LESSONS FROM THE SWAT VALLEY

A LESSON IN SPEECHMAKING AND COURAGE   The world has just received an unforgettable lesson from a sixteen-year-old - in both speechmaking and in courage. Malala Yousafzai was already a great communicator and already a heroine when she stepped onto her school bus in Pakistan's conflict-riven Swat Valley last October. She had become internationally famous for running her campaign to combat the Taliban's insane drive to prevent education for girls. She was already the youngest ever nominee for a Nobel peace prize. But when the Taliban sent what most be the must be the most inept assassin of all time to silence both her and her campaign, they not only failed spectacularly. They managed to propel Malala's status as a heroine and superstar to stratospheric heights. After the attack Malala came to Britain for a multiplicity of life-saving operations involving a titanium plate in her forehead and an implant in her ear. She has since left hospital and resumed her campaign for female education at a level which must give anyone afraid of women - such as the Taliban - the worst of nightmares. So it was fitting that Malala celebrated both her recovery and her sixteenth birthday, not with the conventional wild teenage party, but with a speech to the United Nations in New York.  Malala speaking at the UN

GET YOUR MESSAGE ACROSS - WITH SIMPLICITY AND POWER  Apart from Malala's obvious rare courage and determination, there are several ways that her UN speech is to be admired from a performance perspective. And we don't have to have the world as our audience in order to pick up invaluable tips from her presentation skills. For a start she had a clear message...something that all speeches need, but many lack. Malala's message was that education is not the problem which the Taliban fear - it's the solution. She didn't want to retaliate against the Taliban with the same crude kind of weapon they used on her. Malala said that even if she had a gun in her hand and the Taliban representative who shot her was standing in front of her she wouldn't pull the trigger. I believe her. Instead Malala declared: "Education is the only solution." And she wrapped up her message in a powerful image with the simplest of wording: "One child, one teacher, one book and one pen can change the world". Many are fearful about giving a talk to a small number of people in their own company or to a panel of prospective buyers. Malala addressed international leaders and the world beyond with a calm inner confidence based on the quiet unpretentious certainty which underpins the wisdom of her approach. And rather than dwell on her own troubles and pain, Malala focused her attention on the challenges of others. It was all done with an overwhelming positivity. Malala spoke slowly with confidence, clarity and courage. The couple of times she made a teensy verbal slip she kept cool and then came up with the correct version. Check out Malala's style:    BECOME AN INSPIRATIONAL CEO IN TWELVE HOURS I work with a lot of chief executives - en mass in business leaders groups and individually. While they naturally have a wide range of personality types, there are a couple of things they tend to share. Most of them tend to be quick, ambitious learners. And they have the kind of brains that can keep across a wide range of things simultaneously. One thing a lot of them are not so good is communicating in a clear, confident and inspiring way. Up until recently the one-to-one work I do with chief executives has tended to be rather ad hoc. I typically come in and work with them for a specific speech they have to make or a particular set of questions they have to face in the media or from their clients, prospects, shareholders, suppliers or staff. But over the past week several chief executives, in the space of 24 hours, pushed me to design a more comprehensive programme to help chief executives rapidly boost their communications skills in a short period. So I have listened and acted. I'm now offering a new one-to-one programme for company leaders: "BECOME AN INSPIRATIONAL CEO IN 12 HOURS" I know it's possible to achieve this because when I've worked with company bosses on their communication skills in a concentrated way over several sessions they've made mindblowing progress. And I know that for many company leaders, being more inspiring communicators is desperately necessary. The business guru who once transformed the fortunes of Ford and Chrysler was right. "You can have brilliant ideas," Lee Iacocca declared. "But if you can't get them across, your ideas won't get you anywhere."   So the new programme - completed in three half-day sessions - will equip you with the following: # Supercharge your conversations skills so that you are consistently inspiring people rather than deflating them # Boost your business introductions in formal and informal situations # Empower you to give great answers to tough questions # Make presentations with confidence, impact and pizzazz (and if you want to use slides, deploy them in a way that enlivens audiences rather than sending them to sleep!!!) # Allow yourself to handle the media with aplomb when things go wrong # Give you the skills to win free media publicity when things are going right # Talk to the camera in webcasts and video conferences in a way that enhances your message, your offer and your image. Becoming an inspirational CEO is the kind of thing business leaders can focus on over summer when the pressure to perform may less than at other times of the year. Email enquiries@michaeldoddcommunications.com for more details.  SURPRISES FROM THE BLUE DANUBE  This is the part of the ezine where I say "Gross Gott" .........which means "G'day" in southern Germany and Austria. I've been saying "Gross Gott" a lot lately. As you read this I'm running pitching skills sessions in the magnificent Bavarian city of Munich on behalf of the dynamic international company, Bladonmore, which specialises in communicating knowledge. Munich ....where they don't talk much cricket (I've also come here to avoid having to take part in discussions over the First Test with English friends who have yet to acknowledge that if Stuart Broad had done the honourable thing and walked on Day 4 when he was clearly out the result would have been rather different!!!....But far from wishing to be portrayed as a Whinging Aussie - yes they do exist - let me say in my quietest voice: Well played England.) Meanwhile a few weeks ago Bladonmore sent me on a mission to The Austrian capital Vienna, which is also a pretty magnificent place with little discussion on inside edges or silly mid-on. I was particularly fortunate to be working there at the time of the Donau Insel Fest. This is the annual free music festival which takes place on the Danube Island...otherwise known as Europe's biggest free party.       The festival's a bit like Glastonbury but with less mud, a wider range of musical genres and strange collections of local men dancing in lederhosen baring their knobbly knees...Austria's answer to The Rolling Stones. It attracted over three million visitors with a mix of hip hop, house, soul, jazz, traditional Austrian oompah bands and didgeridoo. Yes, you read that correctly. On the banks of the Blue Danube there were indeed two Aussie didge players.....joined at one stage by my good self. Owing to a technical hitch you'll have to wait until the next ezine comes out before you see the stunning visual images which resulted.....the like of which The Blue Danube has never witnessed. Hope you can hold back. Auf Wiedersehen, Michael