I was talking with a fellow speechwriter – one who had just taken over executive communication duties at a Fortune 50 company – and she asked an interesting question. “Do you have any advice,” she asked, “for an executive communicator?”
Cheeky responses flooded my brain:
- Join Masochists Anonymous. Nothing says “I’m addicted to psychological pain” like being a speechwriter.
- Keep your resume polished. After all, your existence is often at the mercy of one person.
- Make sure you're friendly with the executive recruiters. Anyone need the phone number for Korn/Ferry?
- See if your local liquor store offers volume discounts.
On reflection – which is to say after a
good glass of Shiraz – I settled on this: Tactics got you
the job but strategy will keep you employed.
Which is to say that, like most of us, you probably got the job of speechwriter because you’re a good speech tactician. You enjoy the trying to match language to audience needs. You’re good at figuring out the right cadences that will stir the soul of the most cynical employee audience. You relish in the fine art of building solid arguments that put your speaker in the realm of the unassailable. You’re a master of dropping in just the right flavoring of rhetorical devices that keep your audiences awake without making your speaker sound like a pompous baboon.
Good speechwriters are valuable
tacticians, worth every dime the company spends on residual
psychological counseling.
But – and this is important – the successful executive communicator must be more than a tactician. If you really want to add value, you have to think strategically. That means you have to take a more holistic view of the executive communications function and match its goals with that of the organization. You have to do the hard work of developing your speaker from someone who’s good at delivering a speech to someone who’s regarded as a thought leader. You must promote yourself and your function up the line from mere wordsmiths to valuable business partners.
This is easier said than done and it's made more difficult by the fact that many companies do not get it. Heck, many communicators don’t get it. They don’t understand the difference between a PR goal and a “thought leader” position. They’re often stuck in a rolling conundrum of trying to promote the company’s image but without doing the hard work of establishing credibility and reputation. They’re locked into a reactive mode and mistakenly believe that the plethora of speaking invitations they receive is just as good as a proactive podium selection program.
So, yes, being a good speech tactician is important. It’s the prerequisite to sit in the chair and earns you the right to call yourself a speechwriter. But to stay there, you must deliver more than strong words well written. You have to be strategic, too.
Comments