As editor of Speechwriter's Newsletter, I talk to a lot of speechwriters.
I talk to happy speechwriters, grumpy speechwriters, idealistic speechwriters and bitter speechwriters.
I talk to speechwriters who have succeeded in making a good living in this game, and speechwriters who struggle to stay sane and make ends meet at the same time.
Over the years, I've come to the somewhat banal conclusion that thriving speechwriters aren't necessarily the best writers, researchers or business thinkers.
As in many another profession, I suppose, the most successful speechwriters are usually the ones most in control of the wide-range of emotions involved in the job. Today, I'm going to talk about emotions that hurt speechwriters. Friday, I'll talk about emotions that speechwriters should cultivate.
Worst things first: Unproductive emotions to have about your boss or your job:
Fear. Like other animals, CEOs can smell fear. If they think you're afraid of them, they'll think you have reason to be afraid. For instance, maybe you're not all that marketable a speechwriter, and maybe they could find a better one on the open market. And you don't want this thought to cross a CEO's mind, lest it stop and take up permanent residence.
Contempt. I've known executive communicators who have been fixated on the notion, probably true, that they are smarter than the executives they are writing for. Yeah? So what? While you and the CEO probably spent your college years drinking too much, what did you do during your sober moments? You didn't go to business school. You didn't join a fraternity. You didn't do summer internships and idiotic volunteer work in order to build your résumé to apply to grad school for business. Instead, you screwballed around writing poems in college or taking journalism classes. And you don't regret it for a moment. But did you expect that activity to lead to a $10 million dollar salary plus stock options?
Jealousy. This comes from the slightly different fixation that some communicators have that they are as smart as the executives who are running the company. Whenever you're feeling jealous, think to yourself: Do I really want to be the CEO of a company (or the Senator)? Or do I just want people to clap at me for a change? If the former, drop your writing gig and get an MBA! If the latter, then do something worth clapping over. (Hint: Writing a corporate speech ain't it. Giving one effectively is.)
Dead seriousness. A speechwriter should never write consistently for a boss or on a topic that he or she disagrees with fundamentally. But full and passionate agreement isn't a good idea, either. Some sense of separation is required, lest the speechwriter fail to do the fundamentally speechwriterly job of bringing a different perspective to the table.
Love. I'm suspicious of speechwriters who paint their speakers to be the next Warren Buffett. In order for a speechwriter to clearly see a speaker's strengths and weaknesses clearly, and match those up with messages that fit the organization's strategy and the audience's interests alike, a certain detached cool is necessary.
Write speeches long enough, and you'll feel every one of these emotions. The key isand this doesn't jibe with the pop-psychology of the momentis controlling, managing, even hiding these feelings. And, more to the point, replacing them with the feelings that help you do your job.
I'll share those on Friday. If, of course, I feel like it.
Comments (8)
David: You wrote "what did you do during your sober moments? You didnt go to business school. You didnt join a fraternity. You didnt do summer internships and idiotic volunteer work in order to build your résumé to apply to grad school for business. Instead, you screwballed around writing poems in college or taking journalism classes. And you dont regret it for a moment. "
You are spot on. I'm curious, though ... What is it about us writers that scorn Greek societies, business schools...basically anything anti-establishment? Why is that true about every writer I know?
Posted by EB | April 14, 2005 11:08 AM
Posted on April 14, 2005 11:08
Young writers, especially, SHOULD scorn organizations of all kinds, I think. Should establish an ethic of, MY TRUTH FIRST, group's truths second. I think, as young writers, we knew this, if we know nothing else.
I even remember a strong compulsion to avoid associating with other writers!
Since we spend the rest of our lives trying to hold into our own truth (and thus, our value as writers) while not being able to avoid immersion in groups: our companies, professional associations, pop-culture, church, it's good that we at least established a SENSE of independence when we were in college.
Don't you think?
Posted by David Murray | April 14, 2005 2:14 PM
Posted on April 14, 2005 14:14
Yes, I agree. But it still happens today, 15 years after college. Why? Why can't I just go on the women's retreat for church rather than being the renegade woman who hates the whole "program" of it. Why can't I just go to my son's PTA meetings without snorting under my breath when a cookie exchange is suggested by decade-old Alpha Gamma Delta? Why can't I buy into any of my company's core values? And I think it's especially true of writers. Why? Individuality? Anti-social? Nerds? Psychopathic behavior? What gives?
Posted by EB | April 14, 2005 2:42 PM
Posted on April 14, 2005 14:42
You sound as if you're truly mourning your inability to belong. Are you?
Most shameful or hypocritical or hurful things I have ever done, I've done as the result of wanting to belong to some dumb-ass group or other. And I have wanted to belong--and managed to belong--to plenty.
That's why I distrust all social, corporate, group, mob interests, even as I participate in them, in the very same way I distrust booze, even as I drink it: They can make you stupid and insensitive and thoughtless.
Posted by David Murray | April 14, 2005 3:31 PM
Posted on April 14, 2005 15:31
Okay, now I'm starting to sound like a freak.
It's more that I seem to take pride in NOT being a part of an established group. It's that same thing that drives me to NOT read many popular books, NOT listen to popular music and NOT be a cheerleader. And I was a cheerleader! For a brief, wayward time in the 9th grade. But I found more interesting people when I was independent of a group. For example, the bookworm guy who could play our hgh school's entire fight song (the drum part) with his thumbs on the cafeteria table. Or the girl who had grown up in South Africa before moving to the states in 10th grade. And I think that's still true today.
I think many groups subtly ask you to be like everyone else. And they don't support inviduality very often.
Posted by EB | April 14, 2005 3:46 PM
Posted on April 14, 2005 15:46
"I think many groups subtly ask you to be like everyone else. And they don't support inviduality very often."
Bingo.
Now, why isn't anybody else joining this Oprah/Dr. Phil/Jerry Springer Show?
Or did I just answer my own question?
Posted by David Murray | April 14, 2005 3:54 PM
Posted on April 14, 2005 15:54
For whatever it's worth, I had another thought. I do believe that everyone has a story to share. But the stories seem to get watered down or incorporated into other stories when a person is too entrenched in a "group." If I'm interviewing an employee for a story on his involvement in the hospital's building project, nothing interesting is said until the interview is over and I start asking him questions that have nothing to do with work.
Being that I like interesting stories, I tend to be more drawn to individuals who are cooly detached. Kinda like Jeanne Jeanne Garofalo (actors), or Shawn Colvin (music) or Cormac McCarthy (authors). And the same is true for the people in my life.
Okay, I'm off the hot seat and now we'll focus on Oprah's newest book of the month.
Posted by EB | April 14, 2005 4:05 PM
Posted on April 14, 2005 16:05
I know: I look at employee publications all the time at Ragan. There is a breed of human that I call "Employee Publication People."
Unlike regular people, Employee Publication People don't have ideas, they have hobbies. They don't like sex or drugs; what they love is a challenge. And they have small, usually black-and-white heads and they're always smiling.
No thanks.
Posted by David Murray | April 14, 2005 4:31 PM
Posted on April 14, 2005 16:31