Did you watch Mark Carney’s presentation last week at Davos?
No, is probably your answer, you watched the selected clips on the TV or online.
I would strongly advise you to watch this powerful presentation; it’s only 16 minutes long.
Truly magnificent!
Mark was inspiring, courageous and lived the values that he spoke to us about.
As a speaker’s coach, I first and foremost want my clients to agree to use one of the talk templates I suggest. Templates provide structure and reduce your preparation time, leading to greater impact.
Let’s explore how Carney structured and delivered his talk.
The structure he used was one I often recommend to my clients; it is as follows:
Attention:
Get your audience’s attention immediately.
Interest:
Then hold their interest with a story, analogy or example.
Conviction:
Next, convince them of your approach while demonstrating your knowledge, experience, and integrity to win them over to your way of thinking.
Desired outcome:
Close by ‘painting a world picture’ of the desired outcome they can expect, having taken your suggestions on board.
Call to Action:
Ask your audience to act in a way that will take them further along the path you suggest.
When you have finished speaking, take a deep breath and enjoy the applause.
Holding an audience in the palm of your hand is the most wonderful experience.
Here I have cut and pasted some of Mark Carney’s content to demonstrate his use of the template:
Attention:
“It seems that every day we’re reminded that we live in an era of great power rivalry, that the rules based order is fading, that the strong can do what they can, and the weak must suffer what they must.”
“And faced with this logic, there is a strong tendency for countries to go along to get along, to accommodate, to avoid trouble, to hope that compliance will buy safety.
Well, it won’t.
So, what are our options?”
Interest:
“In 1978, the Czech dissident Václav Havel, later president, wrote an essay called The Power of the Powerless, and in it, he asked a simple question: how did the communist system sustain itself?
And his answer began with a greengrocer.
Every morning, this shopkeeper places a sign in his window: ‘Workers of the world unite’. He doesn’t believe it, no-one does, but he places a sign anyway to avoid trouble, to signal compliance, to get along. And because every shopkeeper on every street does the same, the system persist – not through violence alone, but through the participation of ordinary people in rituals they privately know to be false.
Havel called this “living within a lie”.
The system’s power comes not from its truth, but from everyone’s willingness to perform as if it were true, and its fragility comes from the same source. When even one person stops performing, when the greengrocer removes his sign, the illusion begins to crack. Friends, it is time for companies and countries to take their signs down.”
Conviction:
“For decades, countries like Canada prospered under what we called the rules-based international order. We joined its institutions, we praised its principles, we benefited from its predictability. And because of that, we could pursue values-based foreign policies under its protection.”
“So, we placed the sign in the window. We participated in the rituals, and we largely avoided calling out the gaps between rhetoric and reality.
This bargain no longer works. Let me be direct. We are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition.”
Here is my very brief summary of how he wished to convince his audience.
It’s time for countries and companies to take their signs down.
Middle power countries like Canada can build higher walls [create fortresses] or we can do something more ambitious build on our values with others who share these values.
Here is a very memorable sentence:
The middle powers must act together, because if we’re not at the table, we’re on the menu.
Close:
His talk then winds back to his key message:
“In a world of great power rivalry, the countries in between have a choice: compete with each other for favour or to combine to create a third path with impact.
We shouldn’t allow the rise of hard power to blind us to the fact that the power of legitimacy, integrity and rules will remain strong — if we choose to wield them together.
Which brings me back to Havel.
What would it mean for middle powers to “live the truth”?
Canada is taking the sign out of the window
Mark’s talk was BELIEVABLE, a critical ingredient for all speakers.
P.S.
If you have a speaking opportunity coming up and would like to make an impact, please get in touch.
Remember you only get one opportunity to make a good impression.
