakers who demonstrate goodwill are
easy to recall, because we remember
them for long afterward. These are
people like George Washington,
Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa, and in
our own time, Hans Rosling.
These speakers embodied the
leadership behavior that guru John
Baldoni tells us is necessary in his book
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The Leader’s Pocket Guide, where he
advises: “Radiate hope and confidence.
Leaders need to give people a reason to
believe in themselves.”v
A Tale of Two Speakers
In practical terms, that means fostering
a maximum level of engagement when
you speak. As an example, I’ll share with
you a story from my own book How to
Give a Speech. It’s what I call “A Tale of
Two Speakers . . . A Universe Apart.”
Both of these individuals were keynote
speakers at the recent annual meeting
of a professional association. Each
was a scientist. The first keynote was
ceremonial, while the second was
visionary. But that doesn’t explain why
one speech reached escape velocity
while the other never left the launch pad.
What was it that allowed one speaker
to be interesting, while the other was
boring? To put it simply: one speech
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was engaging, and one wasn’t. It’s all important: 3 Have you conducted an
part of what I call The Big Bang Theory audience analysis so you know what
of Public Speaking. Cosmologists used is likely to meet these listeners’
to believe that everything was steady expectations and desires?
and unchanging in the universe (a belief
system that’s actually called the steady-
state theory). Nowadays, however,
most scientists believe something very
different: that everything began with
that Big Bang—galaxies, stars, planets,
moons, asteroids, and everything else
that’s out there in our universe.

Let’s relate this theory, that you have to

ENGAGEMENT AND
create your own “big bang” when you LEADERSHIP:
speak rather than a boring steady state,
In a McKinsey study,
by posing three questions you should
ask yourself: 1 Do you know how to
male and female
talk to an audience as though it’s all an executives gave
interesting conversation? 2 Do you “engaging” a score of
vary the mechanics of your presentation 4.1 on a 5-point scale
to break things up, e.g., employing
as one of the five key
PowerPoint, questions, activities, video
capabilities of centered
clips, a demonstration, etc.? And most
leadership.vi

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Get on Your Listeners’ Wavelength
Your first step to achieving your
goals with an audience then, involves
knowing whom you’re dealing with.
Yet presenters too often leap onto the
information-delivery stage without a
moment’s reflection concerning the
make-up of their audience!
1. Who is this audience in terms of
maturity, culture, experience, and
socio-economic level? (“Culture”
may include clubs or social groups,
departments within a corporation,
religious affiliation, and so on.)
2. How much information do the
listeners already have? What do you
need to give them concerning content
that someone else hasn’t?
3. What are their expectations and
preferences for this presentation?
(Lecture? Discussion? Demonstration?
High-level overview, or operational
details?)
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Even if you’re not quite this oblivious
concerning an audience’s needs,
dumping information on your listeners is
no way to achieve genuine and lasting
influence. Instead, here are a half-dozen
considerations that should be top-
of-mind concerning those interested
parties you’ll be speaking to.
4. Do you want to deliver something
similar to what they usually get, or go
with something new and different?
5. Is there an emotional climate
concerning this speaking situation that
needs to be considered? Examples
may include recent layoffs at the
company; a just-announced merger;
the death of a beloved leader; a wildly
successful new product rollout, etc.
6. Who has spoken to this audience in
the past? What did they speak about?
What approach did they use, and was
it successful? Why or why not?
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By answering these questions, you’ll be Remember, connecting with listeners

much better armed as you approach
your engagement. You’ll then be able
to put together content that will give
these listeners exactly what they
need to hear on this occasion.
is always much more than a matter
of delivering good content. When
you speak in public, it’s all about
reaching people—persuading, inspiring,
motivating, and activating them. That
means doing a lot more than standing
on a stage like a statue reading notes or
a manuscript.

ADVICE FROM THE HARVARD

BUSINESS REVIEW:

One executive constantly reminds

himself when he’s in meetings:
“Don’t tell. Ask questions. Don’t tell.
Ask questions.”vii

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Here are 20 powerful ways to relate to an audience. Practice them,

and you’ll be the kind of speaker who demonstrates goodwill in
everything you show listeners.

20 Ways to Relate to an Audience

1. Get out from behind that lectern! 11. Use shared cultural references.

2. Wear a lapel microphone that lets 12. Tell stories rather than just
you move around. delivering data.

3. Make solid and realistic eye contact.
4. Get your body (and facial
expressions) into the act.
5. Try to sound conversational, no
matter how large the audience.
6. Use humor and a self-deprecating
approach.
7. Speak in terms of the audience’s
viewpoint and needs.
8. Use “you” and “we,” rather than “I”
and “me.”
9. Ask frequent questions, including
rhetorical questions.
10. Access the three adult learning
styles: audio, visual, and kinesthetic.
13. Break up the main points of your
talk into short segments.
14. Use concrete, specific, energetic
language.
15. Speak visually, i.e., create “word-
pictures.”
16. Remember to pause frequently so
the audience can “take a breath.”
17. Get physically closer to listeners
whenever possible.
18. Speak from notes. Don’t memorize
or use a manuscript.
19. Thou shalt not, on pain of death,
read thy PowerPoint slides!
20. Move naturally, using all the parts of
the stage.

25
HIGH-IMPACT SPEAKING
THE FOUR GOLDEN RULES OF USING
POWERPOINT
If you use PowerPoint or other slide software, employ the following
approach to be sure you’re the influencer in the room rather than
the visual presentation tool you’re using:
1. Give Your Audience Time to
Read Each Slide Before You
Speak. Audiences can’t read
a slide and listen to you at the
same time. They’ve never seen
this slide before. Let them get the
gist of it, then add your valuable
commentary.
2. Create Anticipation and Interest.
Your presentation should be a
story. Bring in each slide at the
exact moment it visually reinforces
your point. Avoid the “click-talk”
method of showing a slide then
talking about it. Instead, say
something like, “You’ll be amazed
at what the next slide shows
concerning . . .”
26
3. Vary Your Pace. Audience
members become anesthetized
by an endless stream of slides
flashing by like billboards on a
dark highway. All slides are not
created equal. Invest yourself
timewise in your critical slides, and
sail through the supporting ones.
4. Bring Your Audience into the
Discussion. Find ways to step
out of PowerPoint and invite
responses from listeners. Consider
using the “B” button while you’re
in View mode, which takes the
screen to black. It’s the perfect
way to foster a discussion, share
a personal story, challenge your
audience, etc.
HIGH-IMPACT SPEAKING

5 VULNERABILITY
Surprised that vulnerability is a necessary
quality of great executive speaking?
It is, and the reason can be explained
in just two words: being yourself. That
seemingly natural attribute can be one
of the hardest things to achieve when
you’re speaking for leadership.
Here’s why: for most of us, speaking in
public results in self-consciousness, and
often anxiety. That can lead to playing
defense. Sometimes that means wearing
a suit of invisible armor to protect
you against resistance or hostility;
and sometimes it means trying to “be
excellent.” In both cases, you’re running
toward the wrong goalpost: trying to get
through the speech with your skin intact.
But if you want listeners to change in
some positive way from your speech or
presentation, they need to trust you. And
trust can only emerge if you’re being
honest with your audience. If the people
you’re speaking to believe they’re seeing
the real unadorned you, including your
vulnerability, they will trust you—and
then they’ll be willing to be influenced by
what you’re saying.
More than any other performance art,
public speaking reflects who you really
are.
WHAT YOU CAN
LEARN FROM
ACTORS ABOUT
VULNERABILITY
As an actor, I can share with you that
actors demonstrate extreme vulnerability
in all kinds of roles. They must open
themselves up, again and again, to allow
a new personality in. And in the hands of
a great playwright or screenwriter, the
flaws and weaknesses of that character
may be on full display. So, great acting is

27
HIGH-IMPACT SPEAKING

a form of total honesty to the demands
of the role and the portrayal of a living
breathing human being.
And here’s the interesting and magical
result: audiences believe completely
in the person they’re seeing in front
of them, even though they know it’s
really an actor playing a role. It’s part of
what’s called the “willing suspension of
disbelief.” There’s an essential paradox
being played out concerning truth
and artifice—but that is the nature of
dramatic art.
Gaining trust with audiences through
your honesty and believability is as
necessary in public speaking as it is
in acting. The challenge for both the
speaker and the actor is to become
comfortable being that naked on stage.
But here’s the thing: it’s because the
audience sees your vulnerability that
they realize they can trust you. Display
something other than honesty—such as
consciously trying to be a charismatic
speaker—and it will play tinny and false.
Now for the really good news: being
honest with an audience is literally an
effortless activity. Giving a speech in
a suit of armor, on the other hand, is
awfully hard work.

“Acting is standing up naked and turning around

very slowly.” ~ Rosalind Russell

28
HIGH-IMPACT SPEAKING
6 EMPATHY
Speakers can often seem larger than
life. When you speak for leadership, you
help audiences feel that they’re part of
something greater than themselves.
But however powerful you may seem,
you can only truly reach listeners
through your shared humanity. You must
understand your audience’s hopes, fears,
and desires, and speak to that. For you
as an influential speaker, “I feel your pain”
can’t be a vote-getting ploy; it must be a
credo to live by.
Ordinary speakers deliver information;
you need to match information to the
needs and desires of others who share
your vision. Persuasion, enlightenment
and inspiration require engaging not only
the minds but also the hearts of listeners.
The desire to lead is the desire to serve.
How does that play out in terms of your
own public speaking? Just as an actor
29
must understand the intentions of the
character, you must be attuned to your
purpose. How do you want to change
the world, in ways large or small through
your interaction with this audience?
The speaking version of you is truly the
person who needs to gain the trust of
listeners through the empathy you show
them.
WHY YOU SHOULD
TELL A STORY
You’ll often find that the best way to
convey the human dimension of your
topic and thereby demonstrate empathy
is through storytelling. Stories are truly
the lifeblood of shared experience where
public speaking is concerned. People
respond to stories in ways that the bare
delivery of information can’t come close
to equaling. Dry-as-toast data rarely has
HIGH-IMPACT SPEAKING
the sound of genuine empathy in an
audience’s ears.
If you want to persuade and influence
others, you must take them on an
emotional journey. Stories allow you to
introduce the human components of
motives, striving, obstacles, failures, and
eventual triumphs. Imagine achieving all
of that through bullet points, pie charts,
and bar graphs!
A WALK, THROUGH
SLAVERY TO
FREEDOM
Want to see how powerfully the shared
experience of our common humanity
can shape a speech? Below is one of
the most famous women’s speeches
in American history. It’s Sojourner
Truth’s (whose real name was Isabella
Baumfree) “Ain’t I a Woman?”—a women’s
right speech with an abolitionist tone.
Speaking in 1851 at the Women’s Rights
Convention in Akron, Ohio, this former
30
THE MAGIC OF
STORYTELLING
“I could tell you my
adventures—beginning from
this morning,’ said Alice a
little timidly: “but it’s no use
going back to yesterday,
because I was a different
person then.”
“Explain all that,” said the
Mock Turtle.
“No, no! The adventures
first,” said the Gryphon
in an impatient tone:
“explanations take such a
dreadful time.”
Lewis Carroll, Alice’s
Adventures in Wonderland
slave used the simplest language
imaginable to assert her own human
dignity. Hers was one of the voices
creating a new cry for freedom that
was resonating with increasing power
throughout the United States.
HIGH-IMPACT SPEAKING
Ain’t I a Woman?
Well, children, where there is so much
racket there must be something out of
kilter. I think that ‘twixt the negroes of the
South and the women at the North, all
talking about rights, the white men will
be in a fix pretty soon. But what’s all this
here talking about?
That man over there says that women
need to be helped into carriages, and
lifted over ditches, and to have the best
place everywhere. Nobody ever helps
me into carriages, or over mud-puddles,
or gives me any best place! And ain’t
I a woman? Look at me! Look at my
arm! I have ploughed and planted, and
gathered into barns, and no man could
head me! And ain’t I a woman? I could
work as much and eat as much as a
man - when I could get it - and bear the
lash as well! And ain’t I a woman? I have
borne thirteen children, and seen most
all sold off to slavery, and when I cried
out with my mother’s grief, none but
Jesus heard me! And ain’t I a woman?
31
Then they talk about this thing in the
head; what’s this they call it? [Someone
calls out, “intellect”.] That’s it, honey.
What’s that got to do with women’s
rights or negroes’ rights? If my cup won’t
hold but a pint, and yours holds a quart,
wouldn’t you be mean not to let me have
my little half measure full?
Then that little man in black there, he
says women can’t have as much rights
as men, ‘cause Christ wasn’t a woman!
Where did your Christ come from?
Where did your Christ come from? From
God and a woman! Man had nothing to
do with Him.
If the first woman God ever made was
strong enough to turn the world upside
down all alone, these women together
ought to be able to turn it back, and get
it right side up again! And now they is
asking to do it, the men better let them.
Obliged to you for hearing me, and now
old Sojourner ain’t got nothing more to
say.
HIGH-IMPACT SPEAKING
FIND THE EMOTIONAL
HEART OF YOUR
SPEECH
You won’t get very far in trying to
achieve empathy as a speaker without
meeting the word “emotion.” Call it the
currency of your passion for your topic.
(Can’t you feel it strongly in Sojourner
Truth’s speech above?) Empathy is the
instrument that allows you to exchange
the strength of your feeling with others—
and this tool works in both directions:
from speaker to audience, and back
again.
Your demonstrated emotion as a speaker
performs two functions: it helps listeners
empathize with your feelings; and it
allows you to reveal the depth of your
feeling and your shared humanity with
them. You must, as Shakespeare had it,
“wear your heart on your sleeve.” Iago in
Othello characterized that as weakness.
But you must recognize it as strength, in
32
terms of your ability to motivate, excite,
and enthrall audiences.
Let’s look at a contemporary speech
that is a powerful example of showing
empathy for an audience. A few years
ago, a reader of my blog was kind
enough to tell me her public speaking
story. I was delighted and moved by
what she had to say, and I asked her if I
could share her story. She agreed, and
here it is.
Nancy Boudreaux is an Investor
Education Trainer for the Louisiana
Office of Financial Institutions. In 2012,
she was slated to speak at a statewide
conference of Louisiana’s Emergency
Preparedness Association. Nancy’s
speech concerned scams and frauds
that often follow natural disasters. The
night before her speech, she realized
that there would probably be many
people in her audience who came to
New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina
in 2006 to help with rescue efforts and
cleanup.
HIGH-IMPACT SPEAKING

I’ll let Nancy herself tell the rest of the story:

It was a large group of about 125 attendees, with the space set up
classroom style. The grand ballroom was full, and it was a little
intimidating. I knew I needed to project authority from the start to be
taken seriously. I decided to conduct a poll, so I asked: “How many
people in this room came to New Orleans’s aid after Katrina?” As I
looked at all the hands that were raised, I was overwhelmed with
gratitude for their help. I remembered how bad things had looked
when I arrived a month after the storm, thinking, “If it looks this bad
a month later, thank God I didn’t have to see it immediately after the
storm!” Now, here were the very people who had come to help my
city.

My throat closed and my eyes swelled with tears. I managed to

choke out, “Thank you” to each side of the audience. I wiped my eyes
and continued, and even offered a funny story a few minutes later.

I was anxious to see my evaluations afterwards . . . and was stunned

at the positive comments! The people in that audience knew I was
genuine, and responded in kind. I couldn’t help but wonder if anyone
had ever thanked them for the sacrifices they had made to help New
Orleans, and was glad that I’d been bold enough to do just that. It
was a turning point in my career. I now seek to connect to the hearts
of people in my audiences, and not just their minds.

33
HIGH-IMPACT SPEAKING

7 HUMILITY
You’ll probably find this attribute of great
speakers something of a balancing
act. As a leader, you often need the
largest audiences possible to deliver
your message and to achieve maximum
influence. Once you’ve found such
an audience, however, you must
subordinate yourself to the needs of
your listeners. And that means displaying
humility and the true desire to serve.
Ultimately, your success as an executive
who speaks for leadership depends
upon delivering what stakeholders
seek. But you also must be seen serving
something other than your own interests.
And that means being humble. It all
comes down to professionalism.

Why is this quality one of our

7 ESSENTIAL QUALITIES OF SPEAKING
FOR LEADERSHIP? When you’re
recognized as a leader, people will
assume that you possess ambition in
much greater stores than humility. Even
if that’s the case, you must display this
dimension of your leadership. To borrow
from the title of Roger Ailes’s influential
book, you are the message when you
speak.
What I mean by that is, you’re tasked
with attaining the delicate balance of
power and humility that leaders must
display when they speak. It’s part of the
stage presence that public speaking
leaders need.

34
HIGH-IMPACT SPEAKING

audiences. But what is it? And is it as

WHAT’S YOUR MAGIC
mysterious as people seem to think?
DUST? (OR, THE
TRUTH ABOUT STAGE Stage presence is simply demonstrated
competence and confidence. Your
PRESENCE) confidence is there for all to see; and
because of it, your performance seems
effortless. The type of performance
doesn’t matter. A business presentation
or a 16-year-old’s argumentation
in a high-school debate can each
demonstrate stage presence as much as
more high-profile appearances.

The truth is there’s no magic dust

involved. And specialized training isn’t
required either. Two factors much
more old-fashioned and powerful than
Richard Burton, the stage and film star of
those things are needed: simplicity, and
the mid-20th century, was said to have
absolute focus—the kind of focus that
tons of it. Ian McKellen, a current English
comes from attempting to do something
actor and one I’ve seen many times on
well and nothing else. In terms of public
stage, embodies it. So do musicians
speaking, that means trying your best
like Elton John and Lady Gaga, and Bill
to get your critical message across, and
Clinton when he was president.
being humble enough to not give a
It’s stage presence. Possess it, and you’ll damn how excellent you sound.
reliably engage and even electrify

35
HIGH-IMPACT SPEAKING

3 Ways to Develop Stage Presence to Speak as a Leader

Here are three ways to develop stage presence in your public
speaking, whomever you speak to and whatever your topic:

1. Count on yourself and your talent. It’s virtually always true that
you’re being asked to speak because you are the perfect person
for the task. Your knowledge, experience, abilities and wisdom
are the attributes that are called for. Trust in that fact, and in
yourself. Remember that it’s your personality even more than
your knowledge that will truly move listeners. As an audience
member, I want that personal connection to occur.

2. Be more human than professional. Public speaking is a form

of community, and you’re in the bully pulpit leading the way.
Whatever your topic or area of expertise, this approach rings
true: you should spend less time gathering your content and
more time being comfortable in front of a roomful of people,
talking to them. People will recall few or none of the facts and
figures you present, but everyone will recall how you made them feel.

3. Be fully present. Don’t be like Marley’s ghost in Charles

Dickens’s story “A Christmas Carol,” dragging the ball-and-chain
of the past on stage with you. Forget about what’s on your mind
and the fires you’ll be putting out when you get back to the
office. Right now, you have just one job: performing at your very
best. Be the most mindful and present speaker you can be. That’s
truly serving others. You’ll also have all the stage presence you
need.

36
HIGH-IMPACT SPEAKING

A SPEAKING VERSION
OF YOURSELF
So, if you aspire to leadership, from
today on think in terms of the “speaking
version” of you: confident, present, ALTRUISM AND
serving your listeners, and humble. The HUMILITY IN LEADERS
combination isn’t always easy—but it
you want to reach a truly great level of A survey by the Catalyst
executive speaking, you must get there. Research Center for
Find a way to identify with your
Advancing Leader
audience’s values and experiences, Effectiveness found a
then externalize the connection by what 35% variance in feelings
you say. Most listeners resist speakers of belongingness in
whose background or known views
U.S. employees due to
are noticeably different from their own.
altruistic leader behavior,
Wherever you can, show that you and
your listeners share common ground. including humility. In
Remember that our experiences, China, it was nearly 70%.viii
motivations and feelings unite all of us
around the world far more than they
divide us. Create an atmosphere in your
presentations that fosters persuasion
and believability.

37
HIGH-IMPACT SPEAKING
And remember to be interesting! You can
judge this for yourself in your practice
sessions. If you’re looking forward to
just getting this thing over with (without
sharing your real feelings with listeners),
your audience will want it to be over as
quickly as you do.
Here, again, you can learn from the
actor’s art. The persona you show an
audience is the essence of everything
you display that goes beyond content.
That’s a huge determinant of your
success. In the end, it’s the equal
38
to whatever else your audience
experiences from you. It’s also a more
direct route to the influence you’re trying
to achieve.
Speaking for the Greater Good
A final word about serving others rather
than yourself, as a professional and as
a leader who speaks. It’s from a Fast
Company article by Jeff Kavanaugh,
contrasting the type of leadership MBA
students think makes them marketable,
versus what recruiters believe:
Leadership isn’t a skill to be learned in
class; it’s the result of doing other things
right.
In professional settings, effective leaders
aren’t usually people who’ve spent many
hours diligently poring over academic
case studies on leadership. Rather,
they’re simply people who’ve focused on
building their own competence—being
really good at whatever it is they do—
and subsequently developed leadership
skills through that competence.ix
HIGH-IMPACT SPEAKING

ACCEPTING THE
CHALLENGE OF
SPEAKING FOR
LEADERSHIP
Ready to speak as a leader and change your world? By now, you
probably accept that when it comes to this kind of public address,
there’s a strong relationship between performance and success.
In fact, the more you can connect with audiences rather than
remaining in the comfort zone of your content, the more successful

you’ll be. Display the seven gifts named in this

e-book, and you’ll be giving listeners not
But to genuinely change an audience’s
only something of value, but someone of
beliefs or actions, it goes deeper than
worth.
that. And that’s where the 7 essential
qualities of speaking for leadership Let me share with you a happy ending
come into play. Remember, whatever where accepting the challenge of
your topic is when you speak: every speaking for leadership is concerned.
audience wants to see attributes that go
One of my speech-coaching clients, a
far beyond content and even charisma.

39
HIGH-IMPACT SPEAKING

shipping executive from Europe, had
previously been accepted into an MBA
program. But she had held off accepting
the slot because she learned that 40%
of her grade would depend on class
participation and presentations. Only
a few days after we finished working
together, she called to tell me that she
had formally accepted her place in the
next incoming class. “I’m so glad I did it!”
she said. Me too.
So, start your own journey today of
speaking with greater confidence and
influence. And keep in mind, the more
you enjoy yourself, the more your
audience will too. That’s in addition to
their benefitting from the lessons you’ve
learned in speaking for leadership.

40
HIGH-IMPACT SPEAKING

i. Carmine Gallo, “New Survey: 70% Say Presentation Skills Are

Critical for Career Success,” Forbes, September 25, 2014.

ii. Boris Groysberg, “The Seven Skills You Need to Thrive in the
C-Suite,” Harvard Business Review, March 18, 2014.

iii. Boris Groysberg and Michael Slind, “Leadership Is a Conversation,”

Harvard Business Review, June 2012.

iv. William Safire, Lend Me Your Ears: Great Speeches in History. (New
York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1997), 656-657.

v. John Baldoni, The Leader’s Pocket Guide: 101 Indispensable Tools,

Tips, and Techniques for Any Situation (New York: Amacom, 2013), 11.

vi. “The value of centered leadership: McKinsey Global Survey results,

October 2010. http://www.mckinsey.com/global-themes/leadership/
the-value-of-centered-leadership-mckinsey-global-survey-results.

vii. Hal Gregersen, “Bursting the CEO Bubble,” Harvard Business

Review, March-April 2017, 83.

viii. Jeanine Prime and Elizabeth Salib, “The Best Leaders Are Humble
Leaders,” Harvard Business Review, May 12, 2014.

ix. Jeff Kavanaugh, “Why Your Leadership Skills Won’t Get You Hired
(But These Four Other Things Might),” Fastcompany.com, March 6,
2017. https://www.fastcompany.com/3068705/why-your-leadership-
skills-wont-get-you-hired-but-these-four-other-things-might.

41
HIGH-IMPACT SPEAKING

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42 Learn More
 Gary Genard
President, The Genard Method
Actor, author, and speech coach, Dr.
Gary Genard is an expert in theater-
based public speaking training. He
created The Genard Method in 2001
to use performance techniques to
help business executives and other
professionals speak with greater impact
and influence.
Dr. Genard’s weekly blog Speak
for Success! covers topics ranging
from leadership communication to
overcoming fear of public speaking,
body language, voice improvement,
and influencing stakeholders. He is the
author of Fearless Speaking – Beat Your
Anxiety. Build Your Confidence. Change
Your Life., How to Give a Speech, and
has published hundreds of articles on
effective public speaking.
Dr. Genard completed his acting training
at the Webber Douglas Academy of
Dramatic Art in London, and holds a
Ph.D. in Theater from Tufts University
in Massachusetts. He has served on
the faculty at Harvard, Boston College,
Tufts, Bentley University, and the
University of Illinois. In 2017, for the
fourth consecutive year, Dr. Genard has
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 genardmethod.com
info@genardmethod.com
(617) 993-3410
+1-617-993-3410 (GMT -5)

44