Public Speaking - Is Your Corporate Story Hurting You?

"The change in the world economy is of a magnitude that comes once every hundred years," Toyota's president, Katsuaki Watanabe, told a news conference in Nagoya, Japan, near the company's Toyota City headquarters. "We are facing an unprecedented emergency."

Mr. Watanabe said the company would respond by suspending investment in new plants, including the delay in starting a factory in Mississippi announced last week, and moving some production lines to single shifts. The company has even unplugged electric hand dryers at some offices in an effort to cut costs.

What is missing from this speech is any positive vision or expectation. What are they going to do to overcome declining sales and to be positioned to capitalize on the first glimmer of an economic upturn?

When you speak to the media and investors, or to your employees and colleagues, you have a choice--make it all about the current difficulties or help the audience see the current difficulties as a foundation for a better future.

This is not about wishful thinking or having your head in the clouds. Your words and the images you use to emphasize them cause people to act. If you cause them to act afraid, or defensively you only get more of the same.

If you evoke images of the opportunities that will arise out of the poor economy, you inspire them to figure out solutions. Why not be the one company in your industry to start speaking positively today about what lies ahead. You just may be the one clairvoyant a year from now.

Share your thoughts about how your speeches and presentations can influence your audiences through our comment link below.