Page 199 - Great Communication Secrets of Great Leaders

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I’ve been an orator really, basically, all of my life. Since I was
three and a half, I’ve been coming up in the church speaking. . . .
I’ve spoken at every church in Nashville at some point in my life.
You sort of get known for that. Other people were known for
singing. I was known for talking.
Oprah Winfrey

LEADER AS STORYTELLER

HE ATMOSPHERE IN THE ROOM WAS TENSE. For the men in the room, what
would happen next could mean a pat on the back on the way up the
T ladder, or a kick in the backside on the way down. It was an army
briefing room. The man to be briefed was a legend, a soldier’s soldier, General
Creighton Abrams. For one young man in the room, a major, it was a chance
to glimpse up close the legendary tank commander who had helped rescue the
101st Airborne at Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge. The intervening
years had not mellowed the old soldier; he was now commander of all forces
in Vietnam. One by one the more senior officers stood up and made their brief-
ings. There was no reaction from the general. Finally it was time for the major.
He stood up, strode to the front of the room, and itemized unit strengths and
weaknesses battalion by battalion. He did it without notes; he had only a
pointer and some charts. When he finished, Abrams grunted and left the room.

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