Page 59 - Great Communication Secrets of Great Leaders

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DEVELOPING THE LEADERSHIP MESSAGE
CHAPTER 3
Communications Planner:
Developing the Leadership Message
The leadership message is the most important part of the presentation. It
is the core upon which the entire presentation depends. Think of the mes-
sage as the 30-second takeaway that you want the audience to remember. 37
Here are some questions that you can use to spark your thinking
process. The answers to these questions will help you formulate your
message.
1. Why am I speaking, and what do I want to say?
2. How can I establish credibility?
3. What do I want people to remember?
4. How can I sum up my message in less than 30 seconds?
5. How will the audience react to my message?
6. How can I color my message to improve its clarity?
7. If I make a mistake, what steps can I take to restore my credi-
bility as leader?

KATHERINE GRAHAM—LEADING FROM WITHIN

When you read Katherine Graham’s autobiography, you get the feeling that
this is a woman who was not certain of her selfhood until very late in life.
Make no mistake: Katherine Graham was a giant who took a not very good
newspaper and built into one of the nation’s most respected, and at the same
time created a media empire.
Along the way, she helped bring a president to justice, stood down a tough
union, and survived a husband who demeaned her as he sank deeper into a sui-
cidal depression. Underneath her society-bred manners and sweet exterior,
Katherine Graham was one tough broad. As publisher of the most influential
paper in the world’s most influential capital, she was a powerful communica-
tor and a shining example of how to learn to lead. At every step in her public
career, the stakes got higher. And each time she rose to the challenge.

PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION
When Graham took over the Washington Post in the wake of her husband’s sui-
cide in 1963, it was not the powerful institution it would become. It was dowdy,
parochial, and, except for its being in the nation’s capital, inconsequential. In a