Episode #299: Remembering Ex-PM Shinzo Abe As A Communicator

Remembering Ex-PM Shinzo Abe As A Communicator

Like everyone, I was so shocked that Japan has lost such a prominent, global representative of the country to assassination. I wrote this original article back in 2016 and I thought to rework it and release it again in memory of Shinzo Abe. Over many years I have seen him improve as a public speaker and that always encourages me to think that other prominent Japanese leaders can also break out of their self-imposed restrictions and do a professional job too.

October 2016

Japanese politicians have to do a lot of public speaking, but they are rarely engaging. They are generally speaking at their audiences rather than to them. I attended the Japan Summit at the Okura Hotel Ball Room run by the Economist. Sitting there listening to three leading Japanese politicians, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Shigeru Ishiba (then Minister for National Strategic Zones) and Akira Amari (then Minister for Economic and Fiscal Policy), I was struck by the lack of picture painting and storytelling in their presentations.

By the way, if you have seen Prime Minister Abe of late, he has improved quite a lot. Previously, his presentations were terribly wooden, lacking animation and any attempt at connection with his audience. In this sense, he was firmly situated in the mainstream, because these are the typical attributes of business and political leaders when speaking in public in Japan.

I sometimes get pushback from some Japanese class participants that this is okay, because this is the “Japanese way” of giving presentations. Total nonsense. Being effective as a presenter or public speaker has some universal elements which cannot be neglected. One aspect is as a successful speaker or presenter you have to push yourself forward. Yes, it is true that this is not usually seen as a cultural positive in Japan.

Being low key, humble, even subdued and apologetic is preferred in normal social and business life here. This doesn’t apply though when we are speaking in public. We now have an entirely different role and we have to be more loud, more animated, more confident, more engaging and more enthusiastic in this particular role. When we coach softly spoken people to increase their volume when speaking, they often say they feel like they are screaming. When we ask the audience listening during the class if they feel that is the case, the answer is always “no”. Instead, the speaker comes across as more confident, capable and credible. We have to understand the role is different and we have to adjust to suit that role.

Those who are failed presenters embrace the excuse of the “Japanese way” as an escape route from professional accountability, but it doesn’t work. Good is good and we can see the difference when people speak in pubic. They either engage us or they don’t and there is not a “Japanese way” of public speaking which can avoid that necessity.

Whether it was some coaching before the successful Olympic bid or thereafter, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is much better. More animated, using bigger gestures, more eye contact, using those see through teleprompters to help engage the audience, rather than looking down at a page of notes. He had humour, pauses for clarity and some voice modulation. Hey corporate Japan, take note, it is possible to become better at public speaking!

Everyone, please take note – don’t bore us with your data. Tell us a story, pleeease! Bring the points being made to life by connecting them to some people and events you have encountered. Our minds are well trained to absorb stories, because they are the first educational structure we encounter as young children. The story should start with taking us to the place of the story, the location, the room, nominate the day, month or the season and introduce the people there, preferably people we already know, to make it real for us.

By getting straight into the story we can draw our audience in. We can now intertwine the context behind the point we want our audience to agree with. By providing the background logic, cloaked in a story which is vivid, we can see it in our mind’s eye. We will have more success convincing others to follow us. Having set the scene, we finish by outlining our proposition or proposal and tie the ribbon on top, by pin pointing the major benefit of doing what we suggest. This is elegant and powerful.

In business, we should use storytelling appropriately but powerfully. Less is more, but none is particularly bad. Unite our disparate audience from multiple backgrounds by wrapping our key message in a story and if you do, what you say will be remembered, unlike almost all messages from Japanese politicians. Let the story create your context, evidence and sizzle for your key message

Action Steps

1. Stop believing the quality or quantity of your information is enough
2. Don’t try and pack too many stories into your presentation
3. Start the story by creating a vivid mind picture of the scene

-Vale Shinzo Abe, Japan’s longest serving Prime Minister