Strategically, she writes
April 14, 2020
In her new book Leading Lines, Lucinda Holdforth teaches the speechwriter to ask first: What is the real job of this speech?
Review of Leading Lines by Lucinda Holdforth (HarperCollins, 2020)
If youโre going to read one book about speechwriting this year, then pick up a copy of Australian speechwriter Lucinda Holdforthโs just-published Leading Lines. Her book is part-fascinating memoir and part-treasure chest of speechwriting help. Holdforth has had the good luck to have collaborated with and written speeches for top Australian political and corporate leaders for about 25 years. She is thus one of those rare โutility playerโ speechwriters, comfortable in both private- and public-sector settings. Holdforth is also deeply-read when it comes to being able to draw on relevant speeches as case studies to illustrate points in her text.
Leading Lines innovatively and boldly flips the script typically followed by contemporary speechwriting manuals. When veteran scribes get around to writing books on speechwriting, the tried-and-true formula is to methodically address the various challenges that arise in the drafting and delivery of a speech by outlining corresponding tactics. The final result is a series of chapter titles along the lines of: โJokes: Handle With Care,โ โOpening Lines That Set the Stage,โ โWhy a Little Pre-Event Practice Will Go A Long Way,โ and so on.
This is more or less the standard approach, and a perfectly logical way to produce a well-organized book for the niche speechwriting market. But one of the limitations of this approach is that it can gloss over messy issues that cannot be easily reduced to points on a checklist, or two rules, or an amusing anecdote, etc.
So rather than jump into specific problems and tactics right at the start, she dedicates about 80 pages to what she calls a speechโs โstrategic positioningโ before getting into tactics.
โStrategic positioningโ is Holdforthโs shorthand for a discussion in Chapter 4 of those big, complex questions about speeches that sometimes get lost in the rush to meet a deadline and produce a first draft for review. Questions likeโwhat is the โreal jobโ of a speech? Who is the key audience? Is there an โelephant in the roomโ that needs to be addressed in the speechโsome lurking issue regarding the speakerโs companyโs long-term performance, for example? The difficulty with elephants in the room is that speechwriters have to go out on their own to identify them. Holdforth share some good tips on how to do this.
A handy analogy that Holdforth shares in this strategy chapter is what she calls the speechโs โvantage point.โ If you imagine a large public or private sector organization, itโs only the top leader who can credibly invoke a truly 360 degree view of that organization, including its โpast, present and future.โ If leaders work with speechwriters to infuse the appropriate vantage point into their speeches, conveying a sharper, more vivid sense of the organizationโs basic story and future direction, then their keynotes and presentations will be much more interesting and attention-grabbing.
The last 150 or so pages of the book cover all the usual issues and tactical questions that can come up in finalizing a speech and prepping a speaker to step up to the podiumโincluding Holdforthโs suggestions regarding specific speech delivery strategies for female leaders.
This reviewer appreciated Holdforthโs caution around incorporating too many quotes in a speech: โLeaders donโt quote people, Iโve come to believe. People quote leaders.โ Same goes for her warning against trying to build a speech around a particular slogan or tag line: โโฆ[G]reat lines can only arise naturally as a summation of logical argument. It just doesnโt work the other way around.โ As Holdforth observes, itโs a mistake to start the other way around and โwrite [the speech] towardsโ the tagline.
A great read, crammed with useful adviceโLeading Lines will help you become a more effective speechwriter.