Read 21 Great Leaders: Learn Their Lessons, Improve Your Influence Online
Authors: Pat Williams
21 Great Leaders: Learn Their Lessons, Improve Your Influence (11 page)
America, as I look at you from afar, I wonder whether your moral and spiritual progress has been commensurate with your scientific progress. It seems to me that your moral progress lags behind your scientific progress…. You have allowed the material means by which you live to outdistance the spiritual ends for which you live. You have allowed your mentality to outrun your morality. You have allowed your civilization to outdistance your culture. Through your scientific genius you have made of the world a neighborhood, but…you have failed to make of it a brotherhood.
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Notice the counterpoint of ideas in this passage—the contrast of our mentality versus our morality, our civilization versus our culture. There are rhythms in these contrasts that make Dr. King’s message even more powerful and convicting.
In “Loving Your Enemies,” November 17, 1957, Dr. King expresses his views on nonviolence at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Montgomery, Alabama:
This morning, as I look into your eyes, and into the eyes of all of my brothers in Alabama and all over America and over the world, I say to you, “I love you. I would rather die than hate you.” And I’m foolish enough to believe that through the power of this love, somewhere, men of the most recalcitrant bent will be transformed. And then we will be in God’s kingdom. We will be able to matriculate into the University of Eternal Life because we had the power to love our enemies, to bless those persons that cursed us, to even decide to be good to those persons who hated us, and we even prayed for those persons who despitefully used us.
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Loving our enemies is a constant theme in Dr. King’s sermons. He weaves the timeless teachings of the Sermon on the Mount together with eye-opening original phrases such as “matriculate into the University of Eternal Life.” The combination of old and new, familiar and startling, forces us to think deeply about what it means to love our enemies.
“Eulogy for the Martyred Children,” September 18, 1963, is the message of comfort Dr. King delivered at the memorial service for three martyred girls. The girls—Addie Mae Collins, Carol Denise McNair, and Cynthia Diane Wesley—were killed in the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham. A fourth girl, Carole Robertson, was memorialized in a separate service. The church was bombed on Sunday, September 15, 1963—less than three weeks after Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. Dr. King’s eulogy helped accelerate passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Here’s an excerpt:
God still has a way of wringing good out of evil. And history has proven over and over again that unmerited suffering is redemptive. The innocent blood of these little girls may well serve as a redemptive force that will bring new light to this dark city….
Death is not the end. Death is not a period that ends the great sentence of life, but a comma that punctuates it to more lofty significance. Death is not a blind alley that leads the human race into a state of nothingness, but an open door which leads man into life eternal. Let this daring faith, this great invincible surmise, be your sustaining power during these trying days.
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In “How Long, Not Long,” March 25, 1965, Dr. King again shares a vision from his heart. Standing on the steps of the state capitol in Montgomery, immediately after the Selma-to-Montgomery March, he says:
However difficult the moment, however frustrating the hour, it will not be long, because “truth crushed to earth will rise again.”
How long? Not long, because “no lie can live forever.”
How long? Not long, because “you shall reap what you sow.”…
How long? Not long, because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.
How long? Not long, because “His truth is marching on.”
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The rhythm of the words lifts our hearts and makes us feel empowered and emboldened. In our public speaking, we need to choose not only our words but the cadence of our words. How our words sound is almost as important as what they mean.
On April 3, 1968, Dr. King delivered his last speech: “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop.” He spoke at the Mason Temple in Memphis, Tennessee, the headquarters of the Church of God in Christ. He closed with these prophetic words:
Well, I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn’t matter with me now, because I’ve been to the mountaintop. And I don’t mind.
Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land!
And so I’m happy tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!
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The following evening at about 6:00, Dr. King was on the balcony of his hotel room at the Lorraine Motel, along with other members of his entourage. He turned to musician Ben Branch. “Ben,” he said, “make sure you play ‘Take My Hand, Precious Lord’ in the meeting tonight. Play it real pretty.”
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Then a gunshot shattered the calm evening. Dr. King fell, mortally wounded.
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Like Dr. King, you may have a dream you want to communicate. Great leaders are great communicators. That’s why the Second Side of Leadership is communication. With these principles as our starting point, let me suggest some ways to become a more effective communicator of your leadership vision.
1.
Use humble words to communicate grand ideas
. The more you study Dr. King’s life, the more you appreciate what a learned intellectual he was. He was extremely well read and well acquainted with great literature and great ideas. Yet he communicated his grand and sweeping thoughts in humble words. He never tried to impress his audiences with jargon or big words. He used language to serve God and people, not to serve his own ego.
Dr. King learned the beauty of simple words from his father, Daddy King. Whenever Martin began to “gain altitude” and become grandiose in his preaching, Daddy King (who always sat front and center) would lean forward and whisper, “Keep it simple, son, keep it simple.”
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A number of years ago, an American president proposed a new policy of urban development. That policy, he said, would “strengthen linkages among macro-economic sectoral place-oriented economies.” Translation: his new policy would enable cities to cooperate together for mutual economic benefit.
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You have to wonder why he didn’t just say so.
If you really want to impress people with your communication skills, always communicate clearly and concisely. When people understand you, they think you’re brilliant!
2.
Throw away the script and speak from your heart
. What do people remember from the “I Have a Dream” speech? The conclusion—the final one-third of the speech. There’s nothing wrong with the first two-thirds. During the first twelve minutes, Dr. King made a powerful case for human equality. But when Dr. King set aside his notes and talked about his dream, his words thundered. When Dr. King told us, “I have a dream,” an electric thrill went down our collective spine. His dream of America’s future gripped our hearts and captured our imaginations. He enabled us to see that dream through his eyes—and he made us want to take part in it.
How are the last five minutes of the speech different from the first twelve minutes? Answer: In the last five minutes, Dr. King spoke straight from his heart, no notes, no script.
You might say, “I can’t give a speech without notes! And I can’t memorize a speech word for word.” I’m not suggesting you memorize a speech by rote. Your audience wants you to share your convictions, your ideas, with spontaneous passion. You won’t find energy and enthusiasm in a stack of notes. You must communicate straight from your heart.
How did Dr. King deliver his “I Have a Dream” speech completely impromptu and unrehearsed? Actually, he didn’t. Two months earlier, Dr. King had given a speech at the Detroit Walk to Freedom (June 23, 1963). The organizers of the Detroit event included Rev. C. L. Franklin (father of singer Aretha Franklin), Harry Belafonte, and Mahalia Jackson. Dr. King’s Detroit speech contained many of the same phrases and ideas found in the last five minutes of the “I Have a Dream” speech. If you compare the two speeches side by side, you find many strong similarities—but they’re not the same speech.
Dr. King had practiced the Detroit speech many times. Mahalia Jackson had heard him talk about the dream at the Walk to Freedom—and she wanted to hear those stirring words again. So she called out to Dr. King, “Tell them about the dream!” Dr. King simply had to reach into the depths of his soul and pull out the ideas and passion he had delivered in Detroit two months earlier.
You can communicate powerfully, without notes, straight from the heart, just as Dr. King did. The key to delivering a compelling, heartfelt speech is always to have ready what I call a “signature speech”—a presentation you have crafted and rehearsed hundreds of times and can tailor to the occasion. You can stretch it out by adding a few stories or condense it by mentally editing your speech on the fly.
The beauty of a signature speech is that you can deliver that speech a thousand times—
and it will never be the same speech twice
! You know the outline, themes, stories, and organization of the speech; you know exactly what you want to say at all times—but every time you give that speech, you compose a new and original version, sentence by sentence, as you speak. You deliver your speech the same way you would have a one-on-one conversation with a friend. You compose it as you go, while looking your audience in the eye.
And most important of all, you speak confidently, with passion and enthusiasm, in a compelling conversational style. If you want to communicate
your
dream,
your
leadership vision, in a way that persuades and inspires, throw away the script. Speak from your heart.
3.
Communicate passion, not just ideas and information
. Great communicators don’t just dump information on their listeners—they fire up their listeners with excitement and enthusiasm. If you want to transmit information, send an e-mail. But if you want to motivate and persuade, you have to communicate your passion.
Dr. King communicated passion and enthusiasm every time he spoke. He used rolling phrases to stir the souls of his listeners. He employed a powerful rhetorical device called
anaphora
—repeating important phrases for emphasis: “Now is the time…”; “One hundred years later…”; “We can never be satisfied…”; “Let freedom ring…”; “Free at last…”; and above all, “I have a dream….”
Dr. King didn’t sugarcoat the obstacles his people would face on the way to the promised land of equality and brotherhood—but in the midst of the crisis, he communicated hope. As he spoke, he opened the floodgates of his emotions, and his listeners were carried away on that emotional flood.
Your message should be logically organized and supported by facts (as Dr. King’s message was). You want to
reach
the emotions of your listeners, not manipulate them. But facts and logic alone are not enough. Your leadership vision deserves a powerful presentation. Tell them about your dream—and tell them with passion.
4.
Speak with authority
. Dr. King did not mince words. He spoke like a general issuing marching orders to his troops: “We shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back.”
Avoid “weasel words” that suck the power and authority out of your message. People use weasel words to avoid taking responsibility for their thoughts. Qualifiers are weasel words that cloud your meaning. For example, avoid saying “basically”—it weakens your statement. “To be honest” makes people wonder if you were dishonest before. Replace the squishy-sounding phrase “I feel” with a strong declarative statement. Instead of qualifying your position with “in my opinion,” get the facts that enable you to speak with authority. Speak with confidence and you’ll inspire confidence in your listeners.
No one wants to follow an uncertain leader. As the apostle Paul wrote, “If the trumpet does not sound a clear call, who will get ready for battle?”
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5.
Don’t soft-pedal bad news
. Dr. King stated the truth with unsparing clarity: “One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination.” He always paired bad news with his optimistic vision of the change that was coming.
If your organization is struggling, if your game plan is not working, candidly say so. Then, with confidence and enthusiasm, give your listeners an injection of hope and optimism. Motivate them, energize them—then lead them into your vision of the future.
6.
Communicate a sense of urgency
. Dr. King wanted the nation to know that the African-American community had reached the end of its patience. He said, “We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time…!” Motivate your listeners to action with a sense of urgency.
7.
Identify with your listeners
. Let them know you’re struggling alongside them, not talking “at” them. Tell them you understand their sacrifices. As Dr. King said, “I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations.” When you acknowledge their sacrifices, they’ll know they can trust you and follow where you lead.
8.
Finish strong!
Many good speeches have been ruined by weak endings. Don’t let your presentation trail off. Drive your point home with a powerful statement or a heart-tugging story. End with a call to action. Your closing sentence should pull your audience out of their chairs for a standing ovation.
