7 November 2008
Former Thatcher agent praises Obama's "inclusive" speech
Experts say "Yes we can" learn a lot from the Presidential campaign.
Storytelling's a clear vote winner for leaders looking to win hearts and minds, if our analysis of Obama's victory speech is anything to go by.
The Hub asked some expert talking heads in the communications field to give their feedback on the pros and cons of both Obama's victory speech and McCain's concession speech, and how communicators can learn from the techniques used on the US Presidential campaign trail.
Speech recipe for success
First up, communications director of the major programs executive at BT Global Services in the UK, Mike Love (pictured, right).
In the past, Love was a party campaign manager for the UK Conservative Party and political agent to former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. He reckons Obama's victory speech "hit all the right buttons" and says it was:
- personal (his children will get their puppy);
- statesmanlike (“at this defining moment change has come to America”);
- inclusive (we are “partners in the journey…this victory belongs to you”); and
- internationalist (“a new dawn of American leadership is at hand”).
But most of all, Love says, it told a story.
"It told the story of Barack Obama and his family and it told the story of America. A 'history of struggle' for generations of African Americans characterized by the personal story of 106 year old Alice Nixon Cooper, born 'just a generation past slavery' who has lived to cast her vote for the first black President of the United States."
Many communicators will already be using storytelling techniques to their advantage in employee communications – perhaps within ghostwritten CEO speeches, or perhaps in an all-employee video (check out how Michelin Americas Small Tires uses a spoof video in this way).
Ensuring "inclusive" messaging
Love continues, "Obama's speech, as his campaign, was inclusive. The word count for the use of 'our' and 'we' within the speech was very high, but putting a communicator's cynicism aside, this is because the speech reflects the man."
Obama's speech, as his campaign, was inclusive. The word count for the use of 'our' and 'we' within the speech was very high.
"Cynics can try to belittle the poetry and passion of his speeches and suggest that he's just a good actor on the political stage, but this speech and those that preceded it in the campaign surely represent a successful bid to win minds as well as hearts."
Dominic Walters (pictured, below left) of Synopsis picks up on this point.
"We respond well when our leaders show their humanity as was demonstrated by the crowd’s reaction to the President-Elect’s thanks to his team and family – especially when he promised his young children that they had earned a new puppy, which will join them in the White House.
The same is true of leaders who give praise where it's due and Obama ensured that his campaign team were thanked individually – he summed them up as 'the best campaign team in the history of politics'."
Provoke improvements in leader communication
But are your leaders "walking the talk" convincingly?
A discussion on the Melcrum blog on this topic asks if communicators and leaders are paying enough attention to the words leaders use when they address employees. Perhaps their phrases are in need of a refresh in order to avoid reaching overkill?
Certainly for those involved in helping leaders engage their people, Obama used many helpful techniques to help get across what he wanted to say.
Walters believes that the new regime in America promises excitement for those interested in leadership communication, if Obama’s acceptance speech sets the standard for his term in office.
"As you might expect from words that have been years in the making," Walters says, "it's been hailed as a masterpiece of communication."
How companies can drum up momentum for change
Whereas Love notes how the mention of Alice Nixon Cooper enriched the storytelling element of Obama's speech, Walters says that her inclusion enabled "a sense of momentum".
"By listing the horrors and hardship that this lady had seen during her long life, and showing how Americans had overcome each, he reinforced that they'd also be able to address the issues they face now, and also underlined his point that the changes he represents are part of a ongoing evolution rather than a radical revolution."
Understanding audience needs
Obama's speech, although promoting hope, implied not to expect too much too soon. Leaders are also well advised to manage expectations and make sure that people understand that changes cannot be made overnight.
"Obama did this," Walters says "stating that there will be times when he and the people disagree and there will be 'set backs and false starts'."
Nonetheless he promised to listen throughout and explain when making decisions others found unpopular, Walters reminds us.
Collective effort to achieve goals
"Obama built on this to reassure the audience that together they'll be able to overcome the issues they face. His repetition of the campaign slogan ‘Yes we can’ became a chant as he went on and will be for many the ‘carry away’ message from what he said.
Leaders engage audiences by referring to their needs and issues, and linking what they have to say with these issues.
"Obama did this throughout his speech, referring to ‘your victory’ and also playing back people’s concerns about security and finance and concluding at the end that he would be 'your President'," Walters says.
The impression was of a shared agenda which will be tackled together, rather than one person’s wish list which will be imposed.
Why leaders should be wordsmiths
Metaphor can also be a powerful tool for leaders wishing to articulate a message and create a picture in the minds of their audience, and Obama used them to great effect. For example, he said:
- "Putting their hands on the arc of history and bending it their way."
- "Building the future ‘brick by brick’ with calloused hands."
Tips for introducing new leadership
While America at large adjusts to calling a different man their President-Elect, Kit Stinson (pictured, right), vice president of internal communications, Avaya, provides her advice for introducing a new CEO or interim leader to your organization.
Stinson draws on her recent experience of introducing a range of new leaders to her organization and her suggestions for ensuring a smooth introduction include:
- Forget those "first 100 day" plans. A new leader doesn't have that much time. Make a first-week plan for quick and broad communication that goes to everyone. It's often also good for the new leader to have a first-week call or meeting with the organization's first tier of non-senior executives (this would typically be the top 100 people in the company, or all the vice presidents). If the VPs are a particularly fragmented or geographically dispersed group, hold that call first, followed quickly – preferably the same day – with the entire organization.
Consistency creates a perception of credibility, and credibility is more important than seduction.
- The tone the leader sets from the beginning should be one he/she can stick with. A barrage of letters, email messages, meetings in the first week of a new regime will work only if the leader commits to keeping up precisely the same tone, volume, pace going forward. If he/she can only manage a monthly employee blog and a quarterly all-hands meeting, for example, that's what he/she should do in the first week. Consistency creates a perception of credibility, and credibility is more important than seduction.
How McCain's speech can help progress change
It'd be wrong to ignore the concession speech made by Senator McCain. According to Walters, he spoke "candidly and warmly, at times in the face of a more bitter audience, keen to show its disappointment."
Many commentators said that had the man who gave that speech been more evident on the campaign trail, rather than the McCain that many saw, the election result may well have been closer," he continues.
This serves as a useful reminder that while tools and techniques for speaking to people are important, people will always spot it when leaders don’t truly believe what they're saying. "The key thing that any leader needs to be a great communicator is a genuine belief in what they're doing and a passion for getting it done," says Walters.
How to embrace change
A key part of the speech was its clear focus on change, which was put into context, and presented as the next logical step of the American story, Walters says.
"By referring to the need to keep true to the ideals of the founding fathers, Obama kept the flame of change alive for those keen to see it, and also reassured the conservatives listening that he wasn't about to tear up the rule book.
Corporate America will have to shift its paradigm when thinking about diversity in its boardrooms and in hiring CEOs.
A wider focus on diversity
Walters says that for those seeking to portray Obama as "too risky" he was showing that his connections with and commitment to American priorities and history.
Nonetheless, he was also careful to acknowledge those of a more radical nature. "The comment that change ‘has been a long time coming’ was a line borrowed from Sam Cooke’s 1960s civil rights anthem."
Obama also closed his speech, Walters points out, by "wondering what advances his children will witness if they live into the next century – a clear reference to Martin Luther King’s hopes for his children expressed in his ‘dream’."
How boardroom politics could change
Clearly, the speech was designed to resonate in different ways with different sections of his audience, a technique communicators can build on when advising on leadership communications.
Diversity Executive reported on the diversity implications for businesses, and mentioned in particular the change that this win will signal in how corporate America is run.
“The kind of change I anticipate an Obama administration having [on businesses] would be profound. Corporate America will have to shift its paradigm when thinking about diversity in its boardrooms and in hiring CEOs,” said president and founder of LeggTalk Inc., a counseling and coaching organization, Donna Walton, in the e-newsletter.
“The Obama win [will] amplify the business case on diversity which has already been made. America should make the most of knowledge, skills and abilities of the workforce by paying attention to diversity beyond that required for legal compliance,” Walton explained.
Have your say
Mike Love says that cynics might claim Obama's speeches are him just being "a good actor on the political stage" – do you agree? Is this a problem you've encountered at your organization – perhaps your leader delivers a killer presentation or annual message, but when it comes to walking the talk, doesn't match up?
Or maybe you weren't a fan of the speech, or any of the other election campaign speeches – what techniques did you object to and why?
Recommended resources:
Making company strategy resonate at Avaya
Discuss the issue further on the Melcrum blog
OPINION: Make sense of business to shine as a communicator
If you've a question about this or another corporate comms issue, Hub members can ask Love a question via the Hub editorial board.
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