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 …
Workaday White House Speechwriter vs. Credit-Hogging Dilettante Historian
My old man used to say to his self-conscious teenagers, “You wouldn’t worry so much about what people thought of you if you realized how seldom they do.” That came …
She Scared the Hell Out of Me (and Made Me Better)
My former boss died February 18, after battling an aggressive cancer for less than a year. She was brilliant and dedicated and selfless, and had terrifyingly high standards. I respected …
Pulling Back the Curtain on the Speechwriting Process
Four weeks ago, snow was in the forecast again for Boston. But by the time Mayor Michelle Wu took the stage at MGM Music Hall, the unconvincing afternoon flurries had …