Page 159 - The New Articulate Executive_ Look, Act and Sound Like a Leader

21

KEEP THE

MOMENTUM GOING

artin Luther King Jr.’s famous “I have a dream” speech
Mway back in 1963 was a tipping point in American race rela-
tions. In less than twenty minutes, he set the stage for the civil rights

movement for the next fifty years and inspired generations of Amer-
icans, black and white, to work together to try to make the issue of
color a thing of the past.
This was an especially daunting challenge at a time when seg-
regation was still alive and well, and the notion of racial equality was
still, in many parts of the country, almost unthinkable.
Martin Luther King Jr. succeeded that day not just because he
was a gifted orator with a special talent for impassioned rhetorical
theater, and not just because he understood the needs of his audience
and the power of language to change the world. He succeeded
because he understood momentum.
When energy hits critical mass and becomes unstoppable, you’ve
got momentum. And few people—before or since—have known
how to harness momentum like Martin Luther King Jr.
If you go on YouTube and watch the speech, you will note that
it has a rhythm that seems to gain speed, heat, and tempo. As he
starts to come into the stretch, in the latter third of the address, he

150