No, I Don’t Write Speeches
Because I run the Professional Speechwriters Association, people assume I must write speeches myself. I tell them that I actually hate writing speeches so much, I founded the PSA just to …
A New Year’s Note—to the Insiders
A new year’s letter to members of the Professional Speechwriters Association. Figured everyone in the professional rhetoric business could use this, this year. —DM *** Dear PSA Member, Perhaps because …
Rhetrospective 2023: What Leaders Said, How They Sounded (and What We Learned)
Dear Executive Communication Colleague, Readers sometimes question the quotes I include in the Executive Communication Report newsletter, assuming I endorse the sentiments. I ask them to read the regular header carefully—especially …
Origin Stories: Tricky in More Ways Than One
It was all those TED Talks that did it— that made it seem mandatory for every leader (and thus every leader’s speechwriter) to come up with a perfect “origin story.” …
Where Exactly Are We With ‘Stakeholder Capitalism’?
Fortune reminded us yesterday in a story about the sorry state of “stakeholder capitalism”: Almost exactly four years ago, The Business Roundtable made lots of news when it declared that the Purpose of a …
ChatGPT Is the Boyfriend I Never Wanted
Like, I love this thing, but it also tap dances on my last nerve at least three times a week. Here are a few quirks to be mindful of if …
My Electric Speechwriter, and Me
Prologue, Post-Dated, August 24, 2023 I wrote the piece below before I spoke with the Dutch founders of the speechwriting app Verble, Devin van den Berg and Victor Straatman. In …
Exec Comms Worst-Case
Should a PR team be fired for a negative executive media profile if the executive didn’t listen to their expert counsel? I don’t know all the details of what happened …
For Speechwriters, the Struggle Is Real (and It Always Was)
Digging through some old files, I came across an issue of a long-defunct publication I once edited for Ragan Communications, called Speechwriter’s Newsletter. I wrote the cover piece in the August …
Why We Give Speeches Now
One fine spring Saturday over the backyard fence, I was bragging about my European Parliament speech to my neighbors in Chicago’s Ukrainian Village, who think all I ever do is …