Jane Genova: Speechwriter - Ghostwriter

Maybe Palin can shout her speech from her back door to Russia

Hitting the speaking circuit is the Promised Land for most experts and leaders.  The pay can be six-figures, along with nice accommodations and fawning.  Sarah With-a-quick-eye-for-self-interest Palin had her eye on that.  But it doesn't seem to be panning out.

According to an insider report to the NEW YORK POST, "The big lecture buyers in the U.S. are paralyzed with fear about booking her, basically because they think she is a blithering idiot."  However, she is doing a bit better outside the U.S. 

Perhaps Palin can shout a speech for her back door to audiences in Russia. 

Over-60: Talking a new game

Too many over-60, after a career of success, seem to go on the defensive.  Yet they got where they were by aggressively being on the offense, especially in what they said on their feet.  You bet, we talk our way up the ladder as well as having a better cut of client and customer.  Yet, even seemingly the most astute players tend to drop the verbal ball as they struggle to remain employed post-60 years of age. 

For example, Robert A. Dobkin, corporate spokesman for Pepco, is 67.  In this news item, he explains  that he was scheduled to retire on April 1, 2009.  The reason he gives for staying on where he will be working everyday internally and externally with the media is, "I just figured there's no point in retiring in this time of uncertainty until I have a better feel for where the economy ..." 

Such a statement can prove a liability in the speaker's later career.  For starters, it uses that dreaded "r" word, that is, "retirement."  Secondly, it turns inward to the me.  Better for it turn outward to serving the mission of the company, to working with the exciting issues of the times, to be part of the solution for saving planet earth.  Third, it puts the company spotlight on the speaker as on short-time.  Would plum assignments and promotions come his way?  The odds are likely against that.

Reality: More professionals are doing amazing things post-60. 

At 68, T. Boone Pickens, who had lost the lion's share of his money and his wife, started in a fresh direction.  Currently, he is wealthy again and a leader in wind energy. 

In his late 60s, Clint Eastwood moved into the most creative part of his career.

Aging Baby Boomers Hillary Clinton has been coming into her own and now it's on the global stage and Diane Sawyer will now anchor the evening news. 

Me?  Near-60, I stopped chasing success and caught a creative wave Download Geezerguts.  Wealth and influence/power are no longer necessarily bundled together.  Not that they're mutually exclusive.  But you can have the latter without needing to pile up the former. 

Here and here are my other digital sites.  One is focused on regulation, legislation and litigation.  The other on career transitions.   And here, free for you, is how to save your soul and your career, at any age Download SavingSoulsJaneGenova.  There's more.  Need to boost your emotional intelligence [IQ]?  Here today and today only is this free book Download CUsersjasneDocumentsjg.  Post-60 I became an unusually productive thinker, writer and communications consultant, the result of learning to handle myself better on-my-feet.  Ironic?  No. Just a geezer reality.

Full disclosure: Robert A. Dobkin was my supervisor at the Atomic Industrial Forum, from 1981 through 1982.  

Kodak - What does KKR see that we don't?

First and most importantly, full disclosure:  About four years ago, Kodak could have hired me as speechwriter and didn't.  I perceived they also weren't very respectable.  Typical arrogant old-line-corporate behavior.

Now, as William M. Bulkeley and Peter Lattman report in THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, its business and therefore its balance sheet continue to deteriorate.  The seeming dino of a company has tried end runs such as entering the printer business but seems to be the gang who can't shoot straight.  The net loss for this year will probably be $400 million.  Perhaps their aim would have been better with me at their side.

For some reason I can't understand, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Company, explain Bulkeley and Lattman, "will buy up to $400 million in senior secured notes due 2017 carrying an interest rate of $10% to 10.7% [usury?].  KKR will also get warrants to purchase up to 53 millions shares [not me], equal to about 20% of Kodak's shares outstanding, and two board seats."

Question: What does KKR have up its sleeve?

Joint Session of Congress no place for heckling: Can GOP Joe Wilson Recover?

It's a genteel tradition in the Congress: Decorum.  The ritual is especially important during formal televised events like the Joint Session in which the President speaks.  That's why South Carolina Representative Joe Wilson might never recover from his breach of that protocol.  He not only heckled.  He said about the President, "You lie."

Obviously this is a man out of control.  A leadership position is no place for him.  He apologized but that won't be good enough.  It's more likely a pol can bounce back from an earmarks scandal than verbally attacking the President at the wrong place at the wrong time. 

Obama Speech: Long speeches broadcast defensiveness

Tonight's speech by the President went on too long.  As most seasoned speechwriters know, that kind of excess usually screams defensiveness.  Less has always been more, especially in public speaking.  The oral truth has now taken over written prose.  My hunch is that one of McKinsey and Company's recommendations to Conde Nast will be shorten all articles and get to the point much faster.

On the plus side, President ensured that the spirit of healthcare-reform pioneer Ted Kennedy hovered over the joint session of Congress.  His grieving widow sat next to the President's spouse and his letter, which was to be public after his death, was disclosed. 

Also, the President made clear that we geezers would be protected.  No death panels.  No messing with Medicare.  This is no country for old men and women.  You bet, we require guarantees.   With our 401Ks getting blown up and such subtle but rampant employment discrimination, our President must be on our side.

A third edge the President had was that he made the concept of choice-competition resonate.  That's the American mantra.  Every reason to make it a platform.

Speeches have never changed the world.  But formal oral communications has always been a key tool for policy makers.  The GOP didn't seem to recognize that operational reality when they had as their spokesperson the too-boring-by-far medical doc.  His unremarkable performance gave points to the President.

Kennedy Rhetoric Goes Conversational, So Does Presidential

The sweeping grand speechifying by Jack, Bobby, and Ted Kennedy has been replaced by the next generation's conversational rhetoric.  Yesterday the eulogies delivered at the funeral mass in Boston for the late U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy by sons Ted and Patrick had the tone and content of, well, Everyman.  Unlike their father and uncles they did not assume the voice of leadership or authority.  It was just two guys talking about their dad and themselves.

President Barack Obama's eulogy echoed that simple tone.  It was, of course, on a plane a bit higher than the other orations, but not by much.  The speech in America, even in such heady settings, has gone from eloquence to an attempt to connect, one human being to another. 

Here is a complimentary ebook focusing on how digital technology has been a prime mover in that shift Download SavingSoulsJaneGenova.

Question:  Will the old-style fire-eating rhetoric of the Southern Church also cool down?

VITAL SPEECHES OF THE DAY - David Murray, new head

The 75-year-young VITAL SPEECHES OF THE DAY has a new head.  Tom Daly is stepping down.  David Murray is stepping in.  He asks us to send our best speeches to him at Vseditor@mcmurry.com.

Talk Isn't Cheap - Creating Your Own Speech

Two drafts of a keynote speech can set back an executive $5000.  Even that routine address to the Rotary can cost Joe, real-estate agent, over a $1000.

Given that talk isn't cheap, those planning to do some public speaking have nothing to lose and plenty to save if they at least try to create their own remarks.  In the process, they will enhance their knowledge of oral communications.

Forget what used to be considered a good speech.  That was the statesmanlike address by someone with wealth, influence, and power.  Lee Iacocca, who I wrote for during the Chrysler turnaround, changed a lot of that.  He spoke to the people, directly.  Iacocca let his heart be his guide.  And he talked exactly the way we all do in intimate conversations.  He used terms like "gotta."  He was vulnerable and confessed his sins and insecurities.  He lit up when he let us into his hopes and dreams. And he pulled off one of the most successful turnarounds in corporate history.

Since then, everyone in the know knows business is a conversation.  In business, it's one human being talking with another human being.  Get more fancy than that and you will be perceived as anything from insincere to shady.  Here's my ebook, which has had more than a million downloads, yours free, on learning to talk the talk of the new economy Download SavingSoulsJaneGenova.

Okay, how to get started?  Here are some tips:

• Change the focus from your own angst and goals to what the audience wants and needs to hear.  A speech is audience-center, not speaker-centric.  You are just the messenger.  Do due diligence on who the audience is, what keeps them up at night, what dreams do they still hold on to, even during this brutal economic downturn, what keeps them getting up in the morning.

• Strip down your rhetoric to your most effective speaking style.  That could be how you have a conversation with your teenager on the way to the game, how you motivate your employees, or how you connect with clients and customers. Analyze why it works and then transfer those elements to the nuts and bolts of the speech.

• Make it interactive.  Involve the audience indirectly by alluding to them in the beginning of the speech.  For example, "You and I talked about what was on your minds.  I listened."  At the end, leave your email address so the conversation can continue.

• Rehearse with a Millennial.  They are the digital natives.  They were born into life as a conversation, not a set text. 

If you can't seem to make the transition from formal-speak to conversational or don't have the time, yes, I'm available, affordable, and care about you really connecting with your audience: Mgenova981@aol.com, 203-468-5679.  Emergencies okay.

President Obama: Shifts tone from rhetoric to conversational, adds gravitas to body language

It's not easy being President as unemployment continues to rise and no one can read the economic winds.  No surprise then, tonight in his health-care address President Obama made major changes in his public speaking. 

One was the shift from rhetoric to conversational.  He spoke in short bites, such as telling the American people he knows they are asking: What's in it for me.  He also made it clear: This isn't about me.

Second was the greater gravitas in his body language and facial expressions.  These aren't the best of times and the new seriousness communicates that the president knows that.

Third was the brevity.  Less is more.

His presentation could have been more persuasive had he read excerpts from all those letters he claims he has been receiving.  We needed some pulls to the heart strings.

Thank you for not sharing

We speechwriters usually advise clients to share a little about their personal lives to create audience empathy.  A little, we say.  Usually executive speakers are too experienced in public speaking and too insightful about human nature to overdue disclosing the personal  That's why this professional role is so satisfying: Clients know no one wants TMI [too-much information.]

Real life is very different, of course.  Since the age of Oprah, most of us have had be become hyper-vigilant about ferreting out the intruder in the housing complex, the office, or the plane ride who will unburden with detailed disclosure.  In her piece in THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, Elizabeth Bernstein points out that over-sharing is usually a female syndrome.  We females are biologically put-together to seek and receive comfort from telling others what we're feeling as well as secrets.

But, in this Black-Swan economy with all its unexpected professional reversals, men too have been pursuing an ear.  Perhaps because they're not seasoned in the ritual of sharing, males tend not to realize that there's a tradeoff involved.  Yes, I will listen and keep the information confidential.  In return, you provide me with something.  That could be a nice lunch out, roses from your garden, use of your beach house.  Listening is never a free service. 

So, it's unnerving when males will take a sharing dump and not offer something nice in return.  That could be their hardwiring or a history of male entitlement in American culture.  Whatever, I have become a pro at picking up on a male readying himself to take a sharing dump.  I flag down a cab [my Ford Escort '03 was stolen] and flee.  In this economic depression I, yeah, have my own sad stories. Here is just one Download Geezerguts.