Writers who want to lean on AI: lazy, cynical, bored or overwhelmed
I was trying to keep things light last week on my personal blog Writing Boots, when I made fun of this ad for an AI writing program that “will write …
The ‘Moonshot Speech’: The Reason to Take the Risk
Last week, at the request of David Murray, I addressed the inaugural Executive Communications Summit about writing the “moonshot speech:—a goal-setting, line-in-the-sand-drawing, marker-dropping leadership declaration. David thought this topic would …
The Communication Manifesto, Revisited
You’d yawn, if you started reading here about the trouble with corporate life these days, and corporate communication and I was saying stuff like: “Employee levels of distrust have probably …
To speak, or not to speak?
You could sense the desperation in the speechwriter’s email: “I’ve been tasked with developing rough guidelines to use when evaluating incoming speaking requests. In your travels, have you come across …
How speechwriters are doing (and what you should do about it)
I went to get some pants let out a few weeks ago, and discovered every tailor in Chicago is overwhelmed with such work. This didn’t surprise me, as I’d just …
A Postcard From the Liminal Space
Four years ago, I was honored to attend the inaugural meeting of the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business’s newly formed Leadership Communication Council, in Charlottesville, Virginia. I summed …
Speechwriting: Still a Marvelous Job for a Moonlighter
Professional Speechwriters Association chief David Murray got a question awhile back from a guy who normally has the answers—speechwriting sage Robert Lerhman, co-author of The Political Speechwriter’s Companion, speechwriting teacher at American …
Fear and loathing in leadership communication
As the pandemic lifts and life slouches backwards toward normal, we’re hearing more, not fewer, reports of real distress among the communication colleagues we serve. Communicators routinely breaking down in …
A speech for “enough of us”?
For many years I’ve shown audiences of speechwriters all over America and all over the world President Carter’s famous “Crisis of Confidence” speech, also known as his “malaise” speech, even …