Page 33 - Great Communication Secrets of Great Leaders

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WHAT IS LEADERSHIP COMMUNICATIONS?
CHAPTER 1
good story. He also, as his biographer Geoffrey Best writes, put his audience
at the center of the action. During his speeches and broadcasts of the war
years, he positioned the British people at the center of the world; he spoke to
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them as actors on the world stage. By so doing, he made them feel a sense of
importance—or, as we would say today in management, encouraged them to
take a position of ownership of the issue. When this occurs, people have a
sense of their own destiny; during any great event, such as a war, people may
feel a sense of insignificance, a sense that they have no ability to affect the out-
come. Churchill’s speeches counteracted that sentiment as he spoke again and
again of the individual contributions of the British people at home or abroad.
Churchill made certain that his message got through. His speeches in Par-
liament were of course widely covered. And when he took to the airwaves,
people stopped what they were doing, whether at home or at work, to listen.
He courted the press barons of his day, in particular Lord Beaverbrook, mak-
ing him a member of his Cabinet.
Churchill also made frequent use of memos, or, in his parlance, “min-
utes.” Reading samples of them, one gets the feeling that he was totally
immersed in the activity, quick with suggestions or requests for follow-up. 4
His memo writing enabled him to use his pen when he did not have the luxury
of face-to-face communication. These memos also documented what
occurred and what follow-up actions resulted. Again and again, Churchill
insisted on written communications for precisely this reason: He wanted to be
in the loop on important decisions. 5
BRUTAL HONESTY
Churchill was direct and straight with his people. He did not hide the dangers
that faced the island kingdom in the dark days of 1940. As he told the House
of Commons in his first speech after becoming prime minister,

I would say to the House, as I said to those who have joined this govern-
ment: “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat.”
We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have
before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering. You ask,
what is our policy? I can say: “It is to wage war, by sea, by land, and air,
and with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us.” 6

Ever the realist, Churchill knew that he could not simply deliver a chal-
lenge. He had to sketch his vision of the end—a note of inspiration in a time
of desperation.

You ask, what is our aim? I can answer with one word: It is victory, vic-
tory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and