At the end of Darkest Hour, Winston Churchill’s famous ‘We shall fight on the beaches’ speech wins Parliament’s support for continuing the fight against Hitler, and defeats Lord Halifax’s plan to sue for peace. A surprised aide turns to Halifax and asks what just happened. “He mobilised the English language,” Halifax replies despondently, “and… Read More »How Churchill mobilised the English language for battle
Some 2300 years ago in Ancient Greece, Aristotle wrote his three pillars for public speaking. Surprisingly, they’re just as relevant today as they were then. So relevant in fact, that in Gravitas, Caroline Goyder uses them to define that mystical quality of influence and how to get it. Gravitas, says… Read More »Martin Luther King and the secret of gravitas
In Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, with pressure growing for his release from prison, Nelson Mandela is taken to a secret meeting with four government officials charged with finding a way out of their current political situation. Once the introductions are over, Mandela chooses a seat and invites the others… Read More »An influencing trick from Mandela you may be ignoring
“Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler” Albert Einstein Communicating effectively is surprisingly difficult. In our attention-starved, multi-tasking society, we rarely have people’s undivided attention when we’re communicating. The onus is on you to make your audience sit up and take notice. And the simpler you… Read More »Five simple ways to make your message memorable
“What is it that you actually do?” Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak (Woz) asks in the movie Steve Jobs, after listing the impressive contributions of other Apple team members. “Musicians play their instruments,” Jobs tells him simply. “I play the orchestra.” Jobs’s widow and current Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook… Read More »Playing the orchestra: lessons from Steve Jobs
Standing out amidst the crowd of communication chatter is getting ever harder in today’s world. How can you make your message memorable? In Resonate, Nancy Duarte suggests giving your audience a STAR moment – ‘Something They’ll Always Remember’. Often involving some kind of physical prop, it’s part of your presentation… Read More »Create your own STAR moment
‘Presence’ is an almost intangible quality. Some people have it, some people don’t. But those who do have presence have more impact, and get remembered. It’s easy to think that presence is a natural quality, something effortless. But presence is a quality you can most definitely develop. The authors of… Read More »Three ways to make a bigger impact
Last month the media was full of stories marking the anniversary of one of the greatest speeches of all time, Dr Martin Luther King’s ‘I Have a Dream’ address in Washington. What makes a speech resonate to such a degree that it is still celebrated 50 years later? The ‘I… Read More »Nine keys to an extraordinary speech: Amistad