Clarity Is a Leader’s Superpower

Leaders are public speakers – and the key to good public speaking is being crystal clear about the message you want to convey.

In 1937, well before he became Prime Minister, Winston Churchill was travelling in a cab to a private dinner with a few of his Conservative Party colleagues. When the cab arrived at its destination, Churchill remained seated. Finally, the confused taxi driver said: “We’re here, Governor.”

“Please wait a moment”, Churchill replied, “I’m still going over my ‘extemporaneous remarks.’”

Churchill wanted to ram home his key message that the Nazis should not be trusted. This is the story he told at the dinner:

“The Berlin Zoo apparently has a cage where a lion and a lamb live in peace and harmony. It’s a huge draw card for visitors. One English tourist asked the zookeeper: ‘Wow, how did you find such a lion?’

‘The lion isn’t the hard part’, replied the zookeeper, ‘It’s the lamb. Every morning, we need a new lamb.’”

Let others be lulled by the Nazis, Churchill went on to say, but Britain must never play the part of the lamb: “The time to start building RAF planes is now.”

No one left that dinner unclear about what Churchill wanted his party to do. And that’s because Churchill himself was clear about what he wanted to say and paused ever so briefly to prepare.