There’s a very good British film from 2010 titled “The King’s Speech.” It was not about a great orator. Rather it was about a boy with a stutter who grew into a man who, unexpectedly, became king. George VI. The film centers on how Bertie, as he was known to family and a few close friends, learned to master his stutter so that he could deliver a speech, on newfangled radio no less, without badly embarrassing himself.
One of the reasons the film was strong was its focus on the importance of public speaking. Of being able to speak in front of other people, ideally powerfully and persuasively.
In the old days speaking in public was a skill that was widely esteemed, and learning it was frequently mandatory. Now not so much – or even not at all. Most Americans are not required to practice public speaking, nor do we particularly value good public speakers. President Joe Biden has never been an especially strong speaker, nor has, for instance, the Senate Majority Leader, Democrat Chuck Schumer, or his Republican counterpart, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Moreover, leaders in other sectors are hardly ever seen by the public, and even less often heard. How many of us have heard a single syllable uttered by legendary Starbucks founder, Howard Schultz? Or Mary Barra, for a decade now CEO of General Motors? Or Disney’s well-known CEO, Bob Iger? Or the president of Harvard University, Alan Garber? Or Timothy Cardinal Dolan, Archbishop of New York? Or Charles Q. Brown, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff?
Pity that. For though it’s too often forgotten and nearly always underappreciated, great oratory is a great art. Moreover, for leaders it’s a skill of potentially supreme importance. The power to persuade, to inspire, to motivate, to teach, to move people to tears or to get them to laugh – these and then some are exceedingly effective tools in any leader’s arsenal.
I write this today for a reason. For last night’s meeting of the Democratic National Convention featured some exceptionally strong speakers who roused the crowd to hoot and holler thier approval. The speakers and their audience were as one, the latter galvanized by the former to electrifying heights of energy, enthusiasm, and excitement. Among others… Hillary Clinton never spoke better. Nor did Raphael Warnock. Nor did Jamie Raskin. Nor did Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
And I defy anyone to listen to Ashley Biden’s introduction of her father without being emotionally ensnared in what she was saying and how she said it. The president’s daughter identified herself as a social worker – not ordinarily a profession associated either with public speaking or with the exercise of power. But the woman knows how to hold a crowd – a leadership skill if every there was one.