How to Hone a Corporate Leader's "Speech Skills"

In the recent U.S. midterm elections, both the Democratic and Republican parties fought fiercely. Crucially, speeches delivered directly in each electoral district became pivotal. Every word and gesture of the next-generation leadership candidates in battleground districts drew intense scrutiny. Their statements spread rapidly through news media and social media, shaping public perception.

The key point this article conveys is that whether in election speeches or corporate presentations, what matters most is the "content." Next comes the "delivery skills" to convey it. It emphasizes the importance of systematically honing these two elements, not just leaving them to the presenter.

■ The Powerhouse Duo: "Content" × "Delivery Skills"

The most crucial element, "content," is the words spoken by the presenter. It involves skillfully assembling various components—the hook, key messages, overall structure, and narrative flow—to create compelling content. Of course, projected slides, videos, and even props or flip charts held by the presenter can be considered vital content that supplements their spoken words.

"Delivery Skills," meanwhile, are the skills that make the content "appealing" and captivating. Beyond the linguistic aspects—like volume, pitch, tone, and speed—nonverbal elements are equally crucial: gestures, facial expressions, posture, eye contact, movement on stage, and microphone handling. No matter how good the content is, a monotone, scripted delivery will only put people to sleep. An engaging speaking style that captivates the audience is one of the essential qualities of a leader. Furthermore, "response" – unique experience is required for interactions with the audience, such as Q&A sessions.

In Western countries, to hone this ability to communicate in public, "public speaking" classes are reportedly offered starting in elementary education, providing training in content construction and delivery skills.

■  Speechwriter employment rate: 23.4% (from Corporate PR Capability Survey)

In early 2014, our Corporate PR Strategy Research Institute conducted the " First Survey on Corporate PR Activities " targeting 479 listed Japanese companies. We included the following 10 questions to assess top management's leadership communication skills. The graph below shows the implementation rates for internal communication areas like collaboration between top management and the PR department, conversations with employees, and establishing regular information exchange forums with the media.

Among these, the item that drew significant interest from many corporate communications officers was "Having an internal or external system to professionally draft top management's messages." This question specifically asked about the presence of speechwriters. While the overall average was only 23.4%—meaning about one-quarter of companies had such a system in place—the figure jumped to 64.4% when looking solely at the S-rank companies (73 firms) that achieved the highest overall scores in the survey.

Recently, top executives have seen a dramatic increase in opportunities to present in various settings. Their appearances at press conferences, keynote speeches at conventions, employee addresses, panel discussions at forums, dialogues with institutional investors, television interviews, and even appearances on online media have multiplied. Consequently, the content they deliver and their delivery skills now significantly impact the company's image and brand.

In this environment, tailoring content appropriately for each specific situation and media outlet is challenging unless the leader is exceptionally seasoned.

Rather than leaving content creation—speechwriting—entirely to top executives, building an organizational system to manage it systematically is becoming increasingly important in today's climate, where societal demands for dialogue and accountability are growing.

■ Three Tips for Speechwriting. The Keyword is "6".

I'd like to introduce three key points for speechwriting.

① Start with the conclusion. "Conclusion, Introduction, Development, Transition."

When speaking in public settings like panel discussions or TV interviews, always aim to state your conclusion at the very beginning of your speech or session. For example: "I believe XX is extremely important. I'd like to discuss this now." While this is a long-standing principle, surprisingly many leaders fail to implement it. Often, in an effort to explain things thoroughly, they follow the traditional "introduction-development-turn-conclusion" structure. However, this can overwhelm the audience's attention span and comprehension. They end up creating a situation where they are communicating, but their message isn't getting through. Instead of starting with the traditional structure, begin your speech by stating your conclusion first: "conclusion-introduction-development-turn."

② Tailor Your Story to the Audience's Needs

The most crucial point in speechwriting is understanding the audience's needs. Whether it's a 10-minute talk or a 120-minute presentation, what are they expecting to hear? What kind of professionals are in the room, and what information are they seeking? It's vital to grasp the audience's needs as much as possible beforehand, build a story that aligns with those needs, and deliver the presentation accordingly. Simply talking about what you want to say rarely gets the message across. Clearly defining the presentation's purpose and goals, then finding the right balance between what the audience wants to hear and what the presenter wants to say, is one key technique in speechwriting.

③ The Keyword is "6"

Twitter, TV interviews, and newspaper articles all have limited space for information. Consequently, messages are expressed and conveyed in very short words. It's crucial to be highly conscious of this when speechwriting and to incorporate "keywords" that represent the points you want to emphasize. If you look closely at newspapers, article headlines are around 10 characters. Pure keywords, excluding conjunctions, have a limit of about "6" characters. In TV interviews, it used to be said that one sentence should be within 15 seconds. However, looking at recent news formats with frequent cuts, a CEO's comments are often edited down to about "6" seconds. It is necessary to create keywords with a clear understanding of the media environment that disseminates speech content. Both "Abenomics" and "wearable" are 6 characters long. By regularly studying keywords in circulation, the ability to express ideas concisely improves.

■ Whether fans increase or decrease depends entirely on the top's presentation

Public relations is about building positive relationships with society. For the top leader representing an organization to build good relations with society, the key lies in creating and delivering clear messages that understand the audience's needs and gain their empathy. Whether fans increase or decrease depends entirely on the top leader's presentation. The PR department is now more than ever required to play a central role in systematically refining presentations.

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