Say It Well: Find Your Voice, Speak Your Mind, Inspire Any Audience

“I think the starting point for effective speaking, for me at least, and for most people who I find persuasive,” he said, “is do they have a sense of who they are and what they believe?”

But before we dive in, I have a confession: I never read a book about public speaking or took a class on rhetoric before I became a speechwriter. Every lesson I’ll share in the chapters that follow I learned by doing. This is the book I wish I’d had when I started out on my own journey.

How are my life and work perhaps an example of a larger story that can bring people together?

“Why did you start this company?” “How did you start the company?” “How did it feel to start this company?” “Were you ever afraid you’d fail?” “What were the biggest challenges you faced?” “How did you overcome them?” “What makes your company different from your competitors?”

Here’s my thought on that: if you’re going to go through all the trouble of telling the bot what to write—and then keep feeding it more prompts to correct what it gets wrong and edit it to your liking—maybe it’s better, and even quicker, to just write it yourself.

stories that are important to them,

Who am I? Where do I come from? What am I working toward? What’s important to me? What are the values that guide me? What do I believe? Why do I do the work I do? What are my disappointments and fears? What do I hope to achieve in my life and work?

Your story is worthy. Your voice matters. You deserve to be on that stage just as much as anyone else.

your perspective, what you believe, what you think needs to be done.