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The speeches that never got made and what they tell us about leadership
From the Cuban missile crisis to the election of Donald Trump, history has seen inflection points where alternative outcomes weren’t just possible, but actively planned for. So what can words that were never heard teach us about communication in a crisis? Asks speechwriter Jeff Nussbaum
There’s a joke in speechwriting circles about a speechwriter who dies and is offered the choice between heaven and hell. Being a good researcher, as all speechwriters must be, he first says, “A choice between heaven and hell – Let me see hell.” And there he is greeted by millions of speechwriters, typing away at millions of keyboards on deadline. His reaction? “That seems hellish – let me see heaven”. There again he is shown millions of speechwriters, pounding away on millions of keyboards, on deadline. The writer says, “but this is the same as hell”.
St. Peter replies, “Oh no, up here we use their stuff”.
For more than 25 years, I’ve written speeches for US presidents and elected officials, as well as those who hold positions of influence in the corporate world, philanthropy, sports and culture. My job has been to help leaders articulate their visions for the future and to put to paper the words and ideas to respond to events that nobody foresaw.
And sometimes the work involves recognising when as the kids say, “the vibes have shifted”. That certainly seems to be the case right now. During Donald Trump’s first presidency, I noted with some amusement that while many clients came to me hoping to sound more like President Obama, not one came to me asking to sound more like President Trump. While I still haven’t received that latter request exactly, there is certainly a tonal shift. I recently returned from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland where the journalist Liz Hoffman made an observation with which I wholeheartedly agree: many CEOs, who have lived wildly scripted professional lives are now seeing Donald Trump speaking freely, “saying the quiet parts out loud” and being celebrated rather than facing........
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