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Lessons From Obama

Like many people around the world, I watched Barack Obama's inaugural address on January 20^th, 2009. For many people, it was a historic moment, one they will talk about for years to come. Someday, people will say "I remember where I was when Barack Obama was sworn as the 44^th president of the United States."

While it may have been a moment for the ages, there are some more mundane elements that we can learn from. So here are some lessons to be taken from Barack Obama's inaugural address:

Success is a team project: Unless you are only representing yourself, a speech is a team project. Obama is an accomplished writer, having already authored two very successful books. Yet, even with his writing credentials, he has hired a speechwriter by the name of Jon Favreau (not to be confused with Jon Favreau, the actor). Favreau wrote most of the speech, but it was based on ideas that were outlined by Obama.

Too often, I see people slaving over a presentation and doing all the work: writing it, doing the research, building the PowerPoint slides, and so on. Share the burden and it will allow you to concentrate on the most important part: delivering an effective and enjoyable speech.
Preparation is key: Obama spent four months working on his speech. He left nothing to chance. Well, almost, as we will see later. While it was a team project, in the end, Obama was the one who decided what would be said. He practised and rehearsed his speech numerous times, probably in front of his closest advisers and his family.

I often see speeches where you can tell that the person is delivering it for the first time. Many people feel that if they work on a speech long enough, they don't need to rehearse it out loud before the final presentation. Even worse, sometimes they think they can wing it entirely. Wrong on both counts!

Rehearsing allows you to overcome many common problems: speaking too much or too little, identify bad transitions, control anxiety, and so on. I used to think that rehearsing a speech would make me seem robotic when I delivered it... until the day I finally decided to actually try it. The results were fantastic: the more I worked on a given speech, the better it became every time.
Say what they need to hear: Pandering to the audience may win you some brownie points, but it won't change their behaviour. Speeches are for the benefit of the audience, not for the benefit of the speaker. If you only tell the audience what they want to hear, then you are simply giving them a friendly pat on the back. While this can be useful, it is insufficient if your goal is to change behaviours and attitudes. You must go one step further.

I suspect many of the hundreds of thousands of people in attendance, as well as millions watching remotely via the Web or the television, expected a speech that was more upbeat. That may have been what they wanted to hear, but they needed to hear a different message: take responsibility because these are hard times, you will need to sacrifice and work with your neighbour if you want to get out of it.
Be prepared for the unexpected: with all that preparation, you would think that everything would go without a hitch during the inauguration. However, in the first few seconds of the swearing in ceremony, somebody goofed. The chief judge got the words wrong, which caused him and Obama to bungle the opening words. I can't say for sure what happened but here is what I think: Obama learned the words of the oath by heart, and was expecting to reply to the chief judge's words. However, when the chief judge made an error, it took Obama by surprise and he forgot the correct wording. A kink in the armour, if you will.

No matter how much you plan and practise, there is always the opportunity for Murphy's Law to take over. Deal with it gracefully, and keep going. As my mentor Alan Weiss says, "You won't change the course of Western civilization." Of course, that may not be the case for Obama, yet he smiled and kept doing what he had to do after his mistake.

Obama is a gifted speaker who most of us can only dream of emulating. Seeing how he (or other gifted speakers) speaks can either inspire or discourage. I choose to study and analyze great speakers, not because I want to become like them, but because I want to learn and understand what they do best, in order to act more like them.

That, I believe, is what effective learning and growing is all about.