Page 84 - The New Articulate Executive_ Look, Act and Sound Like a Leader

GETTING THE MESSAGE ACROSS 75
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Necklaces quickly establish a position and then thrust
ahead to prove the thesis with one piece of compelling
evidence after another.
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A skillful presenter can use the necklace to change behaviors and
stir action—whether you are General George Patton inspiring his
troops, Barack Obama confronting the race issue in a historic speech
to the American people, or a salesperson selling goods and services
to a prospective client.
The effectiveness of the necklace and its beauty both lie in its
simplicity. Picture a necklace. The necklace is silver thread strung
with pearls. The silver thread is your theme. The pearls are exam-
ples that hang on the theme. Unlike with the rocket, there are no
subthemes. The necklace becomes complete when you attach the
two ends together and it forms a circle.
For centuries, historical figures of every stripe—politicians,
kings, emperors, and others—have used the necklace to spur action:
join the revolution, charge into battle, even to persuade people to
give up their lives for a cause. In our own time, extremists of the
cloth seem to have a particular talent for putting the necklace to
violently productive (read destructive) use. Radical Muslim clerics,
for example, have no trouble bending vulnerable minds to dastardly
deeds. Osama Bin Laden is a master of the necklace:
◆ Silver cord: Protect Islam from the infi del.
◆ Pearls: A litany of perceived humiliations and injustices and a
call to jihad.
◆ Result: 9/11, jihad, and an endless conga line of suicide
bombers.

I remember a professor in college who waxed rhapsodic for fi fty-
fi ve minutes about the Ralph Waldo Emerson journals and Emer-