Effective speech strategies and examples for seminar instructors. Learn how to capture CEOs’ attention and deliver your key messages in three minutes.
- Topic - The shorter the speech, the better
- Topic - Obama's leadership
- Topic - Arrogance is the root cause of failure
- Topic - Ask questions, listen, and learn
- Topic - I want you to recommend leisure activities for employees
- Topic - Leaders with grace and humor
- Topic - Female workforce is the key to 21st century society
- Topic - The spirit of Ahn Cheol-Soo
Topic – The shorter the speech, the better
Good morning, everyone.
My name is ○○○ and I’m going to be giving a lecture on public speaking today. It’s a pleasure to be here.
The 21st century is an age of emotion and expression, an age of individuality.
Everyone is living with their own flavor intellectually, economically, and socially, because they are more or less active socially without relying on others.
Therefore, who you speak to and how you speak to them is very important.
There are things that CEOs should keep in mind when executing speeches because they need to look like a leader from the first impression to the audience.
Wilson, the 28th President of the United States, was an accomplished public speaker who was a college president.
President Wilson once said, “A speech of one hour requires no preparation. A 20-minute speech requires two hours of preparation. But a five-minute speech requires an entire night’s preparation.”
Most people don’t pay attention to others for long: children are said to pay attention for only six seconds, and adults for a little longer.
However, adults pay attention for eight seconds, just two seconds longer than children. You can see why your speech needs to be short.
And to get more attention, it’s a good idea to use short humor. The other thing to keep in mind when giving a three-minute speech is the interests and circumstances of the people in the room, which means you need to be empathetic.
If you can keep your speech as short and impactful as possible, and mix in the right amount of humor that resonates in that short moment, you’ll be successful.
What kind of speeches have the CEOs here before you given?
Have you ever felt like your employees or customers weren’t listening to you?
If so, it’s time to take a hard look at your speaking style.
That’s it for this lesson on becoming a better speaker.
Thank you very much for listening so far.
Topic – Obama’s leadership
Let’s think about leadership.
Many leaders want to be inclusive and in sync with those below them, but it’s not easy.
It’s hard to see the hearts and minds of employees and lead the organization.
No matter how many books you read and study, it’s not easy to win people’s hearts.
There is an interesting precedent.
Secretary Gates, who became Secretary of Defense under former Republican President George W. Bush, is an old-school guy.
But why would President Obama, a man of change, trust him?
In his speech, Obama explained why.
“When I became president, Secretary Gates had served under seven presidents in 40 years. A reporter asked Secretary Gates, ‘Would you stay on to serve an eighth president,’ and he said that was unthinkable. I’ve watched him in the Oval Office, in the drill room, in the war room, where tough debates are followed by decisive decisions. He is one of the best secretaries of defense in American history.”
President Obama criticized the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan waged by President Bush, but he didn’t change his troop levels during the wars.
And he had full confidence in Secretary Gates.
He had nothing but the highest praise for him.
He called Secretary Gates a man I have come to respect as I have come to know him, a humble American patriot, a man of common sense and decency.
In addition, President Obama escorted Secretary Gates from the time he entered the Oval Office to the time he left the ceremony.
He made eye contact with Secretary Gates several times during his speech to show his trust in him, and right after the ceremony, President Obama stood up and gave him a long standing ovation.
People in the room almost felt as if Secretary Gates was the president and President Obama was the secretary.
It was a big decision for Obama to trust Gates, a former Republican.
Putting them in charge of the Department of Defense and the State Department, the two pillars of national security, was a testament to Obama’s confidence.
He was a thinking man who knew how to make good people his people.
It’s a far cry from our politics, where senior people from the previous administration are at the top of the list of people to be removed when the administration changes, and they rush to pack their bags.
Obama is a man who will continue to honor and recognize talented people.
Obama leadership is about learning how not to lose sight of talent.
The power to see the whole picture and make quick situational judgments.
Obama’s power is in that.
Topic – Arrogance is the root cause of failure
Good morning, everyone.
It’s an honor to be here with so many of you.
I’m going to talk about arrogance.
Arrogance is an essential stage of any successful organization.
Companies that have experienced extraordinary achievements are more prone to arrogance.
Arrogance happens when you achieve extraordinary success by accident, when David defeats Goliath, when you develop a product or service that is hard for anyone else to copy, and when you bring together a group of people who are smarter than the rest of the company.
Xerox, the inventor of xerography, is a prime example.
Xerox is an American manufacturer of office copiers.
In 1960, Xerox began selling the first dry copier.
The process of making copies of photographs onto plain, uncoated paper had been known for some time, but Xerox was the first to apply it commercially.
The product was such a success that the name of the product became as recognizable as the company itself.
Xerography was developed by a man named Chester Carlton.
It took Carlton 12 years to develop the first dry copy machine, but once it was commercialized, he patented the technology and enjoyed a monopoly throughout the 1960s.
As a result, the Xerox organization becomes tightly knit, stubborn, and hostile to outsiders.
Ideas from outside the company.
That means blindly dismissing ideas like small copiers, liquid toner, and indirect sales.
Nor does it advance ideas from within.
Despite being at the top of the photocopying world, in 2000 Xerox goes through a $600 million restructuring.
Everyone knew that copiers were turning into printers, but Xerox didn’t.
Arrogance is the root cause of successful companies sliding into failure.
Leaders need to keep people informed of the risks of becoming arrogant and provide appropriate metrics.
Then they must prescribe a course of action based on the results of the measurements.
You can’t let go of the idea that you have to change.
Thank you, everyone, for listening.
Topic – Ask questions, listen, and learn
It was 1991, and I was in a class at Stanford Business School in the United States.
A lecturer posed a question to the class.
A CEO is about to give a speech at an important event where the leading executives in his industry are gathered.
He has to choose between three things for his speech.
One, introduce a new technology that looks very attractive and sophisticated but has never been put into production.
Second, you’ll focus on strengthening the technology you already have.
Third, do neither and let the market decide.
What would you do?
Standing at the lectern was Intel’s legendary CEO Andy Grove.
His question was a true story.
It wasn’t in the past either, it was a decision he would actually have to make in the next few days.
He didn’t have the answer either.
The legendary CEO asked a group of people who were just learning the ropes to give him their input on a critical management decision that could change the fate of a company and an industry.
Andy Grove, whose successful “Intel Inside” strategy made Intel a global company, was a man who knew how to ask questions.
While there are many passionate executives who will defend their decisions with all their might, there are few CEOs who are humble enough to keep their ears open and learn from a variety of opinions.
Even at the top of his game, Andy Grove was willing to get down low and learn.
And that “learning management” is what put Intel on top of the world.
He was a questioner, and he was a listener.
When RISC, a new technology in memory semiconductors, first came out, the technologists went crazy.
RISC was the next big thing, the next big thing, the next big thing, the next big thing in terms of fashion, and everybody was fantasizing about it.
Andy Grove was so enamored with it that he wanted to ditch Intel’s old flagship technology, CISC, and move toward RISC.
That’s when two of Intel’s oldest technologists ignored all the reporting lines and went straight to Andy Grove, the chairman.
They were convinced that CISC was the technology that would make Intel the most money the longest and most consistently.
RSIC, they reasoned, was a passing fad.
After reviewing all the evidence they presented, Andy Grove was persuaded by the two engineers to abandon RISC.
Andy Grove would later recall.
“I almost destroyed the company. I got carried away by the lure of new technology. I am eternally grateful to those two engineers.”
In general, the world is organized into a division of labor.
Music critics don’t write music, and soccer commentators don’t play on the field.
But we should be different.
We need to compose while we criticize, and commentate while we play.
We need to be in constant communication with the world and use the feedback we receive to inform our management decisions.
The world moves fast, and if you’re not constantly learning and absorbing, your opinions can quickly become arrogant.
Keep in mind that an open mind that asks questions is an increasingly important competitive advantage.
Topic – I want you to recommend leisure activities for employees
What do the young female workers of the Peace Market, whose rights Chun Tae-il advocated for in his alter ego in 1970, and Chairman Chung Ju-young, the driving force behind the developmental economy of his time, have in common?
While they were polar opposites in terms of the amount of wealth they amassed, the seamstresses who squinted through needles and popped stimulants, and Chung, who started his day at 3:30 a.m., were similar in that they worked the world’s longest hours at their respective jobs.
There’s no denying that South Korea’s economic success is rooted in these hours of sweat and tears.
According to recent statistics from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), South Korea is still the world’s number one country for long hours.
With an average of 2256 hours per year, South Koreans work 492 hours more than the OECD average and a whopping 867 hours more than the Dutch, who work the least.
With an average sleep time of only 5.4 hours and nearly one-third of students not eating breakfast, according to a recent Statistics Korea report, “Characteristics of Korean High School Students,” it’s no wonder that middle and high school students work the longest hours in the world.
But working long hours doesn’t mean being productive.
At $25 per hour, Korean labor productivity is just over half of the OECD average of $42, and less than half of the U.S. average of $55.
What’s more, working long hours takes a toll on both body and mind.
Industrial accidents kill more than 2,000 people a year and injure more than 100,000, an internationally embarrassing figure.
South Koreans have the lowest life satisfaction rate in the OECD and the highest suicide rate in the world.
According to the ‘2023 National Leisure Activities Survey’ released by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Koreans spend an average of 4.1 hours on weekdays and 6.8 hours on holidays. The most time spent on leisure activities is on passive activities such as watching TV, and the percentage of people over 60 who attend cultural events in person has increased significantly.
It’s clear that people need rest to rejuvenate their tired bodies and minds.
However, as we transition to a high-value-added creative economy, long hours of liver work can no longer be a virtue.
Therefore, I would like to propose that we explore policies that dramatically increase the leisure time of the labor force.
More active leisure activities will encourage people to invest in self-improvement, participate in long-stay tourism and leisure activities, which will lead to the development of related service industries and create more employment.
It is worth noting that the employment effect of the service industry is much higher than that of high-tech manufacturing.
More active leisure activities will allow citizens to broaden their socialization beyond the confines of their families and workplaces, for example by joining various clubs and volunteering.
Grassroots democracy, as Putnam suggests, is another manifestation of active, social leisure activities like “bowling together.
So why not fertilize the soil of a rich civil society that goes beyond the “every man for himself” politics of yuppie politics, or the nepotism of “us against them.
Leisure is no longer a consumptive activity that is just about ‘playing’.
It has become a critical ‘productive task’ that any smart organization that wants high productivity, quality of life, and a functioning democracy should be thinking about.
Thank you, everyone, for listening.
Topic – Leaders with grace and humor
There’s an anecdote about Wilson Reagan, the 40th president of the United States.
When he was in office in 1982, he was leaving a luncheon with labor leaders at the Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C. As he was leaving the hotel, he was shot and seriously wounded by a mentally ill man, Hinckley.
An ambulance arrived at the chaotic hotel and nurses began checking Reagan’s body for wounds and touching him here and there to staunch the bleeding.
Reagan smiled and joked to the bewildered medical staff, “Did you get permission from my wife?”
When his wife arrived, he blurted out, “Honey, I forgot to dodge the bullet.”
To the medical team attending to him, he said, “I’m sure you’re all supporters of mine, so please assure me that you’re all good Republicans.”
There’s a famous anecdote about when he ran for re-election at the age of 73.
His opponent made his age an issue.
When his Democratic opponent brought up Reagan’s age in a TV debate and asked, “What do you think about the president’s age?” Reagan replied, “I have no intention of making age an issue in this election.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“It means I’m not going to use the fact that you’re so young and inexperienced to my advantage politically.”
There are only two things a leader needs.
Time and humor.
Do you have them?
Relaxation and humor gave Reagan unlimited credibility with the American people during his tenure, and in the end, the American people elected him again.
If you look at transcripts of Reagan’s conversations with those around him, you’ll see that he had an exquisite sense of humor, both on the receiving end as well as the asking end.
What is it that can turn things around in a heavy situation?
It would be humor.
A lighthearted conversation that seems light, but is never taken lightly, is the best way to build trust with the other person.
We all have anxiety, the modern-day equivalent of the disease of the exile.
The ease and humor you show as a leader can boost morale and lower anxiety levels.
Your workplace is the center of your life.
Anxiety at work is one of the biggest sources of stress.
Why not bring some relief to an anxious employee today?
Topic – Female workforce is the key to 21st century society
It’s a time of female empowerment.
At the Group of 20 (G20) summit in Seoul on November 11-12, four of the leaders were women.
They are Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel, Australia’s Prime Minister Julia Gillard, Argentina’s President Cristina Fernandez, and Brazil’s President-elect Dilma Rousseff.
This is an unprecedented number of female leaders at a major summit.
The combined GDP of the four countries led by these women is $6.234 trillion, the second largest economy in the world after the United States.
That’s more than the $4.989 trillion economy of China, the “G2,” or the $5.680 trillion economy of Japan, the “not quite there yet.
Including the G20, there are 14 countries with female leaders, including Ireland (Mary McAleese) and Finland (Tarija Halonen).
Experts expect to see more female leaders in the future.
South Korea is no exception to the global trend, as the most popular presidential candidate has been a female politician for several years.
We’ve already had a female prime minister, female ministers, a female Supreme Court justice, and a female university president. The gateways to senior government positions – the bar, civil service, and foreign affairs exams – are also seeing strong growth this year. The percentage of women who passed the second round of the bar exam was 42.1%, the highest ever, and 60% of the finalists in the foreign affairs exam were women.
The business world is also on the rise.
While some women, such as Lee Myung-hee, chairwoman of Shinsegae Group, Hyun-jung, chairwoman of Hyundai Group, and Jang Young-shin, chairwoman of Aekyung Group, have become CEOs because of their family members, there are also many women who have started their own businesses or been recognized as professional managers on their own merits.
In CJ Group’s recent personnel changes, CJ Entertainment CEO Kim Jung-ah (48), who was touted as the “first female CEO in the 30s,” was promoted from executive vice president to vice president.
This is highly symbolic, as Kim is the first woman to reach the vice president level at CJ Group.
However, there are still shades of gray beneath the colorful display of female power.
While the number of women passing the Korean Civil Service exam has risen dramatically, only a handful of women have made it to the senior civil service.
“In a society dominated by a male-dominated culture, women are at a disadvantage when it comes to promotion and advancement,” said a female director general in a government department.
Many women report difficulties in balancing family and work.
The biggest challenge is childcare and children’s education.
The burden of childbirth and subsequent childcare and education can force women to give up their careers or take career breaks.
Some families are fortunate to have in-laws or other relatives to take care of their children.
It’s not uncommon for young working couples to be torn apart by the lack of childcare, and many women choose not to have children at all.
Underutilizing the female workforce is a social loss.
Evidence from developed countries shows that the more mature the economy, the higher the participation of women in the labor force.
Since 2000, three out of every four new jobs created in Europe have been held by women.
In the United States, there have been twice as many female entrepreneurs as male entrepreneurs over the past decade, and since the financial crisis, the unemployment rate for women (8.6%) has been lower than for men (11.2%).
It’s good to see that some companies have recently recognized the importance of having a female workforce by building on-site childcare facilities and supporting private education for their children.
However, it is important for the government to provide institutional support to ensure that these efforts go beyond individual companies and spread to society.
Furthermore, we need to listen to the call for more opportunities for women.
I look forward to seeing more women in leadership positions such as ministers, lawmakers, CEOs of large companies, and university presidents.
Thank you for listening.
Topic – The spirit of Ahn Cheol-Soo
When you think of the name An Cheol-Soo, what comes to mind?
The first thing that comes to mind is a successful entrepreneur, but economists see him as much more than that.
A new myth of success is being built on the rubble of the Kim Woo-joong myth, which proclaimed that the world is big and there is much to do.
When people talk about Ahn Chul-soo, they say he’s like a sunny boy.
He’s more like an academic in an ivory tower than a rugged entrepreneur navigating the stormy waters of venture capital.
In fact, he’s a former medical school professor and lists academia as a career he’d like to pursue if he had it to do over again.
The banner he flies has public good ahead of profitability.
He originally wanted to set up the lab as a nonprofit, not a corporation.
The same goes for developing antivirus programs and providing them to the public for free, and rejecting foreign acquisition offers to protect the domestic market.
In particular, McAfee, which is famous for its antivirus scanning, offered $10 million to acquire Ahnsilon Virus Research Institute in June 1997, which was graciously rejected.
In his recently published autobiography, McAfee recalls that time.
“I turned down the offer without any conflict. No amount of money could make up for my responsibility to protect the domestic software industry and my employees. If I had sold the company then, the price of antiviruses in Korea would have been prohibitively expensive and the virus would be much more prevalent today.”
Just as important as the public interest was his single-minded dedication.
He’s had his share of ups and downs.
But he never looked the other way and focused all his energy on the R&D of the vaccine program.
That’s how Ahn became synonymous with ventures.
People say that his success is a case of rejecting the old authority and trying something new, and the fact that it came to fruition shows that the environment of our society has changed a lot.
In the past, executives were judged by their appearance, but now it’s more about the qualitative criteria of value than the quantitative criteria, and this is a perfect model for him.
He says he’s been lucky to be so successful.
“If I had been born a decade earlier or a decade later, I wouldn’t have been able to listen to such experts,” he says, which is also an expression of humility.
It makes sense, given the importance of security issues in recent years, with computer viruses becoming more prevalent.
But I don’t think it can be explained by simply being lucky.
We were ready for an opportunity, a stroke of luck.
Some might call the virus outbreak a stroke of luck for Ahnsilon Labs.
But I don’t think it was luck.
I would say it was an opportunity we were ready for.
We have to keep in mind that if we are not prepared, it is impossible to seize the opportunity, even if it comes in the form of luck.
Thank you, everyone, for listening.