A 2,500-year-old lesson in thought leadership

In a packed hall of a Beijing hotel, a former English teacher talked excitedly about a new venture that – in his unabashed telling – would be a game changer: an online B2B marketplace linking small exporters with overseas buyers. It was the spring of 2000, and the U.S. dot-com bubble had just burst. Yet, this audience of internet startup founders, venture capitalists and the like was truly captivated by this man and his conviction. The speaker, if you haven’t already guessed by now, was Alibaba founder Jack Ma, and the rest is history.

Such is the power of public speaking, which delivered right can persuade people to buy into, or at least pay attention to, any idea, good or bad. This format of communication is not new — ancient Greek philosophers and politicians have always understood this. And its form has hardly changed over the centuries and remains an impactful medium. Yet, in the modern, corporate world, speeches remain underutilised as a form of thought leadership. Why is that?

Stage fright

Speeches tend to feature close to the bottom on marketers’ thought leadership agendas. Mainly because delivering a speech can be daunting — and even high-profile CEOs can get stage fright.

As a result, it's easy to overlook the merits of speaking opportunities. Speeches are often delivered to a select, captive audience, and their impact is measurable. Speeches also connect the speaker and listener in more intimate ways than, say, an op-ed column. They can also enhance a brand’s authority and build trust, to say nothing of the speaker’s profile.

To be sure, invitations to deliver a speech (or participate in a panel discussion or fireside chat) can be challenging to garner. But when an opportunity is presented, it should be treated like any other form of thought leadership and given adequate investment in terms of time and resources.

Yet speeches rarely get the attention they deserve. The speechwriter often flies blind and likely will not have an opportunity to brainstorm with the person they are writing for. And usually, there isn’t enough time to solicit the speaker’s ideas on the topic, incorporate their voice into the speech or prepare the speaker for effective and impactful delivery. Not surprisingly, the result is often dull, generic corporate speak that lands flat, wasting an opportunity to shine.

In some instances, organisations view speeches myopically as opportunities to talk about themselves and push products or services, without presenting a novel or thought-provoking idea. Just like a blog post that lacks insight, such speeches will make people tune out. Imagine if Steve Jobs only talked about the greatness of the iPhone at his legendary Stanford University commencement speech; it probably would not have gone viral the way it did.

Ancient Greeks and AI

In the coming months, as artificial intelligence (AI) tools make it seem easy to whip up content in seconds, a flood of “thought leadership” will inevitably battle for prominence. Making your blog or white paper discoverable will take a lot more than organic social media posts or a newsletter. Marketers need to reassess their thought leadership portfolio and strategies to see how they can get the most impact.

In the era of zero-click marketing, which calls for putting content where your audience is rather than leading them to your content through clicks, nothing beats getting to the point quickly. So marketers should, as this report recommends, “Go beyond text.” Speeches are perfect for zero-click marketing — they offer a real-world opportunity to connect and engage with target audiences where they are and, most importantly, when you have their full attention.

If you’re ready to tap into this opportunity, here are three things to remember to get the most out of your speeches:

• Good speeches are gifts that keep on giving. If you’re in doubt over their ROI, it’s not difficult to see how speech content can be repurposed and amplified on other channels, such as video snippets for social media, PR opportunities, op-eds and blogs posts. If done well, they will guarantee more speaking invitations in the future, creating a virtuous cycle.
• Invest in the message. Corporate thought leaders can follow the example of the great Greek orator Demosthenes, who embraced one theme throughout his career. I had the pleasure of working with a CEO who took the time to sharpen his messaging by focusing on topics that mattered to his audience. He became a sought-after speaker and an authority in his area of advocacy with this consistent messaging strategy.
• Tell it like a human. Like beautiful lyrics in the hands of an unskilled singer, elegant speechwriting can only go so far in connecting with the audience. That challenge rests solely with the speaker. Here, we can turn to another ancient Greek - Aristotle - for inspiration. His oratory formula calls for three elements: ethos (credibility), logos (logical reasoning) and pathos (emotional appeal). Pathos, unfortunately, is somewhat hard to find in the corporate world and business leaders can understandably seem reticent in offering a window into their “soft side”. But a little personality (Jack Ma’s colourful personality is often credited as a reason for his success as a speaker) and humanity can go a long way in making a speech – and your brand – memorable.

Demosthenes is said to have mastered the art of elocution by projecting his voice over the din of crashing waves. Marketers can draw inspiration from this by leveraging the power of their corporate leaders’ voice, literally.