21 Great Leaders: Learn Their Lessons, Improve Your Influence by Pat Williams Page B

you’re struggling alongside them, not talking “at” them. Tell them you understand their sacrifices. As Dr. King said, “I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations.” When you acknowledge their sacrifices, they’ll know they can trust you and follow where you lead.
    8.
Finish strong!
Many good speeches have been ruined by weak endings. Don’t let your presentation trail off. Drive your point home with a powerful statement or a heart-tugging story. End with a call to action. Your closing sentence should pull your audience out of their chairs for a standing ovation.
    Learn from Dr. King. Lead like Dr. King. Tell them about the dream.
    And so I say to you today, my friends, that you may be able to speak with the tongues of men and angels; you may have the eloquence of articulate speech; but if you have not love, it means nothing
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    D R . M ARTIN L UTHER K ING J R .

6
    R ONALD R EAGAN
    The Great Communicator

    I suppose I became a kind of preacher. I’d preach in my speeches about the problems we had and try to get people roused and to say to their neighbors, “Hey, let’s do something about this.”
    R ONALD R EAGAN
    I n 1976, former California governor Ronald Reagan waged a bruising primary battle against President Ford for the Republican nomination. Ford held a slight lead in the delegate count heading into the Republican National Convention in Kansas City—but he had failed to secure the nomination. If Reagan could persuade enough uncommitted delegates, he could wrest the nomination from the incumbent president.
    The Reagan camp waged an epic behind-the-scenes battle for delegates, but Ford pulled out a narrow victory, winning 1,187 delegate votes to Reagan’s 1,070. The convention fight came close to splitting the party. On the night of President Ford’s acceptance speech, he invited Governor Reagan to the podium to address the delegates. As the band played “California, Here I Come,” Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy, joined President Ford on the stage.
    Amid the deafening celebration, Reagan turned to Nancy and said, “I don’t know what to say!” Nancy’s smile tightened.
    Moments later, Reagan stepped to the microphone and began to speak. He talked about his vision for America—about restoring prosperity, eliminating the threat of nuclear war, and restoring constitutional liberties. Reagan spoke impromptu for five minutes—and when he finished, the hall interrupted in a thunderous ovation. Many delegates wept.
    Reagan’s biographer, Edmund Morris, recalled, “The power of that speech was extraordinary…. [There was a] palpable sense amongst the delegates that we’ve nominated the wrong guy.” 1
    President Gerald Ford went on to lose the 1976 general election to Governor Jimmy Carter of Georgia. But millions remembered Reagan’s impromptu remarks at the convention. That five-minute speech defined Ronald Reagan as a candidate with statesmanlike gravitas and political star power. In 1980, when Reagan ran again, he captured the White House.
    Columnist George Will placed Ronald Reagan’s convention speech in a historical context, concluding that those five minutes defined Reagan as a leader:
    Reagan’s rise to the White House began from the ashes of the 1976 Republican convention in Kansas City. Truth be told, it began from the podium of that convention, with Reagan’s gracious—but fighting—concession speech. No one who knew the man and listened to him carefully could have mistaken that speech for a valedictory statement by someone taking his leave from national politics….
    As was the case with Winston Churchill, another politician spurned by his party and consigned to “wilderness years,” the iron entered Reagan’s soul after adversity…. The Carter presidency made the country hungry for strong leadership, and the Reagan of 1980 was stronger and more ready to lead than was the Reagan of 1976. 2
    Reagan quickly earned the title the Great