The Sir Winston Method: The Five Secrets of Speaking the Language of Leadership

I find this book very easy and a real pleasure to read. In what follows I shall highlight Sir Winston Churchill's 5 secrets of public speaking and leadership. They are: (1). Sir Winston's rule number one is "Strong Beginning". About this Sir Winston said, "Opening amenities are often opening inanities". This is how Sir Winston began his opening speech to the House of Commons as Prime Minister, "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat"; (2). Sir Winston's rule number two is "One Theme". This can be put in latin as "Quod Erat Demonstrandum?, ie "What is the bottom line?". Sir Winston has read in Aristotle's Rhetoric that the most important thing in a speech is keeping to "one theme". In the 1930's Sir Winston told the British people to arm. He didn't clutter up the messages with extraneous items. He kept to one theme ie "Arm"; (3). Sir Winston's rule number three is "Simple Language". Sir Winston thought that a speech should look like a "radio script" not a newspaper article. It should sound the way you talk, not like some term paper you once wrote or a magazine article you recently read; (4). Sir Winston's rule number four is " Pictures". This is how Sir Winston made use of this rule, " From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an iron curtain has descended across the continent"; and (5). Sir Winston's rule number five is "Emotional Ending". This is how Sir Winston made use of this rule, "Let us ...brace ourselves to our duties and so bear ourselves that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, 'This was their finest hour'". There are of course many other examples but the above would do. Digest this book and you will improve your public speaking and leadership skills dramatically.

From someone who conducts 75+ public speaking presentations per year and teaches public speaking for a major university, let me say that this is the single best, most concise book ever written about public speaking "do's and don'ts". It's simply shameful that such a helpful book is out of print. If you can find a copy, snag it up as quickly as you can.

A great asset for public speaking course - either as a main text for simple, straight-forward non-technical (communication science) approach to speaking in public, or as an adjunct to a more formal, traditional text (covering outlines, types, etc.). It addresses attitude as well as content, and gives mnemonics for creating speeches which are not pedestrian, humdrum boring but full of life, interest and distinguished enough to be noticed. All summed up in the basic tenet of Sir Winston Churchill, the greatest speaker of this century (such as remains): care more about the message than yourself as the messenger. It can be read in a couple of hours, and absorbed over seveal months. Each time I use it, I find something which had not particularly struck me previously.