Episode #45: Boris Johnson's Lessons On Public Speaking

As the Foreign Secretary for Britain, Boris Johnson gets a lot of practice giving speeches and fielding tough questions. There is the temptation to say, “Well of course he is a good public speaker, he is a politician after all, isn’t he”. That is true, except that very few politicians are any good at public speaking and amongst those who are good, he is certainly up there with the best. Being an Aussie, I have no well informed views on Boris as a politician. I use him as an example, because I want to draw out some lessons for all of us, on how to become better public speakers. If you do or don’t like him as a politician, then fine, but let’s limit our discussion to his speaking abilities.

At the British Chamber event he spoke at, he gave a short address and then took previously submitted questions from the audience. We talk about some people being larger than life and that is the feeling we get when we see him in action. He radiates energy and confidence. He grew up in a wealthy family, had an excellent education at Eton and Oxford and then worked as a high profile journalist. We may have none of these things in common with him, but we can take heed of the power of projecting energy and confidence.

Even if we are not particularly confident, we can raise our energy levels and this will make us appear more confident to the audience. For various emotional reasons, some speakers wish to share the information with us that they are not feeling confident, that they are poor at public speaking and that they are scared of the occasion. They do this in the belief that this will elicit a certain amount of sympathy and understanding from the audience and we will go easy on them.

This is a false dawn of hope, because that is not what the audience is thinking at all. The audience is already totally distracted by the time we get up to speak and what they are expecting is to be entertained and informed. They see our role as to provide that. If we kick things off with this confessional approach, we will have large swaths of the crowd quickly whipping out their hand held device and escaping to the internet.

Boris has enough confidence to derive humour at his own expense. He is comfortable to talk about his inadequacies, because he knows people have trouble identifying with Mr. or Ms. Perfect. We can’t feel close to people like that, because they are so alien from our experience. He also knows that his ability to connect with the audience will balance those self-confessed failings out. This is different from telling us you are hopeless as a speaker.

What he is doing is finding ways to connect with the audience and not come across as a smarty pants type we won’t like. With his intellect and elite education, he could quite easily display his mental acuity, but that won’t connect him with his audience. He has a good capacity to seem like the “common man”, albeit one educated at the best academic institutions the UK can provide. Now we might be an expert or an authority in our own field and it is quite easy to slip into the mode of Professor teaching the great unwashed. Not taking yourself too seriously requires confidence but it worth adding in some examples of this here and there. Don’t overdo it though, because it can come across as totally manufactured.

He has a style of speech which is full of connectors. He incites us to feel part of his crowd. He had a very good understanding of who was in his audience that day and encouraged us to feel he was making some remarks to family. Know your audience before you speak is a golden rule in presenting. Research who will be in the room, so you know how best to connect with them. This inclusive style of speaking is very effective. It is the feeling of being let in on a secret, of being brought into the fold, of being one of the in-crowd, we are all in this together, etc.

He does this with words, but also physically. He leans in, he makes constant eye contact with his audience, he projects his energy toward us. He also cleverly relieves the tension or any complexity, by playing around with that unruly mop of blond hair sitting above his cranium. We may lack the coif, but we can lean in, we can look individuals in the eye for around six seconds and encourage each person to feel we are speaking directly with them alone.

He is very good at making us all feel that, despite any differences, we are all on the same side. He does this by looking for points with which it is easy for us to agree. This is something we should be planning for our talks. How can we phrase ideas in such a way that it is very easy for the audience to support that construct. This is not dumb luck or random chance. This is a result of careful planning at the speech design stage. We look for common outcomes, which we will all feel are beneficial and we relate what we are saying to provide that context. Design “Buy In” and your chances of getting connectivity go up dramatically. Most speakers spare not a second for this in the planning and wonder why they can’t connect with their audience.

At the very end, he restated his key points, so that the last thing we remembered was what he wanted us to recall. We should always make it our habit to do the same with our audiences. Also, when he finished, he finished. He didn’t dilute the key messages by trying adding anything or take us off on a tangent. He said what he wanted to say and left the podium. We should do the same. Resist the urge to add too much. It only detracts from the core content we want to get across.

Action Steps:

1. Show you are confident (even if you aren’t).
2. Project energy, lift for the occasion
3. Don’t begin by apologising for any of your speaking inabilities
4. Don’t be afraid about talking about your mistakes
5. Don’t take yourself too seriously but do it sparingly
6. Look for speech and physical connectors to be able to bond with your audience
7. Create points of agreement for your audience
8. Sum up the key points you want to leave with your audience and then shut up, don’t keep adding and adding!

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About The Author

Dr. Greg Story: President, Dale Carnegie Training Japan

In the course of his career Dr. Greg Story has moved from the academic world, to consulting, investments, trade representation, international diplomacy, retail banking and people development. Growing up in Brisbane, Australia he never imagined he would have a Ph.D. in Japanese decision-making and become a 30 year veteran of Japan.

A committed lifelong learner, through his published articles in the American, British and European Chamber journals, his videos and podcasts “THE Leadership Japan Series”, "THE Sales Japan series", THE Presentations Japan Series", he is a thought leader in the four critical areas for business people: leadership, communication, sales and presentations. Dr. Story is a popular keynote speaker, executive coach and trainer.

Since 1971, he has been a disciple of traditional Shitoryu Karate and is currently a 6th Dan. Bunbu Ryodo (文武両道-both pen & sword) is his mantra and he applies martial art philosophies and strategies to business.