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GREAT COMMUNICATION SECRETS OF GREAT LEADERS
is a man who knows who he is and why he is speaking. That is the moment of
awareness that every leadership speaker should strive to achieve.
Switch to another scene: Oprah Winfrey on the set of her TV studio. She
alternates between calmness and enthusiasm, joy and sadness, fun and seri-
ousness. Ms. Winfrey is a world away from a fictionalized George Patton, but
she is every bit as dynamic and in control as he was—and maybe more so. She
is a speaker who possesses the moment of awareness. She knows who she is
and what her message is.

Patton and Winfrey are not unique. Every good leader-presenter possesses a
high degree of self-awareness mixed with self-understanding of his or her role
as a communicator. To many, the following questions may seem obvious, but
until the framework for speaking is defined, the message cannot be clear. In
this chapter, we will explore two concepts:
Who are you as a leadership communicator (e.g., a presenter, a coach,
or something else)?
Why are you speaking to me?

DISCOVERING WHO YOU ARE AS A LEADERSHIP COMMUNICATOR
Creating a leadership message is about having a point of view. It is the per-
spective that you bring to the subject material as a leader within the organiza-
tion. Your perspective on the issue emerges from your role within the
organization as well as the content of your leadership character, i.e., what you
stand for.
It is important to note, however, that a leader’s speaking style on the stump
in front of an audience can differ somewhat from that leader’s private side.
Some of the most dynamic leaders may be quiet and shy off stage. They
reserve their passion for the stage and the audience, rather like actors do. Like-
wise, some leaders who are lively and funny one on one are absolute duds on
stage. This occurs because they have been unable to capture their private per-
sona or are unwilling to share it with others in a public forum.
As a leadership communicator, you will be called upon to make your mes-
sages public. Why? Because that’s how you lead. When a leader keeps every-
thing inside, people are left to their own devices to try and figure out what the
leader may, or may not, want. This is a failure of communications and a fail-
ure of leadership.