1 VITAL SPEECHES of the day 2016 EDITION THESE VITAL SPEECHES THE BEST OF THE 2016 CICERO SPEECHWRITING AWARDS

33 ENVIRONMEMT/ENERGY/SUSTAINABILITY: “Leading the GRAND AWARD Water Resource Revolution,” Lori Harrison for Ed McCormick, 2014–2015 President, Water Environment Federation 3 “The Downside of Up: The Outrageous Fortune of Being a Speechwriter,” written and delivered by Dain Dunston, speechwriter and novelist 35 LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT: “The Risky Business of Corporate Culture,” by Bill Bryant for Myron Gray, President, U.S. Operations, UPS

38 PUBLIC POLICY: “Technology, Security, Freedom,” by Charles Crawford for Sir John Sawers, Former Chief of MI6; Chairman, CATEGORY WINNERS Macro Advisory Partners 9 AGRICULTURE: “The House That Blueberries Built,” by Chris Moran for Jack Payne, Senior Vice President, Agriculture and 42 COMMENCEMENT/CONVOCATION ADDRESS: “I Didn’t Follow Natural Resources, University of Florida a Dream,” by Aaron Hoover for Kent Fuchs, President, University of Florida 10 ASSOCIATIONS: “In the Decade of Human Capital, HR Must Lead,” by Larae Booker for Henry (Hank) Jackson, President & 43 DEDICATION/GROUNDBREAKING SPEECH: “Treating Zorro, CEO, Society for Human Resource Management Treating Me,” by Chris Moran for Jack Payne, Senior Vice President for Agriculture & Natural Resources, University 12 COMMERCE & RETAIL, ANALYST CALL/INVESTOR MEETING: of Florida “The Power of Serving Athletes Completely,” by Seth Freedland for Trevor Edwards, President, Nike Brand 44 EMPLOYEE MEETING: “Tell Stories with Your Heart,” by Aaron Hoover for Kent Fuchs, President, University of Florida 14 EDUCATORS: “Rhetoric: Indulging the Hope That Nature Will Finally Yield to Observation and Perseverance the Keys to the 45 EULOGY/TRIBUTE SPEECH: “The Man Who Made Winston Heart,” written and delivered by Rodger Evans, speechwriter, Churchill,” written and delivered by Hal Gordon, speechwriter Scottish Parliament

48 INAUGURAL SPEECH: “A Legacy Born of Hope,” by Mark L. Kelly 18 ENERGY: “Mysteries of the Marginal Barrel,” written and for Elizabeth Davis, President, Furman University delivered by Bob Tippee, Editor, Oil & Gas Journal

51 MOTIVATIONAL SPEECH: “Lullabies on the 4 Train,” written and 22 GOVERNMENT, DIVERSITY: “Intelligence Community Pride,” delivered by Tommy Fernandez, owner & speechwriter at Y&R by Trey Brown for Stephanie O’Sullivan, Principal Deputy Communications Director, National Intelligence

52 STATE OF THE INSTITUTION SPEECH: “Purpose and Northwestern 25 NONPROFIT: “The Pursuit of Happiness,” by Katie O’Dea for Mutual,” by Mark Lucius for John Schlifske, Chairman & CEO, Randall Dunn, Head of School, Latin School of Chicago Northwestern Mutual

26 CONTROVERSIAL OR HIGHLY POLITICIZED: “National Intelligence, North Korea and the National Cyber Discussion,” by Trey Brown for James Clapper, Director of National Intelligence SEE 30 CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY, HEALTHCARE: “Health Is Everything,” by Tanya M. Barrientos for Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, HONORABLE MENTIONS, President & CEO, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation INSIDE FRONT COVER

CICERO 2016 HONORABLE MENTION “The Power of Partnerships,” by Joe Adams for John C. Hitt, President, “Speaking to the Eye,” written and delivered by Jens Kjeldsen, University of Central Florida Professor of Rhetoric and Visual Communication, University of Bergen

“As Time Goes By,” by Kevin Chappell, for Jim P. Cochrane, Chief “Goodyear’s ‘Moonshot,’” by Ed Markey for Richard Kramer, Chairman Marketing & Sales Officer, Executive Vice President, United States & CEO, Goodyear Postal Service “It Can Happen Again: The Danger of Rising Anti-Semitism,” by Alex “Lessons from Above (and Elsewhere),” by Lorne Christensen for Marklew for Sajid Javid, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation & David Eldon, Non-Executive Chairman, HSBC Middle East Skills, United Kingdom

“Convener’s Speech, Health Inequities Debate,” by Rodger Evans “The Promise of Energy Efficiency,” by Zachary Narrett for Ralph Izzo, for Duncan McNeil, Convener of the Health and Sport Committee, Chairman, President & CEO, PSEG Scottish Parliament “The Logistics of Staying Alive,” by Janet Stovall Harrell for Romaine “Sentient Enterprise,” by Katie Gray, for Oliver Ratzenberger, Seguin, Americas Region President, UPS President, Teradata Data Lab “I Am Guilty,” by Diane Suchetka for Akram Boutros, President & CEO, “Tissue Donation: A Pass from an Invisible Stranger,” by Sarah Gray MetroHealth System of the American Association of Tissue Banks, for Carson Palmer, NFL quarterback “Flying Lessons, Firsthand,” written and delivered by Rod Thorn, Communication Executive, Pepsi “The Antidote to Hate,” by Lieke Hagebeuk for Sander Dekker, State Secretary for Education, Culture and Science, The Netherlands “When War Changes, So Must Defence; a Call for Better Strategic Narratives,” by Antonie van Campen for Rob Bauer, Vice Admiral, “The Orange and Blue Horizon Beyond,” by Aaron Hoover for Kent The Netherlands Fuchs, President, University of Florida 3 GRAND AWARD WINNER “The Downside of Up: The Outrageous Fortune of Being a Speechwriter”

Written and delivered by Dain Dunston, Delivered at the World Conference of the Professional Speechwriters speechwriter and novelist Association, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., Oct. 8, 2015

want you to think about something. hood he has sent for the guy so he can I can do the sales dance as well as any- I Think about the moment someone have someone to show how smart he is. one else. I can sling the stories about walks out on a stage and steps into He shows him all the good works the value I bring to their culture and the light. In that moment, what do he’s done. The temples he’s built. The their communications. I can do that. you have? sacred texts he’s read. His shaved head, But that doesn’t mean I know. It means A bit of music starts and she lifts up his orange robes. I’m playing the game. on a toe. A door opens and he turns, sur- And he asks the monk, “Look at all Earlier this year, I was invited to visit prised to see someone else in the room. I’ve done. What’s the karmic value of a company that—let’s just say they’re A teleprompter starts to roll and a leader this?” one of the biggest companies on Earth. shares her dream. The MOMENT that And the monk says, “None whatso- And they were having a problem with happens, what do you have? ever.” their new CEO. A really good CEO, I You have theater. OK. So the emperor never takes no think, but every time he gets on a stage The moment the first cave dweller for an answer, he presses on. to speak, he gets goofy. It’s a little weird stepped up on a rock and said there are “How do you get karmic value?” that he could get this far in his career bison in the valley and I say, this time The monk says, “I don’t know.” and still have that problem. And it’s let’s get one! Now the emperor is confused be- embarrassing to watch. Can I help? You have theater. cause this monk is supposed to be the So I spend the whole day there. And we band of speechwriters—we hottest thing going. Interviewed by five executives. few, we proud—we are the ones who So the Emperor asks, “Then who Coached a speaker for them. Learned script the business theater and the po- stands before me?” they’d already had two of the biggest litical theater of our time. It is an art, if And the monk says, “I have no idea.” names in speech coaching in to work done right, as good as any play. If those answers sound very Zen, it’s with the CEO and he hated it. Look at Shakespeare: what are the because that monk was Bodhidharma, So finally I guess I passed some kind great moments of his work? The sword the father of Zen. of test because I get passed up to the fights? No, the speeches, when some- He was a blue-eyed Indian man final gatekeeper, the Chief Commu- one steps downstage and says, let me who wandered north into China and nications Officer. And he asks, “How tell you what it is, let me tell you what messed with the minds of Emperors. would you fix this?” it could be, lend me your ears. The I love that story because imagine the I have no idea. speeches, and the balcony scene. Those balls to be in that moment and not feel “No, I mean, what’s your process?” are the parts we remember. you have to justify yourself to someone. There is no process. Done right, a good speech can Imagine having the guts to say “I And I can see him actually getting change the world. don’t know.” angry. He thinks I’m messing with him. And whether it does or not— So I’ll do that. But what can I say? You’ve had two whether or not it reaches that high What makes a great speechwriter? experts in with processes and it didn’t and makes that moment—it all comes I don’t know. work. You want another process? down to you and me and how much we How do you write a great speech? There is no process. This is a human believe we can make a difference. I have no idea. being with an ontological problem. The Every time I find myself looking at “process” is, I sit and listen. I work with *** a blank screen, I have no idea how to him on his speech until I hear the mo- write a speech. None. What I do know ment he goes off the rails and then I see Now think about this: you’re in China, is, it will come. And I know this: the if I can I uncover what went through sometime in the 5th or 6th century, times I think, “Oh, I got this one,” … his mind when that happened. And in the court of the Emperor Wu, who those are the times I might not ask the then when we know WHY it’s happen- may have been the best Buddhist king right questions and might not dig deep ing, we see if he can fix it. Or we don’t. ever, according to him. enough. Because I think I know. It’s up to him. There’s no process. He’s very excited because there’s Of course, I’m not a complete idiot. I’m not currently working with that this travelling monk in the neighbor- When I’m standing in front of a client, organization. I referred them to someone

CICERO 2016 4 CICERO SPEECHWRITING AWARDS who has a patented process. Maybe this quote Charles Dickens? Where you say They pay these guys a hundred or time it will work. I don’t know. the opening lines of a Tale of Two Cit- two hundred million to go away … ies went ‘It was the best of times, it was that’s an inefficient use of capital. If I *** the worst of times?’” can fail for $25 million, corporations Yeah. should be lining up for the service. I’ll I love this quote from Abraham “Well, I always thought those were reduce the market value of failure and Maslow: “The story of humankind is the opening lines, too. But they’re not.” the whole economy will boom.” the story of men and women selling WHAT?!! Bam! Laptop open, how It’s funny. And it’s true. And it’s themselves short.” could I have screwed this up so bad? stupid. These ARE the best of times That’s our story. We grow up think- What an idiot! I didn’t do my home- AND the worst of times. ing we have to justify ourselves to work. Actually, I don’t think I ever even So I went back to work and on and people. At some point there in the crib, read A Tale of Two Cities. I just saw off during that week, I kept thinking we look up and see we’re surrounded the movie. What a poseur. That’s poser about that opening sentence from Dick- by giants. We think, “I can’t talk, I with an eur. It’s phonier if you say it in ens and about that joke. And it seemed can’t walk, I can’t do anything these French. to me that somewhere in between those other people can do and, oh God, I just Onto the internet. I find it on line, two thoughts there was a story of our pooped my pants again! I must suck.” open it up and ... Wait a minute! I was times. A story of us at our best and a Isn’t that the original sin? The origi- right. “It WAS the best of times. It story of us at our worst. A novel. nal sin is that we think we’re unworthy WAS the worst of times.” Right there And by the time I got on the plane of love and so we spend the rest of on the top of the first page. And it just to fly home, I had a story plotted out. our lives selling ourselves short, when kept going. It was the story of a corporate speech- it turns out we were worthy all along. “… it was the age of wisdom, writer who makes a joke at a party And that’s really what my novel, The it was the age of foolishness, about wanting to be a failed CEO … Downside of Up, is all about. it was the epoch of belief, and to his surprise someone takes him It’s about a freelance speechwriter it was the epoch of incredulity, up on it. All he has to do is go down who looks successful but when the book it was the season of Light, with the ship and he’s rich. opens is maybe one unpaid invoice it was the season of Darkness, But the same intuitions and sense away from being out on the street. It’s it was the spring of hope, of purpose that made him a good about learning to believe in yourself it was the winter of despair, speechwriter, all that kicks in. He can’t when every fiber of your body is telling we had everything before us, help himself … he has to start rewrit- you you suck … and everyone around we had nothing before us, ing the script. you is nodding in agreement. we were all going direct to Heaven, And when he discovers that while That’s the story in every narra- we were all going direct the other he’s getting rich, 11,000 families will be tive. Somebody goes on a journey, way—” poorer—and that some of the aspects sells themselves short, and then has to On and on it went. One sentence. of the deal might not pass SEC mus- redeem themselves. And what it said, I could have just ter—he has to take action. Because, That’s the story of Anna Karenina opened the speech with all of it. It you know, what good is the use of the and it’s the story of George Costanza. said everything about what my cli- corporate jet when you’re in jail? It’s the story of Willie Loman and it’s ent’s industry was going through. But I And this is a true story… I was on the story of Homer Simpson. And it’s didn’t. I shut it down and went back to the plane home with my laptop open, the story of Paul Lavallier, the speech- rehearsals. knocking out my first few exploratory writer in The Downside of Up. It’s his That was the first part. The sec- paragraphs and this woman next to me journey from selling himself short to ond part was later, when I was joking interrupts me. Obviously, she’s been owning the stage on which he stands. with one of the division presidents. I reading over my shoulder. Why a novel about a speechwriter? said, “You know, I don’t want to be a “You writing a novel?” Why not? I guess you write what you speechwriter forever. No, no, no. My “Yeah, how’d you know?” know. dream job is to be a failed CEO. That’s “I’m a copy editor in New York.” Here’s the story. It was a Saturday where the real money is. “Really? So, how’m I doing?” afternoon in May, a few years ago. “These CEOs who tank a company She wrinkled her nose and shook I was in Aruba, inside the Seaport and walk away with a couple of hun- her head. Not well, it appeared. Conference Center, rehearsing a cast dred million? That’s insane. I could fail Thanks, I thought. God sent you, production number for a big hotel for a LOT less than that. I could fail didn’t he? I’ve just had a CEO, two business conference. for $25 million. How hard could it be? division presidents and a couple of And somebody says to me, “Hey, You know, make a few speeches, fly producers tell me I was a genius. And read the CEO’s speech, really good. around to company locations, blame the to put the universe back in balance, But you know that part where you previous CEO. I would be great at that. somebody needs to tell me I suck.

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*** So Paul rewrites the five initiatives “I imagine you must be swamped into five areas of focus and it’s good with projects.” In retrospect, I should have learned enough that, the next day, when the Paul shrugged. “Sometimes.” to play the accordion. You know, get CEO gives it, he doesn’t have a panic “Your friends at Aggro speak very me away from my desk and out in the attack. The CEO is grateful and highly of you. You must be very good world having fun with other people. I invites Paul to a dinner party in his at what you do.” mean, when you write for a living, and suite that night. At that party, Paul “I guess so,” said Paul. then in your spare time you want to tells the joke about wanting to be the “Yet the economy must have taken write a novel, that’s kind of insane. But failed CEO. its toll.” then, the whole idea of being a speech- Now it’s the next morning, and There was a long pause, during which writer is kind of insane. Paul’s in front of the hotel trying to get Sachs just sat and smiled at him. “Do you It’s the best of jobs, it’s the worst of a cab to the airport, when someone know what I think?” he asked thoughtful- jobs. taps him on the shoulder. This is his ly. “I think you’re underutilized. I should We travel in circles of great power, Mephistopheles moment; the moment look for a way to use you better.” we have no power ourselves. We travel he takes his laptop down to the cross- “Well … apparently I’m useful at in circles of great wealth; but have little roads to be tuned by the devil. dinner parties.” wealth of your own. We check into lav- “Peter Kavanagh told me what you ish hotel rooms then stay up all night *** did for him. You identified his problem in empty ballrooms helping get the and helped him fix it. I can think of PowerPoint ready for the next morn- (Excerpt from The Downside of Up) several companies where I wish I’d had ing’s speech. Someone tapped Paul on the shoul- a man like you on our side.” What a great name, PowerPoint. A der. “Good morning.” Paul was starting to like the direction product for people who have no power Paul turned and found himself look- of this conversation. The rear seat of a and miss the point. ing into the cold, gray eyes of George Rolls Royce was a good place for posi- We’re court jesters. We play the Fool Sachs, the Englishman from last night’s tive thinking, for imagining you could to the boss’s King Lear. Tonto to his dinner. He wore a dove-gray flannel play a slightly larger role in life. Lone Ranger. We’re professional Nick suit and one of those Saville Row shirts “It occurs to me you might have Carraways. The life of a speechwriter with the contrasting cuffs and collar. significant leadership ability that’s not is kind of insane. Which makes it a His tie was like a jewel, sparkling with being used.” great premise for a novel. pink and yellow brilliance. “Are you talking about the failed Let me read a section from the “Paul, isn’t it?” Sachs smiled thinly CEO thing?” second chapter, titled, appropriately and handed his slim briefcase to the “It did get my interest, yes.” enough, “Upgrade.” In the first chap- driver of the (gold) Rolls-(Royce). Paul shook his head. “I was just ter, Paul the speechwriter is at a global “Where are you off to?” kidding.” conference of tractor dealers in Hong “The airport.” “I think there’s no such thing as kid- Kong. Six thousand people will be in “Can I give you a ride?” ding. I think there’s a part of you that the audience from everywhere in the Seated in the cavernous business knows you could be at least as good a world. end of the Rolls, swaddled in milky leader as any of your CEO clients.” During rehearsals, two days be- cowhides and surrounded by burled “No, not at all,” Paul lied. He had, fore this scene I’m going to read, he walnut, Paul was impressed. It might at times, thought exactly that. pulls the CEO offstage because he’s just be a car, but it was a car that cost Sachs continued as though Paul butchering the speech Paul wrote. as much as a house. had not spoken, “And you look at what Paul takes him outside on the balcony, Paul asked Sachs where he was they’re taking to the bank and you overlooking Hong Kong harbor. He flying. think, that could be me.” knows something’s wrong and when “Mumbai and then onto Geneva.” It seemed pointless to refute that. he catches the CEO in a lie and busts He asked Sachs what he did. Paul could name ten clients who were him, the CEO confesses that those five “Oh, nothing very interesting, I’m no smarter than he, but who were initiatives which were the basis of all afraid.” He paused, as if considering sitting on millions, even billions, in the messaging at the conference? The whether to tell Paul more, then spoke stock options and bonuses. Just the board has refused to fund them. as if sharing a secret, “I quite enjoyed month before, Lou De Farcy at IBM “That doesn’t make any sense. Why your story last night.” had cashed in $40 million in options. would the board not fund the things “My story?” Paul remembered the day in the early you need to do … unless… is the board “The failed CEO.” nineties when he had amazed Lou by getting the company ready to sell?” “With twenty-five million.” walking into a meeting with a laptop, “Yeah. So you see my problem with Sachs stared at him for a long mo- something Lou had never seen be- the speech.” ment and then smiled. fore. And now, not much more than a

CICERO 2016 6 CICERO SPEECHWRITING AWARDS decade and a half later, the guy was toward financial status as it was about they don’t want to do. And he’s stuck worth maybe a $100 million while Paul the 1% vs the rest of us. But as I got in the middle, trying to remember what was still living month to month. into the writing, it turned out there was happens to his stock options if he just “May I ask you a very personal another story the character wanted to says to hell with it. question?” tell, and that was about telling truth to So lesson one as a speechwriter and “Sure.” power and how hard that is to do, espe- speech coach: it’s personal. It’s not “How much you make?” cially when the power is yourself. about us and our skills at rhetoric and It was Paul’s belief that he made Because what would really happen clever copy. It’s personal. significantly more than other writers if any one of us was handed the keys to It’s more than those five strategic in his business, mostly because he was the corporation and told we could take initiatives and EBITDA and where always working. Or, always had been. it for a spin? What would really happen the stock price will be in two years. It’s “Mid to low six-figures,” he claimed, if YOU had to sit in that seat and steer personal. exaggerating the top end only slightly the ship? Would your close proximity It’s about a man or a woman and in the hope that it would sound re- to power and decision-making give you their journey and helping them find spectable. the chops to do the job yourself and do the Ninja power to move armies that “That’s probably in line with others it as well as someone who … let me be don’t want to move against targets in your field, I would think.” frank here … you may or may not find that won’t stand still. And it’s personal Oh. Damn! Another bubble burst. to be quite as intelligent as you are? because if they fail, they take a lot of “So,” Sachs continued, “and I’m Maybe, maybe not. people down with them. It’s not about speaking purely hypothetically here, if But the work we do every day can the money. It’s about being there in one were to come to you and say, ‘Look, give us powerful insights on the human the arena. Paul, I’ve got such and such an oppor- condition and how to coach people It’s personal because it’s about the tunity for you and it’s right up your alley to stand for more than just the quar- promises they made and fear they and you’ll be bloody well paid for it, terly results of the company. Or how can’t keep them. And our job is to your response would be …?” the candidate is polling this week. Or be their Yoda and connect them to Paul tried to gauge the level of where the stock price is. And as I got the force of authentic speaking. If we bullshit in the question. into the book, I found myself in the don’t, then we’re shorting them in “I don’t want to be in a position to interesting position of creating this what we owe them. fail,” he said. “It’s easy to be seduced character, throwing him into this alien by compliments and great offers and world of being a CEO and then coach- *** get caught up,” he gestured to the car ing him through the experience as if he around them, “in the excitement and were a real client. Here’s a secret a speechwriter can glamour of thinking, ‘I’ll be a big shot;’ I was able to do that by calling on never forget: people don’t care that it’s easy to think you could step in and my own experience as a speechwriter, much about strategy, or sales goals or do something better than somebody obviously, and on my experience work- market share. They may say they do, else, but it’s not so easy to do.” ing with executives. I mean, I’ve got cli- but that’s not it. You’re rambling, he thought to him- ents I started working with when they They want to be inspired. They self. “All kidding aside, I really do not were 35-year-old VPs and now they’re want to be part of something mean- want to be a failed CEO.” CEOs. Like you, I’ve been alongside on ingful and big. And our job is to show The statement sort of hung there as their journey. And that helped me write them what that feels like. the smile on Sachs’ face broadened and about the development of this fish out Every speech is a hero’s journey. But his tie seemed to grow more brilliant. of water who finds himself in the CEO the hero isn’t the speaker up on the “Not even,” Sachs inquired sweetly, chair and has to grow into it fast. stage. No, no, no. In our theater, the “for twenty-five million?” A man or woman in that position hero is the man or woman out there has a lot of people who want to be in the audience looking for something *** close to them but not many they know that will stop them selling themselves they can trust. One of my coaching short and finally let them become the At first, I thought the novel was about clients confided in me that his biggest person they long be. income inequality and the crazy-making fear was looking weak. CEO of a ma- I read a lot of cognitive science idea that if we can’t just work a little jor public company. And the fear isn’t because I want to understand what’s harder and if we can’t lease a bigger unfounded. going on at THIS intersection of a BMW and we can’t get the valets to park Even though the company is rock- speaker and an audience. What is this? it in front of the restaurant, then there is ing, his executive team wants him to How do we make it resonate? How do something fundamentally wrong with us. make the board do things it doesn’t we make it more than a talking head? I was going to call it Affluenza and it want to do. And the board wants him Yes, it’s theater but what is theater? It’s was as much about our nutty attitudes to make the executive team do things a shared experience of consciousness.

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Think about being in a movie sur- learned from him that if you think script up for the 85th time? “This time, rounded by strangers and you find writing is about anything other than it’s gonna be different?” yourself laughing with the whole audi- raising your own consciousness of Except that it was. The 85th pub- ence as one. That moment of shared the human experience, you just missed lisher said yes and the book sold OK. joy. Remember that? Harold Pinter the point. Which proves you just can’t let any- explained the pauses in his plays as a You missed the point. You don’t write thing stop you. moment when everyone in the audi- to make some corporation better. You’re But we do. We do let things stop us. ence is thinking the same thought. not some organism that evolved to spin I never could have sent a book out 85 What is that? the views of some lobbyist. You’re better times. About three rejections per piece You and I don’t normally have than that. It’s more than that. is my limit. After that, it’s “OK, I get it. much control over the audience. Yes, I hope the result of your work I must suck. I don’t need to be told 82 But we can exert an influence on is to make the world a better place for more times.” the speaker—not just her words but puppies and polar bears. Really, I do, But that’s the lesson, isn’t it? You something more. In an ontological but that’s not why we write. just keep going. sense, it’s not about what the speaker We write because there’s a great big is saying but who the speaker is being unanswered question deep inside each *** that makes the difference. of us that we’re trying to get to the So what is it when a speaker walks bottom of. We don’t write because we I learned a little bit about the life of a onto a stage and stands before an have anything so deep to say. We write top executive from my father. My dad audience? We have a phrase in our because we’re writers. was in the aluminum business. Not a language that goes back to middle When did you know you were a “tin man,” he sold aluminum to the English. writer? I’m curious, how many of you aerospace industry. Always the young- What is it? knew you wanted to be a writer from est guy in whatever job he got pro- That first caveman who climbed up the get go? Show of hands, who here moted to, which happened about every on the rock. Who stood there and called knew from childhood that you wanted 18 months and required us to move to the other cavemen to the hunt? When to be a writer? another city. Marc Antony stands up at Caesar’s fu- My earliest memory in life—age So, in effect, my dad had two neral and talks to the crowd. What was two and a half—is trying to prove to income streams. Selling aluminum … he doing? He was taking a stand. someone I could write. and flipping houses. Taking a stand is the fundamental I was standing on a sidewalk in One day, when I was a senior in ground of being of every speaker. She my underpants holding a pencil and high school, Dad came home with a walks on the stage. She takes a stand. a piece of paper. There was an older book that blew my mind in three ways. It’s not enough to deliver information. girl, maybe six or seven, and she was It was called The Dynamics of Change You can do that in an email. It’s not sitting on a stoop in a housing project and it was written by an insane genius enough, God forbid, to say things to in Dallas. named Don Fabun. justify your salary as VP of packaging, “I can write,” I told her. The first way it blew my mind was although I’m sure you do a very nice She wrinkled her nose and said, “No what the book said. It gave me a vision job. But that’s not a speech. you can’t.” of the future that I hadn’t encountered A speaker has two duties—you take Really? God sent you, didn’t he? before. Things called “personal com- a stand and you enroll the audience in So I tried to prove it to her. I took puters” and how they would change joining you in that stand. What you’re the pencil … and stuck and straight our consciousness. Written in 1966, ten saying on stage? Yeah, that’s important through the paper and into the palm years before Jobs and Wozniak. Mind- but who you’re being is what makes the of my hand. Yeah, that hurt. But what blowing! difference. I remember was the shock—I knew I The second thing that was mind- To paraphrase Abraham Lincoln, the knew how to write. What the hell just blowing was, my Dad commissioned world will little note nor long remember happened? this work. Because it was really radical what you said on that stage. But they That girl was just the first of many thinking. Quotes from Buckminster will always remember who you were. people who told me I couldn’t write. Fuller and Timothy Leary. And how you made them feel. Some of them I listened to, and it cost And then, here’s the third thing me. Most of them I ignored and pressed that blew my mind. My dad told me *** on. You can’t let critics stop you. that Don Fabun didn’t work for any Look at Elmore Leonard. Do you company. He wrote these books as a Here’s something else to think about. know his first novel was rejected by 84 freelancer. And he lived on a houseboat Why do we write? publishers? Think about that! 84 rejec- on San Francisco Bay. I met Allen Ginsberg a couple tions. What do you think he was telling And right there, I had a vision of of times when I was younger and I himself when he wrapped that manu- the life I wanted to live.

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I already knew I didn’t want to be a in front of him is the man who was his their brand mojo and what they could corporate executive. I wanted to be a family’s next door neighbor and the do to get it back. The magazine didn’t visionary writer who lived on a house- father of his best friends growing up. even send me a rejection letter. Now I boat. The only problem was … how “Artie, Artie! How the hell are you? have this guy on the phone telling me the hell do you get to THAT?!! Haven’t seen you in years.” that everyone on the executive team I didn’t have a clue. But I did know This is the guy on whom Miller had read the article and they wanted to this: it wasn’t enough to string a few based the character of Willie Loman. know who I was. good sentences together. You need And he based the characters of Biff He said, “We’ve been trying to ar- to have ideas. And at 17, I still didn’t and Happy on the man’s two sons. He ticulate this for ten years, and you did it know where ideas came from. Or at knew the guy all his life. So he asks in ten pages. What do you do?” least, not good ones. about the man’s family and the boys And I don’t know why I said these But that’s the journey, isn’t it? We set and the guy bends his ear for half an words but I said, “I’m a speechwriter.” out to find our voice. We set out to get hour. Then finally, he goes, “So Artie, He said we need speeches and the our 10,000 hours. what are you doing these days.” following Tuesday I was on a plane The comic Mark Maron says it “I’m a playwright.” to Detroit. That one time I didn’t sell takes most comics 20 years to find their “Artie, that’s great. Anything I myself short … and the payoff was voice. Steve Martin spent ten years mighta heard of ?” huge. At 37, I vaulted straight into the working empty rooms where no one “I had a play on Broadway called C-suite, stuck the landing and I’ve been laughed. Ten years. When he finally All My Sons.” there ever since. And I’ve stayed free- got a spot on the Tonight Show, he And the guys eyes go wide and he lance for two reasons: one, I like to take thought he’d made it. The next morn- says, “Wait a minute, YOU’RE Arthur a nap; and two, because I’m not here ing, still in the glow, he goes to the Miller?!!” to support the status quo—I’m here to supermarket and a woman stops him You don’t have to sell yourself short. tear it up. in the aisle. Everyone else in your life will do it for I don’t tell my clients this but I can “Hey, you were on Johnny Carson you. tell you. I’m with the underground. I’m last night, weren’t you?” here to unlock the cells. It’s a corporate “Why, yes I was.” *** jailbreak. “Boy, you were terrible!!” I want to bust the idea that a job is So it was back on the road again, Twenty years. My journey to find my just a job and shove in a new, explosive trying to find his voice. If he didn’t find voice took 20 years from that day I re- idea that will blow the doors off busi- it in ten years, that’s was it. He was go- alized I wanted to be a visionary writer ness as usual. And here’s the idea … an ing to give up. on a houseboat. Along the way, I wrote organization is not what you think it is. When he finally had his break- comedy, I wrote song lyrics, I wrote A company is a giant energy con- through on Saturday Night Live and magazine articles and edited a journal version machine. It converts hours became an overnight sensation just for a non-profit. and dollars into expanded human three months short of his 10-year Everybody said it was great stuff but consciousness and expanded human deadline, he should have been happy. none of it went anywhere. connectedness. Except his father—who was the Until one year it did. One year, after At its best, work is a path of enlight- head of the Newport Beach Board twenty years of working at it, I started enment. At its best, work doesn’t suck of Realtors—penned a review of the selling magazine articles. I started the meaning out of life. At its best, work performance in the Realtor’s newslet- selling short stories. I started getting IS the meaning of life. And I’m here ter and panned him. In the Realtor’s invited to poetry readings. I quit my to rattle the cage of every leader who newsletter. Not like it was his beat or day job and started writing ad copy. doesn’t get that and lead like she’s a hu- anything. Explained in detail why his One day, a Thursday afternoon, man being first and a manager second. son wasn’t funny. I came home to find the light on my Like Paul Lavallier, the character in There’s always somebody to tell answering machine blinking, which my book, I’m convinced you can make you you can’t write. You aren’t good hadn’t been happening quite enough. a company the ultimate expression of enough. You aren’t worthy. And the I pushed the button and heard a voice power to the people. And I still believe fact that you know you have to ignore say, “Hi, my name is Don Runkle and the greatest leadership song of all times them and keep going doesn’t make it I’m the chief engineer at Chevrolet. is “All You Need is Love.” Followed hurt any less. Would you give me call?” closely by “Dancing in the Streets.” Arthur Miller told a story once. He Talk about out of left field. Now … about that houseboat on was walking down 42nd Street one So I called him and he told me that San Francisco Bay: it turns out they’re afternoon, coming out of rehearsals Road and Track magazine had sent very damp and take a lot of mainte- for Death of a Salesman. He looks up them a spec article I had submitted. nance. And they sink, which I would and there coming out of a restaurant It was about how Chevrolet had lost hate. So I make a life in the hills outside

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Austin Texas with my wife Jean, my A good speech tells you what you I’m the capnote speaker for this confer- dogs and a pretty good wine cellar. didn’t know. It shows you something ence. Here’s what that means. The Look, I said earlier I don’t know new. It makes you want to learn more keynote speaker opened the conference what makes a great speechwriter. But about the topic. That’s what a good and set the tone. Lisa Muscatine … let me give you something to think speech does. wasn’t she great? about. But a great speech? No, no, no. A Basically, her responsibility—you It takes talent, of course. You great speech doesn’t show and tell. A traveled a long way, spent a lot of have to listen. You have to trust your great speech doesn’t share. A great money, took time away from things you intuition and be intensely open to what speech doesn’t educate you, it destroys need to be doing—her job was to make wants to happen next. And you better you. you feel glad you came. have a brain full of stories and the abil- A great speech reaches inside you My job—and I only had an hour to ity to synthesize them into something and rips your heart out. And in its do it—is to make you glad it’s over. we don’t already know. place it gives you a bigger heart. A You have work to do. You’ve got But most of all, it takes a passion for heart that’s on fire with a passion to speeches to write. You’ve got a world to the hero’s journey. And a passion for stand up and be counted. change. It’s an awesome responsibility. helping others find their own journey. If you can do that in a speech, then Don’t sell yourself short. And stop selling themselves short. you’re a great speechwriter. Make it a moment of theater. If you have all that, you can write a Thank you. good speech. *** WINNER: AGRICULTURE “The House That Blueberries Built”

By Chris Moran for Jack Payne, Senior Vice Delivered at Straughn IFAS Extension Professional President, Agriculture and Natural Resources, Development Center, University of Florida, University of Florida Gainesville, Fla., July 14, 2015

name on a building generally We hired him in the late 1950s as Straughns’ gifts come with strings at- A identifies the person who made it an Extension agent in Marion County. tached. If Alto and Patrecia ask you possible. A financial backer. A legisla- It was the start of a 31-year IFAS if you want some blueberries, think tor. An activist. Extension career. carefully before you answer. So why are we here? Alto and Pa- He’s been retired for 26 years, but When Dave said yes, he suddenly trecia already gave us their name. he still has strong ties to our blueberry found himself in a field with Alto, We’re here to celebrate a relation- breeders. picking in 90-degree temperatures. ship. It’s a relationship between the If you walk into his fields in Waldo, You see, you don’t get the berries un- Straughns and IFAS that goes back to you’d think you were on IFAS property less you’re there to help pick them. I before there was even an IFAS! the way he talks. He’ll point to various think it’s because Alto, too, values the In 1952, Alto came to UF to study rows where the 2010s are, the 2011s, relationship with the people of IFAS, animal science. The Straughns and and so on. especially those who can talk blueber- IFAS have been connected ever since. He’s talking about IFAS cultivars. ries for hours. In fact, Alto still remembers his For years he has offered up his land There is one exception to the student ID number. for our breeders’ field trials. Together Straughns’ you-pick-‘em rule. Alto [JMP looks to Alto Straughn, they’ve tested thousands of possibilities personally picks for Vam York, whom asks:“Can you give us that number, in their quest for the perfect blueberry. I’m happy to see here this evening. Alto?”] The Straughns just recently were Back to Dave. He returned from [Straughn responds: 14,448] also the lead donors for our Flavors of Alto’s farm sweat-soaked with about Alto played on the freshman basket- Florida celebrating the Plant Innova- 150 pounds of blueberries. ball team. He still has a ball from that tion Center, a breeding powerhouse Dave was in California about a era on the floor of his packinghouse that we think is going to be one of the week later when Alto called. How office out in Waldo. driving forces in lifting UF to national about a couple thousand more While he was here, he met Patre- preeminence. pounds? Alto asked. Dave’s no cia, who was also an animal sciences Dave Clark leads that center. He dummy. This time he asked for a major. recently learned that sometimes the little more context.

CICERO 2016 10 CICERO SPEECHWRITING AWARDS

Alto said his pickers would take Two of Alto’s closest IFAS friends he proposed something north of a few care of it. So Dave called his son, who are Larry Arrington and Jimmy thousand, because we now have this brought a truck over to the farm and Cheeks, two of my predecessors. The center for training Extension profes- brought them back to campus. three of them used to have brownbag sionals to improve Floridians’ lives. All summer long, Gators in training lunches together at Rolfs Hall. Larry It’s a brick-and-mortar reminder of are having these berries at their cafete- and Jimmy packed lunches. Alto ate dear members of the IFAS family. The ria fueling stations, in smoothies and out of the vending machines. name on the façade signals support. even on the field where frozen blueber- As Alto prospered and Larry rose to But the plaque symbolizes a 63-year ries are being used as tasty ice cubes in VP, he told Larry to call if IFAS ever relationship. their Gatorade! needed some money to support profes- Our IFAS family is ever expanding. Maybe if we win a few more foot- sional development. Alto was thinking I’m proud to welcome our president ball games this year we can credit it to a few thousand dollars. as one of its new members. President Alto’s edge. Well, Larry called. I’m guessing that Fuchs, the floor is yours. WINNER: ASSOCIATIONS “In the Decade of Human Capital, HR Must Lead”

By Larae Booker for Henry (Hank) Jackson, Delivered at the 2015 SHRM Annual Conference and President & CEO, Society for Human Resource Management Exposition, Las Vegas, Nev., June 28, 2015

[FOLLOWING SHRM In today’s fast-paced, ever-changing You see, we’re at this pivotal mo- COMMERCIAL] business environment, What is it going ment when the trends we’ve been to take for our careers our organiza- watching for years are here. Think couldn’t have said it better. Those tions our profession to thrive? That’s about it. Remember when it was a I three SHRM members in the com- our focus this week. And to help us get prediction that advancing technology mercial are with us today. They are started, I want to share my perspective. would change the nature of work? Bhavna Dave,VP of HR for Add-This, As SHRM’s President and CEO, Well. It’s here. Eduardo Sanabia, chief people officer I get to hear from hundreds of HR Technology is raising the bar on for Think Food Group, and Kristen professionals from students to thought the skills and education that people Medlin, HR director for Aiken Region- leaders about their challenges and and businesses need. It’s creating some al Medical Centers. triumphs. I speak with other CEOs new, innovative jobs and industries ... Hearing these three ambassadors and business leaders about their per- and making others obsolete. But more talk about how HR is making orga- spectives on HR and what’s needed critically, technology is slowly eliminat- nizations successful and leading the in business today. I stay up-to-date on ing the need for the traditional, central workplace raises a question for me: all the latest research and, like you, office management structure. How What does it take to make it in HR I see all of the commentary on the do we build or change culture in this today at a time when the world around blogs about HR. I feel fortunate to get environment? us is changing so dramatically? When a close-up look at human resources And remember when we used to one person can reach millions of oth- at this time in our profession ... and talk about the demographic shifts that ers with the tap of a finger. When a here’s what I see: I see a growing, would reshape the workplace? single hashtag can spark a movement dynamic profession whose value to or- Well, after years of warnings, they’re and anyone with an idea and the in- ganizations has made us the business here. On the one hand, we have the ternet can disrupt an entire business or leaders. Not business partners. Not rise of the Millennials, who only a few industry. Just think about Uber. trusted advisors. Not change manag- months ago became the largest genera- How do we, the Human Resources ers. But business leaders. tion in the workforce. It’s official now. profession, navigate the new world of (Not unlike what the Harvard And on the other hand, we’re in the work? Work that is more global, mobile Business Review recently pronounced middle of that wave of Baby Boomer and social than ever before. Work that when it looked at HR’s need to set the retirements. And let’s not forget there looks much different than it did just a agenda in today’s marketplace. I agree are three other generations in the few years ago and will look much dif- with that.) workforce. ferent in the future than it does today. Given where business is now and So for the first time in history, there More diverse. More technology-driven. where’s its headed, HR has no option. are five generations working side- More dispersed. We must lead. by-side and they all have different

VSOTD.COM 11 motivations and expectations when it competitiveness and growth in the 21st company’s language. She made sure comes to work. century.” they understood their industry and the And then, of course, there’s glo- Just think about what all of this talent their business needed to succeed. balization. Globalization has made means for us. It means our job ... our She introduced cross-functional training us literally expand our thinking about job ... is now the most critical aspect so that her team had a greater under- where and when work gets done and of business. It means the human standing of the business operations. And who does it. Companies no longer resources profession has no choice but finally, and perhaps most importantly, have the option of saying, “I’m local,” to take the lead. she challenged her team. She encour- because a bright employee can work In HR, we’ve always known that aged them to offer solutions to the busi- from anywhere in the world. And many people are the power behind business. ness challenges their managers face. of them do. Crowdsourcing, temporary We’ve always known that talent is the And this small but passionate and remote work are all on the rise. differentiator within organizations. HR team rose to the occasion. They Talent is borderless so we are all global We’ve just wondered when everyone transformed even the most day-to-day now, competing for the best and the else was going to get it. HR duties into strategies that impacted brightest in the world. Well, that time has come. Our time their business. Advancing technology changing has come. Because now, we’re in a For example, TAMKO needed a demographics and globalization are world where so many mega trends are way to centralize one of its most time- just some of the mega trends chang- beyond business control. And no mat- consuming functions: tracking time and ing work as we know it today. This is a ter the size or location of our organiza- attendance. So the team implemented brand new business world. tions, we can’t escape these trends. new technology that has reduced time Now … to make it in this new Leaders are quickly recognizing that spent on payroll. world, organizations need the most en- the one thing they can do ... something But more than that ... more than gaged, productive and talented work- they must do in this volatile, uncertain, that ... they’ve started to use the data forces. They need teams and cultures complex and ambiguous world, is have from that new system for business in- that give them the best chance of com- the right talent. And finding, developing sights—to spot and alert management peting and winning, no matter where and keeping that talent? That’s our job. to time and attendance trends that are they are located. They need people So HR: We’re in the Decade of costly for the company, and bad for who embrace change, seek innovation Human Capital. We’re in the right employees. and press forward despite ambiguity. place at the right time. The only ques- And here’s another example. There They need you. HR professionals. tion now is: What are we going to do is a skills gap in manufacturing, and I believe we’re in the midst of the about it? Shara and her team know that finding, Decade of Human Capital. A time Every day, I hear stories of HR hiring and keeping talent is a competi- when people are seen as the real power leaders who are asking themselves this tive advantage. behind business. When organizations question, taking on this challenge and So they overhauled their company’s will draw a clear, straighter line be- doing what it takes to move themselves, onboarding process to make it less like tween their people strategies and their their organizations and our profession a “task” and more like a TAMKO business goals. But … you don’t have to forward. Leaders like Shara Gamble. “experience.” Instead of inundating take my word for that. Shara is the HR director for new hires with paperwork on their first Recently the Conference Board TAMKO Building Products, a com- day on the job, they now use a virtual asked CEOs, presidents, and chairs pany based in Joplin, Missouri with system that explains forms in plain around the globe what their most criti- twelve hundred employees nationwide. language, introduces the TAMKO cal challenges were, what was keeping We featured her in HR Magazine last culture and even shows the connection them up at night. They named the month. between the employees and TAMKO’s usual suspects: innovation; customer She wanted her 10-person HR team branding strategies. relations; operations; sustainability. to do two things: provide useful people And the key is that all of this hap- But do you know what topped their analytics; and make sure managers had pens before talent walks through the list? Human capital. Yes ... human competent, well-trained talent. door, so that employees feel con- capital. But when Shara looked at how they nected and are ready to contribute on A survey by the SHRM Foundation were actually spending their time, day one. and the Economist Intelligence Unit it was more on transactional duties You see, whether it was overhauling found much the same thing: that what like payroll and benefits. Maybe that onboarding or turning time and atten- organizations need most today and sounds familiar to some of you. dance data into business insights, Shara into the future are people management Well, Shara decided to disrupt that started with her organization’s strategy, strategies. The World Economic Forum status quo. goals and needs first, then designed has also said that talent—not financial She trained her team on TAMKO’s HR functions to drive them. She’s capital—is the key to “innovation, business model so they would speak the proven herself to be a business leader

CICERO 2016 12 CICERO SPEECHWRITING AWARDS who just happens to be an expert in Just imagine if the more than I firmly believe that if we accept this HR. And she and her staff, her orga- 15,000 of us here at this conference left leadership challenge, there will be no nization and—I’d say—our profession with the same charge: To lead the busi- debate about which profession leads are better for it. ness of our organizations. I guarantee organizations. There will be no debate Now, like any good manager, Shara you our careers, our organizations, and about the need to bring HR into every gives the credit to her team but today our profession will thrive. business decision. And more organiza- I’d like to acknowledge her. Ladies HR Colleagues: This is the Decade tions will live up to their claims that and gentleman, Shara Gamble. [AP- of Human Capital. It’s a time when people are their “greatest asset.” PLAUSE] the most pressing issues facing organi- As SHRM President and CEO, I We’re proud to count Shara as one zations are talent management issues. want nothing more than to see the of the nearly 50,000 HR professionals When leaders and others in business HR profession take its rightful place who have achieved the new SHRM are coming to understand what we leading the world of business. It’s time certification and taken the SHRM know: that great organizations are led ... our time. Competency Model to heart. We by great HR. And there’s no better place to get extensively researched and carefully de- We now have an opportunity to started ... than right here in Las Vegas ... signed this Competency Model to take move our profession from where together, at the biggest and best gather- HR to that next level. To move our we are to where business needs us to ing of HR professionals in the world. profession further into business leader- be ... where we want to be ... where Thank you, and have a great con- ship ... one HR professional, one HR we must be. So what are we going to ference. team, one organization at a time. do about it? WINNER: COMMERCE & RETAIL, ANALYST CALL/INVESTOR MEETING “The Power of Serving Athletes Completely”

By Seth Freedland for Trevor Edwards, Delivered at Nike World Headquarters, President, Nike Brand Beaverton, Ore., Oct. 15, 2015

ood morning! Welcome to Nike. for the first time—and they become decide. They get something amazing G It’s great to be here to talk with athletes, and stay athletes for their one day, and they immediately expect you about Nike’s deep connection with entire life. it across their entire life experience. consumers, and how we will continue At Nike, nothing energizes us more The world is changing: It’s faster to drive sustainable, profitable growth than athletes. We have a singular focus paced, more connected, more personal. for the Nike Brand. of serving the athlete in everything Everything is expected on-demand. I feel so lucky to work in sports. we do. That is the power of the Nike Now, our athletes have always been Sports have the power to inspire, to Brand. demanding. They expect us to deliver unite and to move people in a way that And by serving the needs of ath- amazing performance products for little else does. letes, we drive growth in our business. their ultimate moment of achieving Today, that power of sport has never We have a saying at Nike: “The their highest potential. been stronger. Consumer Decides.” It’s a simple This mentality of serving the best We all know there’s a global shift thought, but it fuels our thinking every athletes uncompromised was there at toward fitness, but that cultural shift single day. the founding of this company. At its runs deeper than some may think. Today, we continue to see tectonic core, it was about relationships—and a People all over the world are being shifts in the consumer landscape. These desire to serve them. personally inspired by sport every day. shifts continue to reshape the market- Today we continue to focus on A young boy in Chicago sees a place and the relationships consumers building relationships by serving ath- Cristiano free kick on YouTube for the have with brands. letes to deliver on our brand proposi- first time. And the result? Consumers are tion. A girl in Beijing watches her first clearly in charge, and youth are more Our brand is a promise: LeBron fast break. demanding today than ever before. • It’s a promise to innovate. And they feel something. They want what they want when they • It’s a promise to connect. The next day, they pick up a ball want it, and do what they do when they • And it’s a promise to serve.

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That commitment we make every new growth opportunities across the Our invitation to Run with Us also day creates a relentless drive to deliver marketplace. includes in-person runs with Nike amazing products that help athletes be Our first phase in the Category Run Club. More than 20,000 partici- better. Offense was to go deep with athletes pate every month in North America The core principle of our product with performance product, focusing on alone—the equivalent of hosting a innovation is simple: we start by listen- everything they need from head to toe major marathon every 30 days. ing to the very best athletes for insight. to perform their best in their sport. We also help her train with the Nike And we turn these powerful insights Next, in the Amplified phase, we Training Club app for whenever and into the innovations that solve prob- expanded off performance to include wherever she wants to work out. If she lems for those athletes. culture and lifestyle, serving the athlete prefers the added motivation of her But we don’t just hear and deliver. across their entire journey: friends, she can join a Nike Training We strive to create something more— • as they compete, Club live session in her city. It’s a huge something athletes themselves could • as they train, hit with more than 21 million downloads not have even imagined. • and as they express their love of sport. and over 100 workouts featuring the This obsession with pushing Today, as we continue to serve world’s best master trainers and athletes boundaries is why Nike is one of deeper, better and more completely, to give her guidance and motivation. the most authentic and connected we are entering a new elevated stage in And as always, we serve her with the brands in the world. The brand isn’t which we serve the athlete’s complete most innovative footwear, apparel, and just everywhere—we’re the #1 sports experience through a connected eco- accessories, curated for her perfor- brand in all of our key cities from system—shaped and strengthened by mance and style needs. London to Shanghai, from Tokyo the authentic relationships we share. Our ultimate goal with Nike and Rio, from New York to Berlin. product is to introduce a brand-new The power of our brand is im- *** standard to give her the best fit in the mense: most premium way possible. • It’s the power of our brand that Now, I’d like to show you a holistic ex- And we bring this elevated product brings hundreds of thousands of run- ample of how we realize a key growth to her through incredible retail con- ners together for a race. opportunity in our business. cepts. Nike Women’s concept doors • It’s the power of our brand that Let’s take a young woman who opened this past year in Shanghai, drives sports cultures in different global runs and trains. She runs and works London and Newport Beach. By join- communities. out twice a week, but she wants to be ing our partner doors like Chelsea • And it’s the power of our brand inspired to get better and do more. Collective with Dick’s Sporting Goods that emotionally connects and inspires So we invite her to join a move- and 602 with Foot Locker, we offer pre- millions every day to do more and get ment with other like-minded athletes. mium retail executions for her across better. This invitation, which we call “Better the entire marketplace. And we are just getting started. For It,” centers on the idea of pushing With an emphasis on service, these We expect NIKE, Inc. to add yourself out of your comfort zone and doors are where personal shopping nearly $20 billion in incremental focuses as much on the journey as the meets personal training. And when revenue between now and the end of destination. complemented by NIKE.com, it’s a full FY’20, a powerful continuation of our We provide personal motivation, a and powerful retail experience. engine of growth. rich community, and the customized This is where it all comes to life: This growth is what comes when services to meet her goals. And the re- • personalized inspiration, a power- you are as passionate about sport as we sponse has been incredible, with more ful community, are. Part of that passion for sport is the than half-a-million women participat- • amazing innovative products, great competitive fire to be the best. And we ing in runs and training events across services translate that ambition into making our 33 countries. • and industry-leading premium athletes the best. But this is not about one event or retail. And through our Category Of- one campaign, it’s about a continuous No one else has the ability to bring fense, no one connects deeper with engagement with our consumers. all the pieces together. athletes than we do. This is how Nike Take for example the Nike Plus No one else has the ability to serve continues to grow the market and take Running app, which creates access to her this completely. market share. a community, with information and Given all this, it’s no surprise that Since we launched the Category inspiration on demand. With in-run women who are part of our service Offense, our business has grown more features like social cheers and curated ecosystem spend more than two times than 70 percent. There’s no question playlists set to the runner’s individual with us than those who aren’t. that by drilling down on the sports pace, we motivate millions of runners And this unlocks real growth: Our that consumers love, we uncover the all over the world. Women’s business today is $5.7 billion.

CICERO 2016 14 CICERO SPEECHWRITING AWARDS

Over the next five years we expect it • in a nearby major city, With this in mind, we are moving to will grow to over $11 billion! • in their favorite store, a place where we’ll be at the consum- A big part of that success comes in • at home er’s fingertips every day, all day. serving consumers where they live and • or just on the go. We will be the home of your athletic shop, throughout their journey in what Our digital commerce business lets life, providing you the best of Nike we call the Integrated Marketplace. As us be that personal. We strive to serve when you want it, on demand. always, we obsess connecting with con- the consumer better all the time. We’ve I can’t wait until we can talk more sumers, giving them the right product increased our mobile efforts to be in about it. and services in the right places at the the palm of their hand, 24 hours a day, right time. all over the globe. *** We do this in our six geographies And the results are paying off. serving our consumers in nearly every Today, our e-commerce business In the end, creating an industry- country around the world, with clear is just over a billion dollars. And we leading digital ecosystem is simply a strategic focus on key cities such as expect it to grow to $7 billion in FY20. continuation of the Nike promise to New York, London, Rio, Shanghai and This is the kind of growth Nike drives. develop deep and lasting relationships, Los Angeles. We think about digital as an accel- to offer the best athletic service, period. For Western Europe and North erator of all that we do, as consumers And, ultimately, by always reaching America and other developed mar- expect to be better served in an on- consumers in new and innovative ways, kets, we are targeting one connected demand world. they vote to stay with us over their marketplace serving diverse consumer Our aim is to connect athletes with entire life. needs. the knowledge, the services and—most At Nike, we have a lot to be proud In these markets we drill down into importantly—the product they need to of. We may be at the front of the pack, each city, shopping district and even serve their potential. Digital gives every but that’s not enough: for us, or our specific stores to provide the best pos- athlete around the world the service athletes. sible experience for our consumers. and self-understanding that elite ath- We don’t just promise a future, we And we also see significant op- letes have always had. deliver it. portunity in Emerging and Develop- What’s exciting for us is: consumers The work we do isn’t about just ing Markets, like Greater China and choose to be part of Nike. If you are meeting our consumers’ expectations. Southeast Asia. These markets have part of our ecosystem, you’ve chosen us. It’s about inviting them to dream a an ever-growing middle-class and a And this makes our connections rich- little bigger. consumer base that loves sports. er and more rewarding for everyone. We’ve never had more potential In both these developed and devel- For us, it’s not about selling them than we have today—and the proof of oping geographies, we expect growth ads. It’s not about just having an app on that potential can be seen in every con- to be robust for years to come. their phone. What matters are real con- nection we have with athletes, all over We know consumers expect to be nections that fuel passion and energy the world. served anywhere and anytime: that, in turn, drive business opportunity. Thank you. WINNER: EDUCATORS “Rhetoric: Indulging the Hope That Nature Will Finally Yield to Observation and Perseverance the Keys to the Heart”

Written and delivered by Rodger Evans, Delivered at the Catholic Chaplaincy, University of Glasgow (Network speechwriter, Scottish Parliament for Oratory and Politics), Glasgow, Scotland, March 13, 2015

an I make a confession? But today is like running my magni- My themes this morning are the tri- C It would seem only fitting— fying glass over a yellowed canvas print umphs and tribulations of the speech- here in the Chaplaincy. map. writer—more the tribulations. This is the first speech of this kind On which I can just about make out First, though, let me quote Dorothy I’ve written and given. the warning— Parker— I’ve been best man, presented train- Hic sunt dracones. “If, with the literate, I am ing courses and performed spoken Luckily for me you look like a lovely Impelled to try an epigram, word gigs. audience—not a dragon in sight. I never seek to take the credit;

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We all assume that Oscar said it.” nature will finally yield to observation Albeit carbon neutral and made I like quotes. and perseverance the keys to the heart.” from recycled materials—this was I like them a lot, as you’re about to I love that. Green party policy after all. find out. A line from an essay penned in 1897 Suitably enough it was travel themed I like them so much I recently tried by a young Winston Churchill. too—something about maps and desti- to foist one on my Chief Executive. The other contender for the title was nations as I recall. For his new year staff address—not a one I’d used for an article in an online No dragons. speech but an email. journal— But which neatly framed what this He’d done his end-of-2014-you’ve- “Touch me, I’m rhetoric: confessions draft legislation was about. all-done-very-well message and non- of a celery eater.” How pleased was I. denominational seasonal greetings. I think I chose wisely. No, that won’t do. This was his now-let’s-get-our-sleeves- Now, I want to say a big thanks to I was more than pleased. rolled-up for 2015 number. Henriette for inviting me today. I was smitten. He didn’t use the quote. I’m always, but always, delighted to I was onto something—something He liked it and said he would use it talk about one of my favourite things— new, to me at least. another time. speechwriting. I’d always loved words, from bedtime He won’t. It’s up there with indie music from stories and the backs of cereal boxes to The quote was apt and it was pithy 1982 to 2003, Oxford United the glory big old novels. and it had credibility. years—a much shorter timespan—and By way of kids’ comics, football But it didn’t quite fit him. every art-house film released in 1995. fanzines, political pamphlets, the NME And that matters. ‘95 being a year I found myself and Private Eye. This speech about speeches is, I between careers. I’d even written for magazines and hope, neither ill-fitting nor self-indul- Speechwriting is a part of my work newspapers as a side-line. gent. but never the part that feels like work. Another confession … For the speechwriter is a tailor—a When writing these words I might as I’d been, whisper it, a music jour- maker of bespoke garments. well have been skipping through a sum- nalist. Even if those garments might some- mer meadow. Yet this was different, as if I’d been times be said to resemble the emperor’s Colleagues in my open plan office ushered into another realm. new clothes. were assailing their keyboards—prepar- Was it Wonderland or 100 Acre I’m thinking here more of Profes- ing agendas, drafting reports, sending Wood? Moomin Valley or The Far sor Mary Beard than Dame Vivienne emails. Away Tree? Bedrock or Springfield? Westwood. And it looked like I was too. I felt fuzzy. Professor Beard made a recent docu- When in reality—my version of I felt filled with anticipation. mentary for the BBC in which she be- it—I was lying in the grass, shielding I felt like a diabetic in a sweetshop. moaned the use of “borrowed” words. my eyes from the sun, and searching for For the rest of that afternoon and She said rhetoric should be about animal shapes in the clouds. into the evening, when I should have getting to the bottom of an argument, That’s not work! been doing Friday things, I wrote that facing your own ignorance and con- Louis Armstrong said— speech. fronting your own prejudices. “What we play is life.” And the following Wednesday there I I agree. And, if I may try on the reversible was at the back of the debating chamber. She also said that having somebody raincoat of rhetoric—chiasmus—life is Waiting for Robin to breathe life into else write your speeches was part of the what we play. my words. problem with rhetoric today. So how did I get into this game? My words that would become his I disagree. I wrote my first speech in 2002. words if this was to work at all. But in the words of Nina Simone— For a Green MSP for a debate on his I had, in modest self-assessment, “Oh Lord, please don’t let me be mis- Organic Farming Targets Bill. succeeded in capturing his warm tones understood.” And endured three hours of frustra- on the page. Nina Simone didn’t actually write tion one Friday afternoon before an It was only the former leader of the the music to that song or indeed the idea had the decency to show up. Greens’ trademark Dr Who scarf I lyrics. Not an especially brilliant idea, cer- couldn’t quite replicate in text. It was penned by Bennie Benjamin, tainly not a very original idea. It’s a disconcerting discovery at Gloria Caldwell, and Sol Marcus. But I grabbed it. first—having someone else’s voice in Does that diminish its majesty or What was this in my hands—tiny your head as you write. make it any less her work? and shivering with life? Tuning in—crackle of static as you My title today is— No less than a metaphor to drive the turn the dial—trying to lock onto that “Rhetoric: indulging the hope that speech. signal.

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You can’t always find it. song in a sort of a conversational way. Before finding out she suffers from You won’t always find it. Frank sang to you—not at you.” a curious and confoundedly obscure But, on this occasion, find it I did. So said Dylan of Sinatra. condition—a fear of superheroes. He didn’t disappoint either. We can apply that lesson, even if Which is why only 10% of the At least not for the first three and a we’re not tackling the great American speech is used. half paragraphs. songbook. The good 10% though. Then he was side-tracked, am- Great speechwriting? The 10% covered by the media the bushed by Government back-benchers. It should be poetic. next day. He never recovered the plot nor It should be mellifluous. It’s not that. indeed the speech. It should be the music of words. It’s not deploying a record-breaking Ten minutes evaporated into nothing. It should be aimed at your head and number of excrement-related puns The debate came and went. your heart and your gut. during a debate of the Dog Fouling The Bill was defeated. Good speechwriting? (Scotland) Bill. Robin must have been gutted, if not It should have what Steven Pinker Having the MSP in charge of the entirely surprised. calls “the egalitarian give and take of Bill refer to himself as Mr “Keech” He knew he didn’t have Govern- conversation”. Harding. ment support. A speech isn’t an essay or a policy And discovering that one of his How was it for me? document. more mischievous colleagues has It was exhilarating but execrable. A speech isn’t the time for a tonne placed a plastic dog turd on every It was diabolical but divine. of technical detail. MSP’s seat. It was heaven but hell. A speech isn’t an instruction manual It’s not that. I was hooked. for your washing machine. No, the worst thing a speechwriter As Lewis Carroll said— A speech isn’t made up of 74-word can do is easy to overcome but difficult “No good fish goes anywhere with- sentences. to avoid. out a porpoise.” Which, let me say, is at least 59 You can hear the results in any And you might call this thing rheto- words too long. council chamber, at AGMs, during ric, but where I work—in the parlia- A speech says more with less. wedding receptions, for retirement do- mentary sphere—rhetoric has rather a A speech has a heartbeat. s, and, yes, even from lecture halls. bad press. A speech tells a story. And that thing is to write a dull It’s a pejorative. A speech is made of the simplest speech. A music hall double act. ingredients. Because had Moses taken the time It’s Hooey & Guff. Voice, audience, words. to turn over that tablet, he’d have It’s Hog & Wash. We’re back to Frank. found an 11th commandment— It’s Flap & Doodle. And the genius of the Hoboken Love thy audience. It’s Balder & Dash. Hoodlum, remember, was to talk to Which means never inflict on others A euphemism for BS. you, not at you. a speech you would not yourself wish Like Stan & Olly— Respect the audience and chances to hear. “Well, here’s another fine mess … ” are they’ll respect you right back. It’s not the job of the speechwriter Not that this is a recent development. Okay, the worst thing a speechwriter to send them up the wooden hill to I consulted Ambrose Bierce’s The can do … Bedfordshire. Devil’s Dictionary. Are your minds a-boggle? Surely it must be an offence under And before disappearing a century Mine is and I know the answer. Scots law or breach of the European ago into the smoke and gunfire of the Here’s the charge sheet. Convention on Human Rights to bore Mexican revolution, he defined oratory It’s not setting down a busy para- the listener? thus— graph so the senior politician you’re I’m in a room-full of learned types “A conspiracy between speech and writing for overlooks a crucial full stop. here—help me out! action to cheat the understanding.” Thereby elevating a former deputy And it would be so easy to rem- But look closely and you can’t help leader of the Scottish Tories to the edy—this endless ennui. but see the critics of rhetoric using position of First Minister. How? rhetoric in order to decry others for A surprise not only to the former Simply by writing like a human be- using rhetoric. deputy leader but to the speaker her- ing for others of the species. Don’t you just love rhetoric! self and to the rest of the room. And not being afraid to delve into Another quote of the musical It’s not that. the toolbox of rhetoric. kind— It’s not using a Superman motif for The one we borrowed from next “Frank’s got to be on your mind … a former stand-in leader of the Scottish door and haven’t quite got round to He had this ability to get inside of the Labour party. returning.

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From old man Aristotle. Charity? world. Though he borrowed it from Plato For me this is about tone but also But don’t take my word for it. and never gave it back either. treating the audience well. I’d completely fail the Mandy Rice My colleagues have spoken about Who are they and what do they Davies test. rhetoric with insight and erudition this want? Well, he would say that, wouldn’t morning. Like our friend Frank quipped dur- he. And somewhat less of a Horrible ing a Las Vegas gig— He’s a speechwriter. Histories approach. “How did all these people get in my No, ask the current occupants of I still struggle when thinking of room?” the White House and of Number ethos, logos and pathos not to picture Do you remember Tony Blair being 10—whose careers turned on their a ‘70s prog rock ensemble. slow handclapped by the WI? ability to speak well. Capes billowing, dry ice swirling at Even a Prime Minister can trip up Ask the young soldiers of the Irish their feet, and the singer dressed as a if he tries to talk over the heads of his Guard addressed by Colonel Tim Col- sunflower. audience. lins before their tanks rolled into Iraq It’s what Cicero would have As for clarity, I’m an admirer of in 2003. wanted. Blair—Eric not Tony. Ask anyone who has hung on the Sorry, Amy! His questions for a scrupulous writer wise and well-tailored words of Coret- Ted Sorensen, President Kennedy’s are always worth remembering— ta Scott King or Christine Lagarde or speechwriter, described a good speech What am I trying to say? Tilda Swinton. in four words. What words will express it? I began with a confession, a poem A quarter of a tweet. What image or idiom will make it and a quote—or, rather, talking about Brevity, levity, charity, clarity. clearer? a quote that wasn’t used, a quote that Salvador Dali once told a press Is this image fresh enough to have didn’t quite fit. conference— an effect? A quote my Chief Executive may “I shall be so brief I have already Could I put it more shortly? or may not use another time. finished.” And have I said anything that is He won’t. I can’t compete with that. avoidably ugly? But here’s another I have up my Wit can be a trickier area. Orwell was right of course. bespoke sleeve, this from Madame But if it was worthy of Lincoln, of Words can be ugly, they can be Bovary— Churchill, of JFK … why shy away? devious and they can be cruel. “Human speech is like a cracked Laughter can be the shortest dis- Rhetoric isn’t without its dark side. kettle on which we tap crude rhythms tance between speaker and audience. At the shadowy end of the street for bears to dance to, while we long to True, not everyone can be Billy you’ll find the premises of propaganda— make music that will melt the stars.” Connolly, but comedy is a broad more a fallen-down shack than a palace. Desire, dancing bears, the end of church. Over the road—say in a mock the universe … One that covers bathos, mockery, Tudor mansion—live that photogenic And a singing kettle. satire, drollery, irony, anecdote and couple known as Advertising & PR. If that doesn’t finally yield to ob- observation. From regulars in Hello! magazine servation and perseverance the keys to Though irony must never be seated to their neighbours from hell—it’s your heart … next to sarcasm, for obvious reasons. quite a postcode. Then, Mr Churchill, I confess Self-deprecation is there too. So do speeches matter? we’re going to have to get out there But as Dr Johnson advised—don’t I believe they can help us to make and find ourselves a good locksmith. overdo it or they might believe you. sense of an increasingly complex

CICERO 2016 18 CICERO SPEECHWRITING AWARDS WINNER: ENERGY “Mysteries of the Marginal Barrel”

Written and delivered by Bob Tippee, Delivered to the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers, Editor, Oil & Gas Journal Dallas, Texas, Oct. 1, 2015

hank you, Bill. air behind the animals and in the sand It’s about a skill oil and gas produc- T And thank you, Texas Alliance beneath them. The spider looked first ers will have to develop in response to a of Energy Producers, for inviting me downward, then back and to the rear fundamental change in the oil market, here tonight. and said, “Why, it’s a dark cloud—” which will be my first point. The worm interrupted him. “No And because speeches, like sermons, *** time to talk. Hurry.” are supposed to make three points, I’ll The worm and the spider rushed— end with a prediction in the hope that, Two creatures were crossing a desert— to the extent worms and spiders can if I turn out right, you’ll remember a spider and a worm. rush—on the course set by the worm. and that, if I’m wrong, the worm and “What was that?” the spider asked. When they both were quite tired, the spider are what stay with you. “I felt something.” worm made his peristaltic way toward “It’s gonna rain,” answered the a space overhung by a barely notice- *** worm. able outcropping of flat rock. “Rain?” mocked the spider. “Rain? “This should be high enough,” he As everybody here knows, the price of Don’t be silly. This is a desert. It said. crude oil collapsed in the second half doesn’t rain in the desert.” Together, the worm and the spider of last year. The basic commodity of “We should find high ground,” the took shelter beneath the rock. Soon, the oil and gas producing business lost worm said. the black, booming cloud, laced inter- half its value in half a year’s time. No- “High ground?” said the spider. mittently by lightning, passed over- body expects hundred-dollar-a-barrel “High ground? This is the flattest head. Rainfall drenched the desert. oil anytime soon. The good old days ground I’ve ever seen. There’s no high From their dry haven, the worm and are gone… ground here.” spider watched as water first puddled, …And not just because crude prices “This way,” said the worm, turning then quickly began to flow in the place tanked. sharply to the right. from which they had fled. The little, The good old days are gone also After a minute or so the spider flash rivulet certainly would have because decision-making in every part remarked, “I see no high ground in this washed them to their deaths. of the oil and gas industry—especially direction—or any direction, for that “How’d you know?” asked the spider. the upstream part—has lurched into a matter.” “It’s a matter of managing risk in a new era of complexity. “Look at the sand grains in front of complex world,” the worm responded. It’s an era defined by the disappear- you,” the worm said. The spider harrumphed, needing ance of something on which the oil “Want me to count them?” the to recapture the dignity he believed market depended for many decades: a spider joked. animal taxonomy accorded his species. mechanism for accommodating supply “Now look behind you.” “Spare me the lecture,” he said. to best-available estimates of contem- “A lot in that direction, too.” “Look at us: me with eight delicately poraneous demand. “See any difference?” asked the jointed legs and a body in two parts, This condition is new. If it lasts, as worm. and you with no legs at all and body it probably will, the industry will need The spider looked forward, then as much male as female. What do you to respond to unexpected new risks— backward, then forward again. “The know about complexity?” like a spider and worm seeking high grains do seem a little finer ahead of The worm sighed. “You’re probably ground in a sudden desert downpour. us.” right,” he said. “But look who’s closer “We need to hurry,” the worm said. to the data.” *** Another minute passed before either creature spoke again. It was the spider. *** In the world of economists, supply and “I don’t see why you think it’s going demand always balance. to—” I hope that story helps you remember You know about economists: Ba-doom, ba-doom, ba-doom. the second point I want to make here They’re the folks who went to grad Thunder rumbled unmistakably in the tonight. school to become able to assure you

VSOTD.COM 19 with soaring authority when things are And the group’s ability to assess oil, and prohibition of interstate sales lousy that everything will get better demand improved over time as the of so-called hot oil—or oil produced in … and to warn you when everything’s OPEC Secretariat learned to interpret excess of allowable amounts. great that things surely will worsen. signals from the futures markets it once The voluntary scheme replaced About the inevitability of change, distrusted—and as it got closer and a system of mandatory state quotas economists always are right. closer to the data. imposed by the federal government But about the timing … well, grad But the system worked only as long until the Supreme Court rejected the school makes economists smart enough as supply from everywhere else flowed practice in 1935. not to predict WHEN change will hap- at capacity rates and as long as OPEC Federal intervention had responded pen … and if forced to predict timing members as a group controlled enough to oil-field anarchy following the 1930 never to guarantee their work. production to influence price. discovery of giant East Texas field, Anyway, supply and demand contin- While OPEC still controls plenty which created a surplus that crushed uously seek equilibrium at some price. of production, the other condition no oil prices. The dynamic never holds still. Sup- longer applies. Supply outside the United States ply, demand, and price are continu- As a consequence, OPEC last had management, too—first under ously buffeted by forces of economics, November made clear that it no longer the furtive As-Is Agreement fashioned politics, weather, news, and trading wished to be the oil market’s marginal by large international oil companies floor hallucinations. The equilibrium supplier, at least not now. at Achnacarry Castle in Scotland, in price is a moving target. At a meeting in Vienna, instead 1928, and later via collusion by the In that sense, the oil market is more of lowering the collective production oil companies known in infamy as the spider than worm: very complex, lots target to accommodate reduced need Seven Sisters. of moving parts. for their countries’ crude, OPEC min- As I said, for good or bad, the oil And of the market’s three fun- isters left the group quota at 30 million market seems to need coordinated sup- damental elements, only one seems barrels a day—clearly more than the ply management. It always has had it, subject to coordinated management. market needed. At the time, actual at any rate. That’s supply. production by the OPEC countries Since OPEC’s announcement last Through most of the oil and gas was half a million barrels a day above November that it no longer intends to industry’s history, supply has had some quota. Crude prices, already sagging, provide the service, the market has had balancing apparatus at the frontier of plummeted. to wrestle itself into balance the hard demand change. Lately, that’s been Even more important than that, way: through competition among indi- OPEC, the Organization of the Petro- coordinated effort to adjust oil sup- vidual producers with no idea what the leum Exporting Countries. ply in accordance with best-available oil price will be the day after tomorrow, More particularly, it’s been OPEC’s estimates of demand had ceased. let alone next year or next decade. most influential member, Saudi Arabia. The change was historic. And the change is complicated by After its failed experimentation with The geographically widespread oil OPEC production that not only didn’t true cartel behavior in the 1970s and market, with its many sellers and even decline last November as it once would 1980s, OPEC settled into the role of more buyers, and with its naturally un- have done, but that since early this year marginal supplier, raising production ruly production, seems always to have has exceeded the unadjusted quota by when a price increase signaled a de- needed some mechanism for moderat- as much as a million and a half barrels mand gain, trimming production when ing supply. a day. the crude price fell, mostly trying to The reason is easy to see. When Some observers regret the lack of a keep the crude price near some target supply reflects only the sum of indi- production decline from North Ameri- level or within some target band. vidual production decisions, it tends to can shale plays as steep as they say they Success was mixed. Calibrating overshoot need. Then competition gets expected. But shale production has something as unwieldy as oil supply out of hand, and the market becomes fallen fairly rapidly month-over-month against a value as ambiguous as real- chaotic. since about the middle of the year. time demand isn’t easy. And coordi- Before OPEC, the Texas Railroad The effect is simply being swamped by nation of output from countries with Commission managed production in higher production by OPEC members, disparate interests is inevitably dodgy the United States. mainly Saudi Arabia and Iraq—and business. The Railroad Commission’s soon to be followed by Iran. Most of the time, though, OPEC influence was a function of Texan Producers everywhere else are react- controlled enough idle production domination of Western Hemisphere oil ing to the torturous signals the market capacity—nearly all of it in Saudi supply and evolved out of a federally is sending them. They don’t settle their Arabia—to provide a valuable buffer sanctioned system of voluntary state differences in the oil fields with sabo- against surprise increases in consump- production quotas, import duties to tage and thievery anymore—at least tion or disruptions to supply. limit competition from low-cost foreign not yet.

CICERO 2016 20 CICERO SPEECHWRITING AWARDS

So far, they’ve shed cost and work- ture, tight-oil resources give the market most profitably. The newly disordered ers, slashed investment, and, when new, upside supply elasticity, control market I’ve described will punish necessary, liquidated assets to preserve over which is unmanageably diffuse. higher-cost producers who try to bull- cash flow and profitability while regain- OPEC leaders—the savvy ones, rush competition. ing control over debt. Some have gone anyway—understand the ramifications. Production restraint now has bankrupt. Others will follow. I don’t believe this is the only reason to come from producers willing to Maybe that’s what OPEC hoped they—led, as always, by Saudi Ara- respond to incremental demand with to achieve. Maybe OPEC wanted to bia—abandoned supply management. incremental caution, yielding when chase competitors out of business, Undeniably, though, the new ability necessary to competitors able to deliver especially producers active in the high- to bring incremental, non-OPEC oil supply at lower cost and greater ef- cost North Sea, deepwater frontiers, oil quickly to market at high rates makes ficiency. sands of Canada, and tight-oil plays of coordinated supply management by This requires an expanded role for Canada and the United States. OPEC self-defeating. competitive intelligence in the market In fact, explanations need to be no What, then, will align supply with assessments on which producers base more pointed than the one offered demand, prevent ruinous surplus, and investment decisions. It imposes new many times by Saudi Oil Minister Ali enforce order in the oil market? complexity on the quantification and al-Naimi. I can confidently predict the Texas analysis of risk. And it creates competi- If OPEC members cut production Railroad Commission won’t reinstate tive advantage for producers most skill- and the crude price rises as a conse- prorationing. And Washington, DC? ful with modern tools for data manage- quence, Al-Naimi says, some other Of course not. ment and integration. producer will just raise production, Can you imagine a politician of Producers, of course, have increased elevate supply, and lower the price yet either party calling for supply restraint their use of data to manage risk for again. OPEC then will have sacrificed in service to the elevation of oil prices? decades. its low-cost market share to higher-cost For most politicians, being blamed I remember when producers were competition and have nothing, in the for four-dollar gasoline is worse than content to drill four dry holes for every way of a strengthened crude price, to getting caught with coal slag in their one productive well. show for it. carbon footprint. Then 3D seismic technology That dynamic always has applied. Producers themselves can’t restrain became affordable, and producers Before now, though, the cycle stretched supply collectively. Price collusion is learned that a survey could pay for out over years. Producers prompted illegal in this country. itself by preventing the drilling of a into action by a crude price jump had Unless a more-formal mechanism single hole in the wrong place. to find oil and gas—never a certain bet. not now in view materializes, supply- And the one-in-five standard for Or, more recently, they had to excavate demand balance will have to reflect the drilling success is ancient history. an oil-sands mine, steam a reservoir in individual decisions of all the world’s Nowadays, too, producers of all size a thermal bitumen project, or develop producers of crude oil—and only those use sophisticated analytics to assess a deepwater field on the fringe of com- decisions. project risks, manage work flows, and merciality. So those decisions better be good. support drilling and development deci- Shale and other tight-oil plays radi- In the new world of oil and gas sup- sions. And they accumulate data on cally compress the timing. In those geo- ply subject to rapid expansion from nu- seemingly everything: machines, work logic environments, producers know merous, uncoordinated sources, every flows, logistics, the subsurface, and where the hydrocarbons are. Once producer faces a new risk. It’s the risk much more. they’ve optimized lateral placement that a decision to bring production on In a fascinating paper published and completion parameters, they can stream to meet new demand indicated in May by the Manhattan Institute, bring new production on stream in the by price elevation will be matched by Senior Fellow Mark P. Mills predicted time it takes to drill and fracture wells. supply from other producers respond- the application of big data analytics This short-cycle supply—of which ing to the same price signal, creating will inaugurate the next wave of supply quite much awaits development—is a surplus that lowers the oil price yet from unconventional resources, which new to the oil market. And it’s su- again and wrecks profitability for all he called Shale 2.0. premely important. It vacates one of but the lowest-cost projects. Data used now to improve efficiency those conditions essential to success In this new environment, producers and optimize operations are uncon- of OPEC supply management that I have to start paying closer attention nected. Big data can link disparate data mentioned a minute ago: production than ever to what their competitors sets and identify patterns helpful in by non-OPEC suppliers at near-term do—or, more importantly, what their decision-making. capacity rates. competitors can do. In Mills’s words: “Big-data analyt- Non-OPEC production capacity New supply has to come from the ics can already optimize the subsurface isn’t fixed like it used to be. By their na- producer able to meet new demand mapping of the best drilling locations;

VSOTD.COM 21 indicate how and where to steer the exploratory risk for the risk of boo- always have: by staying smart and get- drillbit; determine, section by section, merang price weakness resulting from ting smarter. the best way to stimulate the shale; and excessive production starts. And when the market spills over its ensure precise truck and rail operations. And as I suggested, every producer banks, as it will with painful frequency Mobile computing, using app-centric will have to manage that risk by de- in this era of oil abundance, the analytics, can increase uptime, reduce termining whether it can produce the producers who reach safe ground and maintenance, improve workforce pro- marginal barrel most efficiently and avoid drowning will be those who—like ductivity, reduce errors and rework, and thus outlast competitors. the worm in my little fable—stay clos- enable low-cost compliance.” This will be difficult and complex. It est to the data. That’s what’s possible now. will require sophisticated benchmark- For the future, Mills thinks big ing based on all accessible information *** data analytics will enable operators to about the performance and capabilities identify new potential in shale sections of competitors. You’re probably wondering what hap- already cut by wellbores, but so-far And the producers who do this pen to those two critters. unproductive, and to determine the best will be those able to use big-data Well, safely across the desert, they most appropriate fracturing techniques, and advanced analytics to evaluate went their own ways. which might not have been available the competitive landscape and decide The headstrong spider actually tried or perfected during the first round of when to bring new production on- to fake his way into a job in big data completions. stream and when to exercise the option analytics. His prospects faded when This data-centric surge of work to wait. the interviewer asked about experience and production doesn’t depend on with the worldwide web and the spider hundred-dollar oil. In fact, it’s stimu- *** responded by saying he stayed there lated by the cost-cutting imperatives once and liked how everybody on the imposed by oil at half that price. And I come to that prediction not as a staff spoke different languages. it’s already happening—mostly as work big-data expert, which I’m not, but as Frustrated and unable to find work, still proprietary at service and operat- a journalist who observes and writes our marvel of eight-legged complexity ing companies. about the world’s most interesting busi- became an antioil activist. And in his Mills believes big-data analytics will ness. first protest march, forgetting every- improve upstream operations so much I observe new problems for produc- thing he’d learned from the worm, the that shale and tight-oil production will ers based on the oil-market changes spider got squashed by a frac truck he regain its dramatic growth rate of 2014 I’ve described. never saw or felt coming. within a year or two. And I observe a possible solution in The worm moved to Wichita Falls, Think about that. Think about how data-management tools able to deliver Texas, and became a consultant. technology so amazingly inaugurated newly precise assessments of competi- Business was steady there but hardly and now propels the unconventional tive landscapes. dynamic. When he tried to expand his resource revolution—and how that Those are my first two points. And I practice into aqueous surroundings, revolution has turned the oil market promised a prediction. the worm found himself nose-to-nose inside-out. Then think about how I’m not an economist, and I don’t with a fat catfish and confronted by the mastering the data storm generated by have a graduate degree. urgent need to negotiate his way out of modern work might leverage techno- But I can assure you things will get the zoological equivalent of a hostile logical development. better. Trends never last. The future is takeover. I see no reason why big-data tools never an extension of the present. Although the emergency negotia- soon to be optimizing operations can’t The price of crude oil might fall tions apparently succeeded, details also help with production decisions in lower before it goes higher—but it will were never made public. Apparently, a market newly devoid of coordinated go higher. Fifty bucks a barrel is, quite the deal involved pro bono counsel and supply management. obviously, intolerable. So, it seems, is a non-compete stipulation. The worm As I mentioned earlier, supply man- a hundred bucks a barrel. Economic retired to stud service in a comfortable agement now depends—and probably sustainability must reside somewhere in pile of wet soil outside a bait shop. The will continue to depend—on individual between. catfish went into business as a moti- decisions of producers, especially those To survive and profit with oil prices vational speaker. And as word spread in control of hair-trigger oil available vacillating in a range somewhere about how to use data integration to from shale and other low-permeability north of fifty and south of a hun- avoid risk, fishing turned lousy on the reservoirs. dred, producers will have to navigate Wichita River. Those producers essentially trade through complex new risks as they Thank you.

CICERO 2016 22 CICERO SPEECHWRITING AWARDS WINNER: GOVERNMENT, DIVERSITY “Intelligence Community Pride”

By Trey Brown for Stephanie O’Sullivan, Delivered at National Reconnaissance Office Headquarters, Principal Deputy Director, National Intelligence Washington, D.C., May 6, 2015

hank you for the introduction and Of course that is—and was— as a badge of honor when his fellow Tfor welcoming me here today in very flawed logic. The main reason General and Flag Officers gave him a place of Director Clapper. He had a gay clearance holders were open to hard time about it. personal issue that pulled him away, blackmail is because, if anyone found At the 2014 LGBTA Summit here, and there is simply no way he could be out their orientation, they’d lose their he talked with you about those experi- here today. I know it’s the standard line clearance. You’d lose your clearance, ences and a few others. He says it felt to say, “I know he wishes he could be because of the threat of losing your good to him to get those things off his here.” In this case, that’s a vast under- clearance. [laughter] chest and out in the open. So the first statement. He was very much looking It’s funny, in a tragic sense, because thing he asked me to pass on is his ap- forward to making this speech—which the consequences are terrible. preciation for that invitation to speak now, I get to make. [laughter] So, when DNI Clapper was Colonel last March. I believe that speech was He’s talked a lot about how much Clapper, Wing Commander at NSA, cathartic for him. He used the term, last year’s LGBTA Summit meant to and a gifted crypto-mathematician “cleansing.” It meant a lot to him. him, and he asked me to relay some there was outed and lost his clearance, I think he understands the influence things. Over the past 14 months, he’s NSA Director Bobby Inman restored he has as DNI, but he underestimates spent a good bit of time ruminating on his clearance, asking only that this offi- the impact he can have personally, that speech, and he told me that what cer acknowledge his sexual orientation because he’s been a bit taken aback he said last year—he’s felt that way for to his coworkers, so that there was no by how much that discussion meant years, decades. But he’s never before longer any threat of blackmail. to you. This February, when he was spoken out in public like that about his Of course, that’s a big “only.” That on travel in Paris, an NSA integree experiences. forced the officer to follow someone caught him between meetings and, He said it took him a while to pro- else’s timeline with his very personal with a good deal of emotion, said she’d cess just how much the injustice he’d process of coming out. But it was a been at the March summit, 11 months seen during his career bothered him, courageous and unprecedented deci- earlier. She said hearing him talk about particularly his personal experience 50 sion. his experiences made a huge impact on years ago when he was a very young A decade later—Jim Clapper has a her, and the way she felt about the In- lieutenant, when he had to process the lot of “decades” in this business [laugh- telligence Community and her career dishonorable discharges of two fine ter]—he was profoundly grateful for choice to join this community. airmen who had been outed as homo- the example Inman set, because as the That’s fantastic, and it shows not sexuals. Chief of Air Force Intelligence, then- only what an impact he can have, but They were model airmen: superb General Clapper was given a similar the impact you have by holding this Russian linguists and meticulous about opportunity to correct an injustice, by summit, and by establishing an LG- their military responsibilities. And they restoring the clearance of a civilian BTA community in the IC. loved serving their country. He says employee who’d been outed. I want to give you the words the that, five decades later, it still stings him He says he doesn’t think that act DNI had planned to say about that to think of being asked to out-process makes up for out-processing the two interaction in Paris and to her: “I’m them. It was a waste of superb talent, airmen at the start of his career, but he amazed and humbled that I—a as well as a profound injustice. says with that second chance, he had 74-year-old, straight, white man—can Decades later, when Director Clap- the power to do something about it. So say anything that has that kind of per was wing commander for all Air he did. And this is a quote from Direc- impact on you, because I can only Force troops at NSA, he saw Admiral tor Clapper: “Damn, it felt good.” imagine the obstacles you’ve had to Bobby Inman take a stand and go in a [laughter and applause] overcome, not for your personal gain, different direction. The standing logic And he says more importantly, it but so that you can serve our country. at the time was that anyone who was was the right thing to do, and it helped You inspire me, I believe, far more than gay was open to blackmail and there- the Air Force retain talent they desper- I could inspire you.” And since you all fore should not hold a security clear- ately needed. He says, in the weeks and know him, you know he means that ance. months after that decision, he wore it sincerely.

VSOTD.COM 23

That passion reminds me of another auditorium erupted with applause that something most people have known senior leader I think we can find in- went on for almost a minute. I was for a long time. spiration in. In the fall of 2012, OPM proud of us for that. Of course, that won’t be the end of Director John Berry came to visit our I started my career as an engineer, the struggle. We know that, because office and spoke at an ODNI town hall. contracted to work for the Office of homosexuality was pulled from the His enthusiasm for the federal work- Naval Intelligence. I worked as an list of “disorders” in 1973, and yet force was evident in his remarks. When ONI civilian, and then joined the CIA there are still outliers that try to “cure” he said the government is a great place through the directorate of science and homosexuality. So that, just a month to work, he wasn’t just feeding us a line. technology. I’ve got far fewer decades ago, President Obama took a stand He said he’d taken a visit to than DNI Clapper, [laughter], okay, two and called for an end to “conversion Google’s campus and told an audito- fewer, [laughter], but I’ve been around therapy.” I like having a boss who pub- rium full of their employees that, for a while. And I’ve known many gay, and licly does things I’m proud of. a small pay cut [laughter], and fewer some bisexual, men and women; both In January, for the first time ever, the stock options [laughter], they could do civilians and uniformed military. President used the word “transgender” truly meaningful work as part of the I cannot imagine the stress they in his State of the Union speech. He federal workforce. As you can imagine, were forced to endure to serve their was talking about how we as Ameri- that’s a bit of a tough sell to make on country. It’s simply incomprehensible cans respect human dignity, and he Google’s home turf, but he meant it. to me, trying to keep and live with such said, “That’s why we defend free At our town hall, John talked about a secret. It was wrong to have com- speech and advocate for political pris- working to streamline federal hiring pelled people to live that way under oners, and condemn the persecution of practices and boost hiring of veterans, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and under our women or religious minorities or peo- about making recruitment of students regulations to hold clearances. I’m glad ple who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or and recent graduates easier, and about those things are in our past. transgender.” The President’s remarks improving the diversity of the federal And now, I’m happy that those dra- show how, just in the past few years, we workforce. What John didn’t mention conian rules also no longer hang over as a society have become much more in his speech was his own personal the heads of transgender employees. attuned to how being transgender is story. But with our very first question, By the way, I just found out, getting simply a part of the human experience. someone from my office thanked him ready for today—that there’s a label And very recently, Bruce Jenner has for being “out” as the most-senior for me. Apparently, I am “Cis-gender.” brought this into the public conscious- openly-gay official in the history of the [applause, extended applause] ness. [Note: this speech was delivered federal government. That means my body, the gender I two weeks after Ms. Jenner came out as We asked John what obstacles he’d was assigned at birth, and my personal transgender and three weeks before she had to overcome to achieve his posi- identity all match. It was really only a changed her name to Caitlyn.] tion. John laughed and talked about few years ago that I, and many of us, I think we could have a reasonable going through his very first security first thought about how it would feel if debate about whether the media circus clearance interview, just 90 days after those didn’t match. is a good thing or not, but nationally, President Clinton signed the executive The past couple of years have been I think we’re ready for the discussion. order to allow people to hold a clear- huge for the transgender commu- I think the national transgender com- ance while serving openly. John said his nity. Case law precedents that protect munity has laid a lot of the groundwork security interviewers were more ner- transgender employees from being to define terms and help us understand. vous than he was. [laughter] They had fired have been stacking up. And a And, media circus or not, personally I no idea what questions they could or 2012 ruling on Title 12 by the Equal think airing the difficulties that transgen- couldn’t ask him. [laughter] And being Employment Opportunity Commis- der people experience is a good thing. John, he ended up having to comfort sion extends protections to transgender I’m happy, for instance, we can have them [laughter] and tell them it would workers in all 50 states. a public discussion about “passing,” be okay. [laughter] Then, in May of 2013, the diag- specifically the idea that transgender We then asked John what advice he nosis manual for psychology stopped people don’t need—and shouldn’t feel would give to gay, lesbian, bisexual, listing being transgender as a “mental the need—for other people to immedi- and transgender employees in the IC disorder.” That was a big step for- ately identify them with the gender that as they progress through their careers. ward, for the medical establishment they identify with. Transgender people He advised everyone, and this advice to decide that, if your body and your can, in fact, dress and present according stands for everyone in this room, no assignment don’t match your identity, to who they are, and nothing that other matter what orientation, background, there are much more constructive people believe should drive what they or experiences you’ve had, “Be open ways to help you than with a diagno- do. Some people may not be ready to with who you are, because life is simply sis of mental illness. It’s good for the hear that message, but I don’t consider too short not to be yourself.” Our medical establishment to catch up to that to be my opinion. That’s just truth.

CICERO 2016 24 CICERO SPEECHWRITING AWARDS

Just five or 10 years ago, it was ac- The director and I both spend a lot talking about IC pride after today’s ceptable for pop culture to use confu- of time talking about the “business case” summit, and Director Clapper has as- sion over perceived sex and gender for for diversity in the Intelligence Com- sured me that he’ll be doing the same low-brow comedy. But the transgender munity. Put simply, if we get together for the 87 weeks he has left to serve community has made a huge, posi- a bunch of people who all look and this community; not that he’s counting. tive impact in the past few years, and think alike to brainstorm about some [laughter] when Bruce Jenner came out with his problems we have, we’ll all come up By the way, I love the name of this transition, the few Paleolithic comedi- with similar ideas about what to do. If group: IC Pride. I checked online for a ans who tried to make a joke of it very you look back at prominent intelligence definition of gay pride or LGBT pride, quickly found out how unacceptable failures, particularly as laid out by the and I found this: “It’s is the positive that is today. Iraq WMD Commission, you’ll see that stance against discrimination and vio- That’s a lot of progress, very each time, diverse thinking by people lence toward lesbian, gay, bisexual, and quickly made. However, just because with diverse life experiences might have transgender (LGBT) people, to promote mainstream America is learning what prevented the mistakes we made. their self-affirmation, dignity, equality actions and reactions are unacceptable, But here’s an important distinc- rights, increase their visibility as a social that doesn’t mean everyone knows tion: hiring a diverse workforce is not group, build community, and celebrate how to be supportive. That’s why I’m enough. We won’t reap the benefits of sexual diversity and gender variance.” particularly proud of the work your that diversity unless we also foster a The phrase in there that jumped transgender working group has done culture of inclusion. People who belong out at me was, “build community.” since it stood up after the first IC LG- to a minority group in our IC, whether That’s been our goal at ODNI, build- BTA Summit in 2012. that’s because of their national origin, ing a community of diverse intelligence You filled a much needed gap with native language, race, color, disability, agencies. Each Intelligence Community your publication of your, “Best Practic- ethnicity, gender, age, religion, sexual agency and element has its own unique es Guide for Transgender Employees, orientation, or gender identity, need to intelligence tradecraft that it brings to their Colleagues, and Managers,” and I feel welcome in our community, and the table. And we work best, as a com- think more importantly, you’ve formed they need to know they don’t need munity, when we celebrate how each what I’d have to describe as a “cross- to hide what makes them unique. It’s agency is different, and we take advan- agency rapid-response team” [laugh- from our differences that we draw our tage of the strengths inherent in their ter], to help, across the community, strengths. That’s the “business and mis- different cultures and ways of doing anyone considering gender transition, sion case” for diversity. business. That’s true at a macro level and to help that person’s managers and To me, there’s an equally important with agencies and at a micro level with coworkers. Beyond a sense of duty, that reason to convert personal support into individual intelligence officers. shows a true love for our Intelligence public advocacy. It’s the right thing So, going forward, I plan to be even Community and for the people who to do, to treat everyone, especially IC more public with my support, because work here. So, thank you. professionals, with dignity and respect. it’s good for our community to be inclu- So I’ve addressed the lesbian, gay, That may mean, if you pass someone sive, and because it’s right for our IC to bisexual, and transgender members cracking an inappropriate joke in the welcome everyone who’s a member. We of this alliance. I want to take just a hallway, you stop and say, “That’s not should all take pride in doing so. couple minutes to talk to the allies—the how we act here.” Or that may mean The work you do here, work that people who put the “A” in “LGBTA.” actually speaking out in public. cuts across agency lines and brings [laughter]. As a rule, the director and I try not people together as a community, is an First, I’d like to officially add my to take ourselves or the positions we important part of intelligence integra- name to your ranks. [applause] Thank occupy too seriously, but we realize that tion. That goes for the transgender you. [continued applause] That’s hum- we can and should use our positions as, working group, the ally engagement bling. [continued applause] and this is how Director Clapper puts group, the recruitment and reten- I’d like to add my name by repeat- it, a “bully pulpit” when the occasion tion group, the communications and ing something the DNI said last year: calls for it. I do have to remind him technology group, and the group that “There’s no way I can ever really he’s not actually old enough to have put this summit together. Thank you know what members of the LGBT been Teddy Roosevelt’s principal intel- all for the work you do every day, and community go through and have gone ligence advisor. [laughter] particularly for the work you’re doing through, but I can absolutely proclaim This occasion calls for using that with IC Pride and at today’s summit. myself to be an ally.” I’m proud to be bully pulpit. After the 2014 LGBTA I want to leave you with a few words one, and I’m proud of everyone else Summit, we published the DNI’s from the President. Two weeks ago, my who’s here today as an ally, because we, remarks on ODNI’s public website, office celebrated our tenth anniversary, as allies, need to find a way to translate and we got outside publications to and our celebration was capped off personal support into public advocacy. print them as well. I intend to continue by a visit from President Obama. He

VSOTD.COM 25 spoke to our workforce and asked us doesn’t underplay the significant chal- the challenges we’ve faced over the past to go out to all the agencies and pass lenges that we face around the world— few years, that message comes from a along his message. that’s vitally important to me.” President who has a better understanding He said first to tell you—simply— Then he talked about the great of how the intelligence enterprise works “You can take great pride in your successes we’ve had over the past few than any of his predecessors. service.” years, and the great challenges. And he I know he’d agree with me, that in He talked about integrity. He said, wrapped up with this message; he said, “I our 21st Century world, your work here “The work you provide is vital for me know what you do. We’re more secure be- with IC Pride is critical to our Intelli- being able to make good decisions. And cause of your service. We’re more secure gence Community and to the defense of the fact that the work you prepare is giv- because of your patriotism and your pro- our nation. So I want to leave you with ing it to me straight, that it doesn’t look fessionalism. And I’m grateful for that.” the President’s words: “You can all take at the world through rose-colored glass- So that’s the President’s message he great—pride—in your service.” Thank es, that it doesn’t exaggerate threats, but wanted me to pass along, and because of you. WINNER: NONPROFIT “The Pursuit of Happiness”

By Katie O’Dea for Randall Dunn, Delivered at the Chicago History Museum, Head of School, Latin School of Chicago Chicago, Ill., July 4, 2015

hank you Gary. Given the fact that that they are endowed by their Creator Nations now publishes a World Happi- TAmerica is my adopted country with certain inalienable Rights, that ness Report on an annual basis. If you and Chicago is my adopted city, I am among these are Life, Liberty and the happened to be at Latin’s upper school particularly honored to be speaking pursuit of Happiness.” graduation ceremony this year, it was today. The Chicago History Museum is This has been called one of the even the topic of my remarks to our a real treasure in this city—and a great best-known sentences in the English graduating seniors. neighbor to the Latin School. So, it is language. It contains, arguably, the So, we are certainly in hot pursuit. a pleasure to share this amazing event most powerful and significant words in But ... are we happy? with you. American history. Despite our many To help us find out, I’ve prepared And what is this event all about? differences, regardless of our ethnic a pop quiz for you today. Please keep Although there were many significant and cultural origins, these words your answers to yourselves ... and no events in our country’s fight for free- represent a shared understanding of cheating! Here goes… dom, I find it interesting that we cele- what it means to be an American ... Number 1. Are you curious? Happy brate the day we declared—not won— particularly the last phrase that lists people are curious. They seek risk even but declared our independence as our our inalienable, or non-negotiable though it can be scary at times. They national holiday. Today is all about that rights: life, liberty and the pursuit of do not engage in knowingly danger- declaration, and declarations are all happiness. ous behavior, but they consciously step about words. So, I think it is the perfect Other nations use 3-part phrases outside their comfort zone to learn and opportunity to take a moment to think to sum up their core beliefs. France’s grow on a regular basis. about the words that were used on July national motto is “Liberty, Equality, Number 2. Are you happy for oth- 4, 1776. And although the teacher in Fraternity.” Germans rally behind ers? Happy people truly feel joy at the me would love it, this is not going to be “Unity, Justice and Freedom” and good fortune of others. Studies have a grammar lesson. Instead, I would like Canada’s mantra is “Peace, Order and proven is that happiness actually is con- to focus on a few of those words and Good Government.” If you’ve noticed, tagious. When people spend time shar- why they are still relevant today. America stands apart with our inclu- ing in the joy of others, they become Thomas Jefferson and his commit- sion of “the pursuit of happiness” on happier themselves. tee of five editors did a masterful job equal level with our other rights. Number 3. Lastly, does your life compiling this document. Every phrase Fast forward 238 years and the pur- serve a greater purpose? Happy people is steeped in meaning. But, the first suit of happiness has become nothing recognize the need for short-term sentence of the second paragraph is by short of a cultural obsession. Amazon. gratification, but they balance those far the most inspired: com has nearly 40,000 books on the pleasures with making progress toward “We hold these truths to be self- topic. At least 100 universities offer a purposeful goal. evident, that all men are created equal, classes on happiness. And the United So, how did you do?

CICERO 2016 26 CICERO SPEECHWRITING AWARDS

Personally, I think the last one— other people’s children. She never tired this country and my personal mentors living with a purpose is the most im- of her work because it brought her so have made all the difference in my life. portant. At Latin School, our mission much joy—it truly made her happy. They allowed me to learn about who statement directs all of students to lead When I arrived in Boston as a I am, what I am good at, and how I lives of purpose and excellence. We help 9-year-old, I was ecstatic just to be re- can serve others. Like my mother, I am them understand that it is not enough united with my mother. I soon realized energized by seeing others grow and do to be good, you must also do good—in however, that the tough Dorchester well—whether it is my own children, your school, your neighborhood, your neighborhood was far from the idyllic the students of Latin, or my amaz- city and your world. For 125 years, we America I had dreamed of for so long. ing faculty and staff—helping them have believed that knowing what you Transitioning to the public school succeed is the reason why my work as do well, combined with serving others system, away from my extended family an educator has been so rewarding. It is the key to not only a good education, and friends, at the height of racial ten- gives my life purpose. I am happy. but a fulfilling and happy life. sions didn’t exactly make it the happi- I won’t ask you to reveal how you But you don’t have to be a student est place on Earth. did on the quiz, but the correct answer at Latin School to learn this important Since then, my personal pursuit was: “any or all of the above.” The lesson. I learned it from my mother. of happiness has been directly tied to pursuit of happiness has no prescribed She was a nanny. When I was 6 years people in my life who saw things for path. Whether you achieve it by being old she left me, my four siblings and me that I couldn’t see for myself. In ad- curious, by sharing another’s joy or by her home in Jamaica to move to dition to my mother, one of my middle living with purpose, this inalienable, Boston for a job. She worked hard school teachers recommended me to and uniquely American right is well enough to eventually bring all of us A Better Chance…a program that within your reach. to this country so that we could have provides educational opportunities for As Benjamin Franklin, once said, opportunities that were not available young people of color. Because of him, “The Declaration of Independence only in Jamaica. Thinking back, it seems I was able to attend Milton Academy, gives people the right to pursue happi- like all she did was work. But, growing which led me to college, graduate ness. You have to catch it yourself.” up, I witnessed the amount of love, school and a career in education. Thank you! care and concern she demonstrated to My educational opportunities in Happy 4th of July! WINNER: CONTROVERSIAL OR HIGHLY POLITICIZED “National Intelligence, North Korea and the National Cyber Discussion”

By Trey Brown for James Clapper, Delivered at Fordham University, Director of National Intelligence Bronx, N.Y., Jan. 7, 2015

t’s great to be here after fighting a-half days filled with cyber experts, The first question I always get is: Ithe snow traffic in Washington to from government, the academic world, “Why you?” As in, “Why on earth get to the airport, and then flying and industry. would we send the DNI, the director here. I want to thank Father McShane In the interests of truth in adver- of national intelligence, especially this [Fordham University President Joseph tising, I’m not an expert on cyber. I DNI, on a diplomatic mission to get M. McShane], for that kind introduc- guess that’s a way of saying I’m going two American citizens who were im- tion. You have some truly remarkable to refer technical questions to the real prisoned in North Korea?” The truth speakers and panels this week, and I’m experts here. So, I was trying to think is, the mission had been in the works humbled that you invited me to speak. through what my contribution to this for quite a while. Thanks for having me. conference could possibly be. Well, I North Korea wanted an active This morning, I’m serving as the recently traveled to North Korea—and member of the National Security warm-up act for FBI Director Jim back, happily. So I thought I’d talk Council and a cabinet level official to Comey. He really is the senior expert about—[delayed laughter] Yes, that’s a come and to bring a letter from Presi- on the investigative side of cybersecuri- joke. [laughter] I learned from Father dent Obama. The White House knows ty. And tomorrow, CYBERCOM Com- McShane that this crowd needs cuing. I’ve had a long history of working mander and NSA Director Admiral [laughter, applause] So I’ll talk about Korean issues, since I served as chief Mike Rogers is speaking, and he’s the that trip and how it applies to this of intelligence for U.S. Forces in Korea senior expert on how cybersecurity ops week’s conversation about cyber, given in the mid-’80s. So the White House actually happen. You have three-and- the Sony hack. put my name forward to the DPRK,

VSOTD.COM 27 the Democratic People’s Republic of the cultural strengths and capabilities Every spring for the past four years, Korea as they call themselves, govern- that each of the 17 Intelligence Com- I’ve made the rounds on Capitol Hill, ment in Pyongyang. And I think we munity elements brings to the table, testifying in open sessions to our vari- were all surprised, to include me, when and then getting them to think as a ous Congressional oversight commit- they agreed. That’s how and why I was community. It’s about the intelligence tees about our assessments of world- picked to go. culture, bringing our best and most wide threats. Talking to Congress in Actually, I thought the New York appropriate community resources to the open about classified matters and Times had a better explanation: Clap- bear against our toughest national dancing around many issues, in tele- per is “Gruff, blunt-speaking and seen security problems. vised sessions, while trying to protect by many as a throwback to the Cold That’s what I’ve referred to as intelligence tradecraft, is one of my War.” [laughter] “An unlikely diplomat, “intelligence integration.” It’s been my favorite things to do. [laughter] Right but perfect for the North Koreans.” theme, my shtick, my mantra, for the up there with getting a root canal or [laughter] That’s the nicest thing the past four-and-a-half years, because folding fitted sheets. [laughter and New York Times has ever written I believe that’s what the 9/11 Com- applause] But I’ll be doing it again, about me. [laughter, applause] mission had in mind. And that was starting in just a few weeks, because it’s I want to talk about a few experi- instantiated in law by the Intelligence important to be open and transparent ences from that trip, and how some Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act with the issues we can discuss, even insight from the trip could play into of 2004 that created my position—a though for me as a career intelligence our discussion about cyber. But first, seriously flawed piece of legislation, as guy, it’s almost genetically antithetical for those who may not be familiar most legislation is. to be transparent. with the director of national intelli- Intelligence integration is the Each of the past four years, I’ve told gence, I thought I’d spend a couple of prerequisite to reaching the 9/11 Congress that we’re facing the most minutes on that. Commission’s goal that we act jointly diverse array of threats I’ve seen in Later this spring, my office will be as an Intelligence Community. That all my years in the intelligence busi- celebrating the tenth anniversary of means integration horizontally, across ness. That line has morphed from our standup—in April of 2005. Our agency lines, with each agency on “my almost 50 years in the intelligence establishment came from shortfalls equal footing and stature. I’m speaking business,” to “my 50 years,” to “my perceived by the 9/11 Commission. of the Central Intelligence Agency, the more than 50 years in the intelligence The assertion was that the intelligence National Security Agency, the National business,” because the threats have agencies weren’t sharing information Reconnaissance Office, etc. grown substantially more diverse every with each other and were incapable But I also believe we have to work year—so much so that in 2014, I had of “acting jointly.” So ten years ago, toward vertical integration from federal to go back to the Hill in the late sum- Congress and the President created to state and local governments, and mer to give a mid-year threat update. the position of the DNI, which I now also to commercial partners, like many At the threat hearings two years ago, occupy and have for the past four-and- here. So that’s primarily why I’m here we made news when “cyber” bumped a-half years, and it feels like it’s been at today; to take advantage of a great op- “terrorism” off the top of our list of least four-and-a-half years. That was a portunity to encourage intelligence, law threats. That was the first time since joke too. [laughter] enforcement, homeland security, state 9/11. But that top-of-the-list cyber Part of my statutory job descrip- and locals, and private industry to work threat doesn’t mean what a lot of people tion designates me as the President’s together, to the fullest extent we can, think it means. Although we must be senior, but by no means exclusive, on this difficult cyber problem. prepared for a large-scale strike—a “Cy- intelligence advisor. We have many, I’m also here to promote transpar- ber Pearl Harbor” scenario or “Cyber many experts on intelligence. Another ency. That’s the big lesson I’ve learned 9/11;” big scary things like that get play part of the law says I manage the from the past few years of unauthor- in the media—our reality is that we’ve national intelligence budget, which, ized leaks. We’ve got to preserve and been living with a constant barrage of by the way, has not gotten a pass, as protect our tradecraft, the special skills cyber attacks for some time now. some people seem to think, from the and capabilities that let us do our work. And those attacks are not mono- Balanced Budget Act and sequestra- At the same time, we need to talk to lithic. Different cyber actors have tion. But I believe the third duty of the American public more about other different capabilities and different goals the DNI is the most critical, which is things, the things we can talk about. when conducting operations in Cyber- bridging that “joint action” gap that So with that long preamble, I want space. Russia for example, has a broad the 9/11 Commission identified. to jump into the things we need to talk range of highly sophisticated technical That responsibility goes way— about as part of an ongoing cyber con- and human intelligence capabilities. way—beyond just getting the intelli- versation. From an intelligence stand- Moscow’s focus goes beyond just taking gence agencies to talk to one another. point, that conversation starts with the advantage of common vulnerabilities It’s about helping them to recognize cyber threat, of course. that can be fixed with a software patch,

CICERO 2016 28 CICERO SPEECHWRITING AWARDS and in the event of a military conflict breach won’t sink your entire company, which by the way is the most serious or geo-political crisis with Russia, some your entire enterprise. cyber attack ever made against U.S. U.S. critical infrastructure networks will And Three: Pay attention to the interests, with potentially hundreds- be at risk. threat bulletins that DHS and FBI put of-millions of dollars and counting in While the Russian cyber threat is out. This is the easiest and least intru- damages, was driven by an entirely much more sophisticated than the sive way for industry and government different philosophy. others, we’ve seen that Iran and North to partner on cyber. We’re already So, back to the weekend trip I took, Korea are now unpredictable and ag- warning about the intrusions that are which was two months ago today. gressive cyber actors who aren’t afraid taking place against U.S. businesses We flew into Pyongyang, the capital to undertake offensive cyber operations and advising the private sector about city, on Friday evening, the seventh against private sector targets. And we how to protect itself. So please take of November. And the first thing that hear a lot more public discussion of necessary measures and encourage struck me was just how dark the city the Chinese, because they, and now your customers, partners, and contacts and airport were, just completely dark. the North Koreans, are much noisier. to pay attention to those bulletins, and We damaged a tire on the plane while China has been robbing our industrial let the Bureau know when an intrusion taxiing in the dark, because of the base blind, largely with vulnerabilities or attack happens, so that the FBI can poor construction of the taxiways and that are easy to guard against or to do its part and help. runways at Sunan airport. simply fix. And that’s one of the places So those are the three free pieces When I saw the city on Saturday, I where we can talk about a government of advice our cyber professionals are was expecting to see drab clothes and and industry partnership. out proselytizing. I’m sure those are lack of modern tools, people walking Now, I recognize that banks and things everyone here already knows, but to get around, people sweeping and retail stores aren’t about to turn their there’s a good reason I’m saying them doing similar, mundane, labor-intensive systems over to the FBI and Depart- again: because bad cyber actors are us- jobs. And those expectations were met, ment of Homeland Security to look for ing precisely those avenues to steal our but I was also struck by how impassive cracks in their cyber firewall, but we lunch every day. The Chinese in par- everyone was. They didn’t show any can definitely help each other carry out ticular are cleaning us out, because we emotion. They didn’t stop to greet each our respective roles. So I want to lay know we’re supposed to do those simple other, didn’t nod hello, and we didn’t out three things that the private sector things, and yet we don’t do them. see anyone conversing or laughing. can do today that will protect it from And, if there’s a fourth command- They were just going about their busi- the vast majority of attacks, from the ment, it’s this: Teach folks what spear ness, going wherever they were going. Chinese and elsewhere. phishing looks like. So many times, the It was almost automaton like. It was One: Patch IT software obsessively. Chinese and others get access to our eerie. Most Chinese cyber intrusions are systems just by pretending to be some- And the plight of the citizens of through well-known vulnerabilities one else and then asking for access, and Pyongyang stood in solemn contrast that can be fixed with patches already someone gives it to them. to the dinner I had the previous night, available. In national defense, few things turn Friday the seventh, an elaborate Two: Segment your data. A single heads like seeing your aviation system 12-course Korean meal. Having spent breach shouldn’t give attackers access flying over the skies of a foreign -na time in Korea, I consider myself some- to an entire network infrastructure and tion with a different flag on its tail, or what a connoisseur of Korean food, a mother lode of proprietary data. If finding out that an adversary is already and that was one of the best Korean you’ve seen James Cameron’s movie, working to counter your expensive, meals I’ve ever had. Unfortunately, the Titanic, and I guess statistically, every- cutting-edge capabilities that haven’t company was not pleasurable. one here has seen it six times [laugh- been released yet. And in the private My dinner host was General Kim, ter], you’ll remember the forensic sector there are few things more dispir- the four-star general in charge of the reconstruction of the sinking—how the iting to corporate health and morale Reconnaissance General Bureau, the ship had segmented bulkheads, so that and corporate wealth than seeing pro- RGB, the organization later responsible if the hull was breached, the flooding prietary products show up on a foreign for overseeing the attack against Sony. would stay isolated to just one section, market a month before product-launch The RGB is an amalgam of special and the ship would stay afloat. But the at a tenth of the price. That’s China’s operations and intelligence resources. forensic analysis in the film showed that primary motivation: to catch up to and They do overseas collection, reconnais- the bulkheads didn’t go high enough, then surpass Western industrial and sance, and importantly, cyber opera- and so the water spilled over the top of defense capabilities and to eventually tions. General Kim claimed to me that each section into the next section until pass by the U.S. economy. he was my North Korean counterpart. the entire ship was flooded. So we tell The Chinese are focused on those He was just a couple years younger the private sector: Don’t let that hap- goals; whereas the recent cyber attack than I, and we had to communicate pen to your data. Make sure a single [on Sony Pictures] from North Korea, through a translator, a North Korean

VSOTD.COM 29 who spoke flawless English but with a So we waited around and waited to me that the North Koreans don’t British accent that was pretty strange. around. It’s not like you can hail a have a sense of humor. [laughter and [laughter] cab and go ride somewhere. We were applause] General Kim spent most of the under their control. About 3:00 that The DPRK is a family-owned meal berating me about American afternoon, this same emissary from the country. It’s been that way ever since it aggression and what terrible people we minister of state security came back was founded in the ‘40s. And there’s no were. He said that North Korea was and said: You’ve got 20 minutes to room for dissent, not when the favorite under siege by its closest neighbors, hustle together your luggage and check management technique of their leader who were supported, aided, and abet- out of this place. You’re leaving. is public executions. It’s “super effec- ted by the United States. He got louder We went in the vehicles to down- tive” as a management tool. [laughter] and louder, and he kept leaning toward town Pyongyang, and we were ushered Behind all of this, North Korea me, pointing his finger at my chest and into a conference room there, and wants to be recognized as a world pow- saying that U.S. and South Korean sat through an interesting “amnesty- er. They see nuclear weapons as their exercises were a provocation to war. granting ceremony,” I guess I’d call it, insurance policy and ticket to survival, And not being a diplomat, my reaction in which the minister of state security and the rest of their society, includ- was to lean back across the table, point read a proclamation from Kim Jong ing their conventional military forces, my finger at his chest, [laughter] and Un, the Supreme Leader. That was the suffers for it. But cyber is a powerful respond that shelling South Korean first time I’d seen our two citizens, who new realm for them, where they believe islands wasn’t the most diplomatic were still in their prison garb. They they can exert maximum influence at course of action they could have taken were turned over to us. We got them a minimum cost, and this recent episode either. [laughter] This kind of con- change of clothes, out to the vehicles, with Sony has shown that they can get noted the entire evening’s conversation. and back to the airport. I can’t recall recognition for their cyber capabili- [laughter and applause] a time when an aircraft with “United ties. That’s why we have to push back. But of course, my purpose was to States of America” emblazoned across If they get global recognition at a low secure the release of our two citizens. it ever looked as good. [laughter] cost with no consequence, they’ll do it So at one point, my executive assistant The next day, really our second again, and keep doing it again until we suggested I take a head break to let Saturday after we crossed the date line, push back. And of course others will things cool off, which I did. I guess we landed at McChord Air Force Base, follow suit. I have to give the New York Times near Seattle. I went up to the cockpit So, here in the United States, the credit, “Gruff and blunt-speaking” and watched the two family reunions, role of the Intelligence Community is aren’t too far off. [laughter] I’m not which were very gratifying and very to put all of those factors in context, sure I was “perfect for the North Kore- emotional, and at that moment, it was to give our national leaders the intel- ans,” though. all worth it to me. ligence they need, everything that At the end of the evening, I pre- Okay, I want to bring this story figures into their calculus to make good sented General Kim with a letter from back to cyber. I think it’s important decisions about how to respond, and President Obama. The letter didn’t say to note that the general I had dinner we have to do that without oversimpli- much, except to designate me as his en- with that first night, General Kim, is fying the situation and while acknowl- voy, and that releasing our two citizens the director of the RGB. He’s the guy edging the things we don’t know. would be viewed as a positive gesture. who ultimately would have to okay Despite what some people think, Saturday, the next day, was nerve the cyber attack against Sony, and he the Intelligence Community doesn’t wracking. We weren’t sure—I wasn’t really is illustrative of the people we’re have the eyes and ears of God. We’re at least—whether we were going to dealing with in the cyber realm in not omniscient. A closed society like get our two citizens back or not. So North Korea. North Korea is a really hard target we stayed around the state guesthouse All of that vitriol he spewed in my for intelligence, and they’re just one all morning. About 11:00, an emis- direction over dinner was real. They small piece of the cyber-threat puzzle, sary from the minister of state secu- really do believe that they’re constantly which includes actors that aren’t rity showed up to announce that the under siege from all directions. Painting nation-states. We see indications that DPRK government had demoted me. us as an enemy that’s about to invade some terrorist organizations are very They no longer considered me the their country any day now is one of interested in developing offensive President’s envoy, and accordingly, the chief propaganda elements that’s cyber capabilities, and that cybercrimi- they couldn’t guarantee my safety and held North Korea together for the past nals are using a growing black market security in the city of Pyongyang. He 60 years. And they are deadly serious to sell cyber tools with little regard for said the citizens of Pyongyang were about affronts to the Supreme Leader, whose hands they fall into. aware that my purpose was to secure whom they consider to be a deity. Taken all together, cyber poses an in- the release of our two “criminals.”— By the way, I watched The Inter- credibly complex set of threats, because Thanks. [laughter] view over the weekend, and it’s obvious criminals, and “hacktivist” collectives

CICERO 2016 30 CICERO SPEECHWRITING AWARDS like Anonymous, are all thrown in to- So we’re not just looking for a needle in Beyond that, when we can do so gether with aggressors like North Korea a haystack. We’re looking for thousands without compromising our tradecraft, and Iran, and with the Russians and of needles scattered over acres and we’ve been transparent with the public Chinese, who could do real damage acres of haystacks. about our mistakes. So we’ve pub- if they are so inclined. Each of those It’s our job to provide insight into lished about 5,000 pages of previously actors has different capabilities and the nature of cyber intrusions and give classified documents on our Tumblr different objectives when they engage in warnings where we can, and that job website: “IC on the Record,” many of Cyberspace, and all them of operate on is extremely difficult in the absence of which are pretty critical of our mis- the same Internet. international norms and standards. takes, including classified court docu- It makes me long for the halcyon We’re, to borrow a legal phrase, devel- ments that show the FISA court—the days of the Cold War, when the world oping a “body of case law,” to define Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act essentially had two large, mutually-ex- what constitutes a cyberwar, or act of court that oversees sensitive surveil- clusive communications networks. One cyber terrorism, or cyber vandalism, or lance programs—is not a so-called belonged to the United States, domi- cybercrime. And we’re learning as we “rubber stamp. nated by the United States and our go, just as everyone else is. Two years ago, I didn’t know what a Allies, and the other was dominated by And through it all, the IC holds civil “Tumblr” was. Two weeks ago, Tumblr the Soviets and theirs. So we could be liberties and privacy as a top priority. featured our site, the IC’s site, as one of reasonably sure that if we were listen- We’re going to make mistakes—and a select few “Big in 2014” sites for their ing to someone on the Soviet network, some of those have been exposed—a end of year review. We were right up that person was not a U.S. citizen. small percentage of the time. We’re go- there with “L’il Bub.” [laughter] An- Today, the internet and telecom- ing to accidentally intercept someone’s other joke. [laughter] Sorry, I said I’ll munications networks are all intercon- grandma’s apple pie recipe. But we’ve try to give you warning. [laughter] I’m nected and global, and much of the shown that when we do, as soon as we here to tell you, sharing the stage with technology the infrastructure relies on realize our mistake, we get rid of that a famous cat—on the internet—that’s comes from the U.S. Our task, as an information, and we report ourselves how you know you’ve arrived. [laugh- Intelligence Community, is to find the to the bodies that conduct oversight, in ter and applause] That, and traveling bad actors and to distinguish a terror- all three branches of the government. to North Korea. ist sending directions on how to build That’s important to me, personally, So let me end with that point, and a bomb or how to defeat TSA pro- because, by the way, I’m an American I think we have some time for some cedures, from someone sending their citizen, and I care about my civil liber- questions. Thanks. granddaughter a recipe for apple pie. ties and privacy too. WINNER: CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY, HEALTHCARE “Health Is Everything”

By Tanya M. Barrientos for Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, Delivered at Urban Land Institute 2015 Fall Meeting, President & CEO, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation San Francisco, Calif., Oct. 6, 2015

ealth is everything. How many differently? What if instead of simply influence health and well-being, the list Htimes in your life have you heard hearing “health is everything,” we keeps getting longer and longer. Poverty. someone express that idea? You’ll ask started to focus on the fact that health Violence. Economic opportunity. Clean a young couple “do want a girl or a is every–thing. air and water. Public transportation. boy?” And they’ll say “it doesn’t mat- Most of us still define health as not What are you adding to the list while ter, as long as the baby’s healthy!” Or being sick. But it’s so much more than I’m talking? Stress? Diet? Exercise? at Thanksgiving, when you go around that. Health is every- thing. It’s the Sleep? Spirituality? See what I mean? the table listing what you’re grateful bedrock of personal fulfillment. The You’re having what I call the health-is- for, there’s always that aunt who says anchor of community well-being. It’s everything light bulb moment. “as long as I have my health.” about where, and how, we do our work. Let me tell you when that light bulb Health is everything. We hear How we socialize, what we teach our moment first happened to me: I trained people say it so often that most of the children. And it’s about the way you as a physician at Harvard and rotated time it just goes in one ear and out the plan and build our towns, and neigh- through a hospital in West Roxbury, a other. But what if we started thinking borhoods, and streets. When we open few miles away. That is where I met a about the concept of health a little our eyes to all the things that really patient that I will forever remember as

VSOTD.COM 31

“Patient Ruth.” She appeared at the where the contrast in life expectancy is go. Because, let’s be honest, right now admitting station late on a cold win- as high as 15, or even 20 years. Think our health, and the state of our entire ter night, homeless and helpless. Her about your hometown. What would health care system, aren’t exactly badges feet were swollen. She wore a pair of that map look like? of pride. We spend nearly 3 trillion flimsy house shoes. Raw leg ulcers made All across America there are neigh- dollars on health care—more than any walking painful. Her medical chart was borhoods where parents are afraid to other developed nation on the planet. thick. She’d been to the hospital many let their kids got out to play, or walk But we lose nearly 226 billion dollars times before. We did what we always to school. And when they do get to in productivity every year because of did-gave her a few hours in a warm bed, school, the playground is nothing but personal and family health issues. some antibiotics, a decent meal. But the a chewed up piece of asphalt, littered Heart disease, cancer, and stroke still next morning she had to go because ac- with broken glass and trash. No mon- account for more than 50 percent of all cording to the “rules” our job was done. key bars. No slides. No swings. In too deaths in America each year—regard- So she limped out the door, straight many neighborhoods to count there less of income or ethnicity. And about back into the dark tunnel of problems are more liquor stores than grocery one-third of our kids are overweight or she faced every day: No home. No job. stores. And I am not exaggerating obese, giving them the very real chance Lousy food, and no family or friends when I say, it’s easier to buy a gun, of becoming the first generation to to turn to for help. Our care ended than it is to buy fresh fruit. live sicker, and die younger than their at the front door of the hospital, and The foundation I lead has a vision parents’ generation. that is so short-sighted. What if instead for a better way of living. We want (slide) This is Jose Gomez Marquez of ushering her back into the cold, to get everyone in America invested from the famous Little Devices lab at we could have asked what she needed in building a Culture of Health—for MIT. Not too long ago, I heard him talk to keep from having to come back? ourselves and the people we love. about innovation. He told a story about And then, what if we linked her to all Now, whenever I mention that how he showed a picture of a blind the things outside the clinic that she phrase, I can see people trying to person to a group of students and asked needed to get better and stay healthier? work it out in their heads: A Culture them: Can this person drive a car? And, That was my light bulb moment. And of Health…What does she mean by of course, the students began to debate believe me, once that light turns on, that? Well, let’s start thinking of the whether it was possible, or not. you can’t help but see that health is word “culture.” Then, the professor showed the influenced by every aspect of how and Last year, the Merriam-Webster Dic- same picture to a different group of where we live. tionary named “culture” its word of the students and asked: How can this Do you know that your zip code year because people use it so broadly. It person drive a car? And—you guessed may be as important as your genetic can mean art and music. It can mean it—the students instantly started com- code in predicting how well, and how history and heritage. But basically, it ing up with ways to make it work. I’ve long you live? Take a look at this map boils down to this: Culture is how we do thought about this a lot. And it’s made of New Orleans. A person living in things around here…How we do things me change the way I talk about build- Lakewood—over there on the left— within our families…Within our com- ing a Culture of Health. I’ve stopped can expect to live 25 years longer than munities and workplaces…And how we asking if it’s possible. And I’ve started someone over there, in Iberville, near do things as a nation. talking about how we can do it. How the French Quarter. Twenty five years! When we talk about a Culture of can you and I do it? How can urban And what’s even more eye-opening is Health, it means recognizing that and rural communities do it? How can that the stretch between these two com- health is an essential part of everything land developers, and architects, and munities is only six miles. That’s just a we do. Think of what a difference it families do it? How can we all work few minutes by car. And still, the unem- would make if our communities were together to make getting healthier a ployment rate in Iberville is three times places that were intentionally designed national movement? higher than Lakeview. The crime rate is to encourage health, instead of it being Well, one way is to start making the 60 percent higher. And the high school places where it’s so damn hard to make automatic things we do every day a graduation rate is 18 percent lower. a healthy choice. little healthier. I’m sure you’ve heard Now, this map was drawn a few What if everyone—no matter how that sitting is the new smoking—as if years after Hurricane Katrina devastat- much money they have–had the op- the “old” smoking wasn’t bad enough! ed New Orleans. And I’m happy to say portunity to stay safe, to be vital, and Studies show that sitting 8-10 hours a that the folks there, who are working be active? And what if we not only day is associated with diabetes, heart hard to bring the city back, are striving provided our children with the prom- disease, all kinds of bad things. What to address disparities like this openly ise of upward mobility, but with real you may not know, is that research and honestly. Still, I could show you pathways to achieve it? has also found that if you walk for just maps of Chicago, Atlanta, Las Vegas, I believe this is something our nation two minutes after sitting for an hour, Seattle … and lots of other places can achieve. But we’ve got a long way to you can combat some of those bad

CICERO 2016 32 CICERO SPEECHWRITING AWARDS things. So the next time you’re out fish out a bottle that you’ve accidently This video will give you a glimpse at doing errands—sitting in the car—why tossed in there? what they’ve done. And lastly, I want to not park in one of those empty spaces You’re laughing because you know tell about the East Lake neighborhood on the other side of the parking lot, you’ve done that. I know I have. in Atlanta. I’m sure many of you are instead of fighting for that spot right in And how many of you were fans the familiar with this amazing revitaliza- front of the door? show Mad Men? Do you remember tion story. But today I want you to Or better yet, what if shopping how you laughed when you saw Peggy think of it as a story about how health areas were designed and developed so and Joan being examined by a doctor is everything. that beautiful promenades were more with a cigarette in his mouth? And how (slide) This is what the neighbor- prominent than parking lots? And, all those guys didn’t think twice about hood looked like 20 years ago. It was at work: the next time you’re sitting slamming back five or six bourbons at a scary, violent, place. The crime rate through yet another meeting, what if the office! It’s laughable now because was 18 times higher than the national you asked everyone to stand up, and our culture is so different. We just don’t average. And the people who lived told them to stay standing? do that anymore. So let’s make changes there felt angry and abandoned. Just You’re not going to believe how much that will allow the next generation to like any of us would if we lived there. faster that meeting’s going to go! laugh at the notion of cities that focus But thanks to the vision and leadership Now, is walking a little more going more on cars, than on people. And let’s of a developer named Tom Cousins to solve all of our health problems? make the thought of growing up in East Lake looks like this today. Instead Of course not. But it will get us one a neighborhood without green space of tackling the crushing poverty, the step closer to a Culture of Health. And a joke. The good news is, some com- failing schools, and the horrible blight if we all take Dr. Gomez-Marquez’s munities are already starting to do this. in a piecemeal fashion, Tom helped advice and start asking how we as indi- And you are playing a big part in the establish the East Lake Foundation— viduals, as investors, as developers, and movement. In the time I have left, I’d which brought business leaders, resi- planners—can build better health into like to tell you about some folks—who dents, philanthropists, and city officials everything that we do, we can and will are leading the way. together with Purpose Built Communi- make a difference. (slide) This is the Rev. Michael Minor ties—and they made the collaborative It’s time for this country to make of Hernando Mississippi. Not too long decision to tear down the slum and a seismic shift—to raise our expecta- ago he had the crazy idea that he would replace it with 1,400 units of mixed-in- tions as a nation. And recalibrate our ban fried chicken from church suppers come housing, half of which is market individual behavior. Because per- because he was tired of conducting rate. They started a charter school. sonal responsibility plays a key role in funerals for people dying from avoidable They built a world-class YMCA. And improving health. No doubt about it. diseases. Well, if any of you have ever they even revived a professional golf But we also need to remember that the spent time down South, you can imagine course that everyone who lives in East choices people make depend on the how well this idea went over at first! But Lake—no matter how much money choices that they have. So, let’s make Pastor Minor was committed to leading they have—can use. the healthy choice the easy choice. his flock down a new path. And today, And what happened? Well, the Let’s make better health part of what it not only do his church suppers feature employment rate skyrocketed—from means to live in America. healthy pot-lucks, but there’s also a 13 percent to 75 percent. The charter Now, why do I think a cultural shift walking track around the building, and a school has one of the best academic of this magnitude is possible? Because blood pressure monitor in the lobby. And records in the state of Georgia. East it’s happened before. Back in 1970, the what’s more, the Rev. Minor has created Lake kids are going to college in year Earth Day was established, the a curriculum to help other churches start record numbers—some of them on word “recycling” wasn’t part of our health and wellness ministries. And it has golf scholarships! And the crime rate common vocabulary, much less part been adopted by the American Heart has dropped by 90 percent. When you of our lives. But people began asking Association. We need to start acting as define health and well-being as more why we were choking our land and our if health is at the top of our national than the absence of sickness, these oceans with plastic, glass and paper agenda. We need to work across sectors, are all health issues, aren’t they? And that could be repurposed. And then and cultivate communities that make they are issues that you’re impacting they insisted on a change. And now, re- healthy choices possible for everyone. with the Urban Land Institute’s focus cycling is part of our culture. And one And we need to stick to these commit- on creating healthier, more sustain- of the reasons that happened is that we ments until we see success. able communities. made it easy. Put paper in the bin over In Brownsville, Texas ordinary I’ve got to tell you, I was so excited here. And bottles in the one over there. citizens teamed up with builders, civic to be invited to speak here today. Be- In fact, it’s become so much a part of organizations, universities, and govern- cause even though the Robert Wood our lives that how many of you have ment to transform their surroundings Johnson Foundation is the largest phi- actually reached into the garbage to into a home-grown Culture of Health. lanthropy in America dedicated solely

VSOTD.COM 33 to improving health, we don’t make everything to anyone and everyone beautiful neighborhood of East Lake. policy. We don’t administer health care. you come across. Get your co-workers, Everyone one of us has the power to And we don’t build anything. The only your friends, and especially your kids make a difference. power we have is to bring people with to start demanding that health be seen We are living in a moment of great ideas together with people who as a priority where they live, learn, urgency. Our nation cannot continue have the commitment and the drive to work and play, so no one in America doing more of the same. We have to see those ideas through. People like you. will ever feel as if the opportunity for give people the real opportunity to So this is what I’m going to ask of a healthier life is beyond their reach. lead the best lives they can. And all we you today: Go back to your workplaces, Because I guarantee, once those light have to do is act. Health is everything. your towns, your neighborhoods, and bulbs start shining from California to And when we start acting like we really turn the light bulb on for others. Think Maine change is going to happen, the believe that, I know we will raise the about your work from the perspective way it is happening in Brownsville. state of health in America to the level of improving well-being and oppor- The way it is happening at that Baptist that this great nation deserve. tunity for all. Talk about health being church in Mississippi. And in that Have a great conference. WINNER: ENVIRONMEMT/ENERGY/SUSTAINABILITY “Leading the Water Resource Revolution”

By Lori Harrison for Ed McCormick, Delivered at the WEFTEC 2015 Opening General Session, 2014–2015 President, Water Environment Federation McCormick Place, Chicago, Ill., Sept. 28, 2015

ood morning, everyone! On be- We know that water is essential for professional wastewater association and Ghalf of the Water Environment every living organism on earth. As has developed a solid reputation that Federation and all of our dedicated water professionals, seven billion fellow follows us around the globe. I’m proud volunteers, welcome to WEFTEC humans rely on us to clean the earth’s to say that I’m often told that WEF still 2015, WEF’s 88th Annual Confer- water and safely return it to the environ- sets the “gold standard” for high qual- ence. We’re very excited that you have ment. The importance of what we do as ity water leadership. chosen to join us, and to be back in water professionals cannot be over- Based on the positive feedback we the Great Water City of Chicago! stated. Nor should our commitment to continue to receive from our attendees We truly appreciate the warm wel- working together be understated. and exhibitors, WEFTEC is the best come and support that we continue One world, one water, one event. forum for water professionals to stay on to receive from our local partners Six simple words that say so much top of new management and technical and everyone involved with this year’s about what we do, and why we’ve developments, and the core skills that event—what I consider the World gathered this week in Chicago. To en- you need as practitioners. WEF lead- Cup of the Water World! gage with each other and benefit from ers, volunteers and staff take a tremen- Chicago is known globally for its the diversity, depth, and value for dous amount of pride in the trust that vibrant culture, with great contribu- which WEF and WEFTEC are known we have built over the years with you, tions to the culinary arts, visual arts, and respected. our customers. This trust is built on sports, theater and music—the birth of WEFTEC is where innovation in the knowledge that when you come to urban blues. It’s also known for its close water happens! With more than 22,000 WEFTEC, you will receive an educa- relationship to water, and its ongoing attendees, 1,000 exhibiting companies tional experience of the highest caliber commitment to initiatives that reflect and a high quality technical program and relevance for addressing today’s smart, sustainable water management. developed FOR water professionals BY greatest challenges ... PAUSE… This alone makes it a fitting host for water professionals. WEFTEC repre- Forty years ago, I was a first-year WEFTEC, and for me personally, the sents the very best that the world of meteorology major at the Lowell intersection of great music and over water has to offer. Technological Institute, now known 80% of the U.S. fresh water supply in For more than eighty years, this as the University of Massachusetts at one place, holds a special meaning. has been the world’s leading forum Lowell. Back then, it was known as the Water has long been my favorite for water quality management. It’s the “poor man’s MIT.” I privately assumed beverage, and music, perhaps my place to innovate, exchange knowledge, it was the “dumb man’s MIT.” My life favorite “language.” Like music, water and connect with peers and experts changed when Congress slashed the is a unifying force that cuts across all from across the continent, and around NASA budget, only five years after we cultural boundaries. the world. WEF was the very first put a man on the moon.

CICERO 2016 34 CICERO SPEECHWRITING AWARDS

Seventy-five percent of graduating the Nutrient Roadmap. And, we have As environmental professionals, meteorologists at that time went to work provided a platform for water sector I’m confident that we will rise to this for NASA, studying the atmospheres innovation through the WEF/WERF challenge, and we will become an of other planets. It became clear that Partnership—the Leaders Innovation important part of the climate solu- a PhD would be necessary for even the Forum for Technology. tion—recycling every gallon, producing possibility of finding a job as a meteo- Historically, WEF has focused renewables, and significantly reduc- rologist. At age nineteen, that did not primarily on wastewater and recycled ing greenhouse gas emissions and our excite me. water. But as with any organization carbon and methane footprints. The Clean Water Act was only two that’s committed to meeting the needs We will develop adaptive, resilient in- years old, and as a child of the turbulent of its membership, we are evolving frastructure as sea levels rise. We will be sixties, I thought it could be a way to with the times and the issues. We are the leaders who look beyond the borders make a difference in the world. It was adopting a more holistic, integrated of our profession, our communities, and an easy decision to make the switch to view of the water cycle that includes all our countries to recognize that these environmental engineering. water—drinking, wastewater, recycled issues impact everyone. The efforts of a As it turns out, that budget cut was and stormwater, as we lead this Water few will grow into a movement of many one of the best things that ever hap- Resource Recovery Revolution. that brings about real solutions, real pened to me. I have had the great To reflect this change, I worked results, and real change. fortune to work for two world-class closely over the past year with my fellow Sometimes we need a revolution to organizations—Brown & Caldwell Board members and staff to amend achieve the change we need. I believe Engineers, and the East Bay Municipal WEF’s vision, mission, critical objectives that’s where we are today. Utility District. My career in water, and measurable strategic goals. We have Six months ago, the CO2 in the including the honor of serving as WEF also instituted a new set of core values earth’s atmosphere reached four president, has given me the opportunity that will lead us into the future. These hundred parts per million. We don’t to fulfill my goal of making a meaning- values center around “Service” because yet know what this will mean but ice ful and positive contribution. providing exceptional service to you, cores tell us that it has been more than As water professionals, we are all en- and to all of our 35,000 members, is twenty million years since it was at a vironmental warriors! The work that we WEF’s highest priority. level that high. How much of it is con- do is essential, and we should all be ex- This paradigm shift to water nected to human activity? We don’t tremely proud. Now, we are pioneers on resource recovery is tangible, excit- know for sure but we do know that hu- the leading edge of a major sea change ing and real. I’ve seen it first-hand man beings evolved just three million in the water sector. We are experienc- in my travels as WEF president over years ago. In the nineteenth century, ing a renaissance in our role as water the past year. Clean natural gas from the Industrial Revolution marked a stewards, as we work together to create biogas and heat recovery from sewers major turning point in earth’s ecology Water Resource Recovery facilities. in Japan. The most advanced water and forever altered humans’ rela- Collectively, we are transforming resource recovery facility in the world tionship with our environment. The our world of treatment into one of in Strass, Austria. Drinking highly impacts, both good and bad, are still recovering valuable resources. We are treated wastewater in Singapore. Our being fully realized today. producing useful products for society: host city of Chicago will soon feature Although the extent of human influ- clean renewable energy…recycled the largest phosphorous resource ence is still being debated, scientists water…natural fertilizer…nutrients… recovery facility on earth. These are now believe that we are currently in the even renewable transportation fuel. amazing developments that hold great midst of the earth’s sixth mass extinc- Treatment plants are becoming manu- promise for the future! tion of species. The fifth occurred sixty- facturing facilities. We are now midway through the six million years ago and eliminated the They are green factories that reduce second decade of the twenty-first non-avian dinosaurs. costs and increase revenue, while century and there is no denying that Even if we stop all greenhouse gas becoming more sustainable, positive we are facing a crisis that may be the emissions today, the earth’s sea level influencers of our environment. Around greatest environmental challenge of will continue to significantly rise for the the world, we are rapidly becoming our generation and those to come— next several hundred years as a result of “Utilities of the Future.” the growing impact of changes to the emissions from the past 150 years. WEF has helped lead this sea change, earth’s climate. It’s a dire prediction yet everyone in with our Utility of the Future partners, Weather events are becoming more this room has the ability to do some- WERF and NACWA. We have changed extreme, with one hundred year storms thing about it. Growing up in the 1960’s the term “wastewater treatment and typhoons occurring every few years. taught me that improvement comes facilities” to “water resource recovery At the other extreme, my state, Califor- through change—and sometimes it takes facilities” in all WEF publications. We nia, is suffering through our most severe revolutionary change to turn the tide. have released the Energy Roadmap and drought in over 1200 years. I grew up seven miles from Lex-

VSOTD.COM 35 ington Green in Massachusetts, where I AM a revolutionary. I would ar- Protecting water is the heart of our the American Revolution began. I was gue that every one of you is a revolu- profession…it’s what unites, uplifts taught in school to be proud to have tionary, too. No matter what part of and inspires us. That heartbeat, driven been part of a revolutionary culture, the world we’re from, we all collective- by the passion for what we do, is the to question authority, to challenge the ly fight for clean water every day and primal call that will lead us in a water status quo to achieve something that stand united as the first line of defense resource revolution! benefits our world. for our communities. WINNER: LEADERSHIP & MANAGEMENT “The Risky Business of Corporate Culture”

By Bill Bryant for Myron Gray, Delivered at the Seattle Rotary Club, President, U.S. Operations, UPS Seattle, Wash., Sept. 2, 2015

ne hundred and eight years ago, didn’t have a telephone, we delivered packages and syncing up your supply Oalmost to the day, a few young men messages. Here’s how it worked: Let’s chains are the best in the business. gathered in a basement storefront at say one of you wanted to get a mes- Seattle is a unique city. I don’t know Second and Main in downtown Seattle, sage to me, and I lived across town. of a city that combines immense physi- about 20 blocks south of here. If you didn’t have a telephone at your cal beauty with such an eclectic mix of Inside the small office were two tele- house, you would likely find a public music, food and business. And let’s not phone lines—one for each of Seattle’s telephone and call the American Mes- forget, you’ve got the Seahawks. telephone companies. It was August senger Company. We like to think that UPS is a unique 28, 1907, the first day of business for Then one of the clean-cut young company. We have our own way of the American Messenger Company, men in the office would jump onto a doing things. Deliberately. Precisely. Ef- the company that would later become streetcar or a bicycle and deliver the ficiently. We have strong opinions about United Parcel Service. message. Quaint, wasn’t it? the way a company should be run. Reli- In the middle of the commotion, Last Friday, on what we call Found- ably. Profitably. And with integrity. was a 19-year-old named Jim Casey ers’ Day, in Atlanta and at UPS loca- We also think brown is beautiful. and his partner, 18-year-old Claude tions around the world, we celebrated If you want a sense of the role that Ryan. Along with the other young the foresight and dedication of those our past and our culture play at UPS, men, they were about to change the pioneers. consider that our meetings often start course of commerce. The company they started—which with a reading from our Policy Book. They also were beginning a culture was renamed United Parcel Service It contains the fundamental values and that has endured and strengthened in 1919—last year earned more than principles that have shaped our com- across two centuries. It’s a culture that $58 billion in revenue and ranked pany for more than a century. is one of our greatest strengths and now 168th on Fortune’s list of the world’s It’s a distinctive culture and one that’s one of our most significant challenges. largest companies. undoubtedly helped make us successful. Our culture has cemented what we Every day, approximately 2 per- But, if we’re not careful, that culture and value and how we work. It is the beating cent of the world’s GDP and 6 per- our love of history could also limit our heart of who and what we are. But it’s cent of U.S. GDP flows through the future. And we’re not the only ones who also a challenge. UPS network. And it all started right face that threat. Maybe you do, too. It’s a challenge because culture can here. In a part of Seattle’s commer- So today I’d like to talk to you about become so ingrained that—in a different cial district appropriately known as the value of a strong culture, as well as era with far different forces at work—it Pioneer Square. its inherent risks. I’ll finish up with a few can become a barrier to innovation and We employ more than 5,000 wom- words on how leaders can help their change. en and men in Seattle out of a world- companies avoid those risks. Today, I want to share some thoughts wide workforce of some 435,000. Our Let’s start with the research. Last on how we leverage the best of that cul- business is good here, and for that we month Fortune magazine released a study ture without allowing it to stand in the thank your robust economy and our that said business decision makers today way of our future. To do that, I’ll take loyal customers. place greater significance on a business you back to those early days in Seattle. In fact, based on a balanced score- partner’s culture than ever before. Our early business model was pretty card, Seattle is UPS’s No. 1 district in 60 percent of the global executives simple: At a time when most people the U.S. So the folks delivering your surveyed said that when choosing a busi-

CICERO 2016 36 CICERO SPEECHWRITING AWARDS ness partner, it’s more important to know It’s a good thing a stubborn engineer Too many businesses resemble Army what a company stands for than whether didn’t allow culture and history to block ants. Army ants are blind—to survive it’s innovative or dominates its market. a more efficient path to the future. they follow each other over a pheromone 68 percent said that it’s even worth Today, our company delivers more trail. Sometimes an ant will lose the trail’s making short-term financial sacrifices to than 4.6 billion packages a year—about scent and wander away from the group. cultivate long-term relationships. 18 million a day—in more than 220 The ants behind follow. Eventually they 80 percent agreed that a successful countries and territories. It’s an achieve- end up going in circles, marching without company’s biggest idea is often the one ment that’s only possible because our stopping, even to their own death. on which it was built. employees rally each day behind the But on occasion, an ant manages Culture gets everyone rowing in the principles Jim Casey and the founders to break away from the death march, same direction, toward the same goals. promoted—respect, honesty, hard work, sometimes by accident. When it steps off It builds esprit de corps around a set of humility and a commitment to the com- course, the renegade creates a new path shared values. It makes the whole stron- munities we serve. for the ants to follow. Its radical depar- ger than the sum of its parts. But it’s like fingernails on a black- ture ends up saving the entire group. That’s all very good. However, let me board when I hear an employee say, Winners become losers because it’s give you an example of the risks. “That’s not how we’ve always done it.” easier to keep doing the things that For years and years our drivers Or ask, “What would Jim do?” made them winners. Easier than chal- mapped their daily routes with push pins Jim Casey built a company on time- lenging whether what built success will and clipboards. They loved their clip- less values, and there’s no doubt his be enough to sustain it. Fortunately, UPS boards. They were part of our history presence is still felt at UPS. But I want never followed a pheromone trail. and culture. to say, “Folks, Jim isn’t here. We’re on Clearly, Jim Casey saw the need for About 10 years ago, one of our engi- our own.” non-linear shifts in our business. On neers—his name is Jack Levis—started But I don’t. Instead, I remind them multiple occasions he had the vision work on a project to make those clip- that Jim was smart enough not to be- and the fortitude to veer away from the boards obsolete. come too sentimental nor too attached established model. Jack’s goal was to use operational to the old ways of doing things. He The first time was when he saw that technology to identify the most efficient promoted the concept of “constructive the telephone was going to eventually routes a driver could take while making dissatisfaction,” knowing that the only put his and other messenger companies their daily stops. Some considered his way to survive in business is by never out of business. He did it again when quest blasphemy. After all, for nearly a getting too comfortable. automobiles with plenty of room for century we had done pretty well with Others wish they had heeded the packages and groceries threatened the our push pins and clipboards. same lesson. Plenty of companies were package delivery service. The project eventually consumed so intent on staying on the path of least In more recent times, starting about eight years of Jack’s life. The first seven resistance that they didn’t see the threat 20 years ago, data and operational tech- of those yielded little tangible progress. coming up behind them. nology fueled a new era of expansion. People were telling him that he was Film didn’t see digital—and the We’ve since built the largest and most putting an otherwise fabulous career company that saw it first discounted its sophisticated technology infrastructure in jeopardy. disruptive power. Newspaper classifieds in the transportation industry. The easy thing would have been for didn’t see Craigslist. Video stores didn’t Our mainframes operate around the us to stay the course with our push pins see Netflix. Travel agents didn’t see Ex- clock, processing 27 million instructions and clipboard approach and for Jack to pedia. And the process continues. every second and tracking 18 million go back to his day job. Jack Welch, GE’s longtime CEO, packages every day. They collect and dis- But he didn’t. And, finally, he and could have warned them all. “If the rate tribute information from drivers’ hand- his team found the algorithm—and the of change on the outside exceeds the held computers. Then they use that solution—they were looking for. rate of change on the inside,” Welch information to coordinate the operations The system they came up with— said, “the end is near.” of our global fleet of vehicles, as well as which we call ORION—considers all of Certainly the technology-led and an entire airline. the potential routes a driver might take consumer-empowered ambush is far We’re using all that information to to make an average of 120 stops per day. from over. Look what streaming is doing bring customers deeper into our network That’s the number on the screen. I’ll to networks and cable. Look what Uber and help solve their problems in new save you the eye strain. That’s 199 digits. is doing to cabs and limos. Look what and innovative ways. ORION has saved our company 10 Airbnb is doing to hotels. So, the question becomes: “How do million gallons of fuel … $300 million Let’s throw in shopping malls, maybe you manage for growth while respecting dollars … and reduced 100,000 tons financial advisors, libraries and the your past?” My answer, is that the job of carbon emissions. That’s like taking family farm. When technology offers a falls to leaders. And it’s a job in three 21,000 passenger cars off the road. better way, the better way wins. critical parts.

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First, leaders must be confident themselves as human resources. They story—the one about those young men enough to hire people smarter than they see themselves as human beings. And on bicycles. are and ones who don’t fit the tradi- they want tangible and consistent proof If you ask executives of these compa- tional mold. that we see them that way, too. Let me nies today why they’ve been successful, I learned that lesson early on. I was give you an example. they’ll probably start with those stories. a senior manager of UPS’s Rocky My first assignment as district man- Historical touchstones for generations Mountain District, which wasn’t very ager was in Houston. I’d been there of employees, those stories have become profitable when I got there. I decided we about a year and a half when UPS emotional and romantic backdrops to needed a real sales pro—someone with drivers went on a nationwide strike. distinctive cultures. a long sales resume. My boss sent me The next day, I rolled up my sleeves But if we’re not careful, we can let a candidate who had none of that. He and walked onto the picket line. “Why stories of our glorious past get in the said: “Just talk to him.” are you out here?” I asked. “Have I way of our promising future. So I meet this young guy at the air- given you respect? Have I made sure As leaders, we have a responsibility port, and the first thing he wants to do you got the pay you were due? Have to understand a changing world and the is pick up his luggage. I said: “Let’s talk I given you personal time when you consumers and businesses we serve. We first.” I’m thinking that once I describe needed it?” have a mandate not only to manage the how tough the job is, he’ll want to get They nodded and mumbled a yes. present, but also to imagine the future. back on a plane to go home. So I asked them again: “Why are you Those of us in leadership positions— I talked about all the problems we out here?” When they couldn’t tell me, I especially those of us who have been had, and the special skills it would take said, “Let’s get back to work.” And they around for a while—must ask ourselves to solve them. followed me back inside. Giving them important questions: “Are we standing Finally he looked at me, and said: “I respect got me respect. in the way of truly new ways of think- know what you’re doing. You’re painting Finally, leaders who want to respect ing and doing?” “Are we obstructing a the worst picture you can paint because culture while managing for the future view of the future?” you don’t think I’m the right guy for this must be inquisitive enough to ask the Of course, many argue that there’s job. This is my job. I want to help you right questions. The most important is: no substitute for wisdom gained through do what you want to do, and I’m not “Is there a better way?” experience. And I agree. getting on that plane.” And here’s where we run into that This is my 37th year at UPS. I like to So I said, “OK, let’s get your bag.” big, honkin Catch-22 of a strong cul- think that I’ve gotten smarter with age, It’s probably the best hire I ever ture. Why look for a better way when even if my hairline hasn’t kept up. But made. And a great lesson came our old way has done so well by us? I also know that culture and dominant along with it. Get outside your The answer is simple: If you’re not logic cut both ways. They can provide comfort zone. There’s a whole new curious about what might be … and the discipline that companies need to world out there. if you’re not—as Jim Casey would say, perform consistently over the long haul. That young man totally changed our “constructively dissatisfied”—you’re They also can act as blinders to fresh, ability to pursue customers outside our going to leave potential on the table new perspectives. areas of expertise. Would we have made every day. Leaders need to make sure that nei- that same breakthrough if I had hired Great companies seem to have ther they nor an allegiance to company someone who did things the way we had compelling backstories that foretold a culture distorts a clean line of sight to always done them? distinctive culture. You’re blessed with imagination and opportunity. I think about that every time I talk to several here in Seattle. If Jim Casey were to visit the somebody who—in my opinion—is not In Boeing’s Museum of Flight, modern-day version of the company he quite right for the job. you can see the famous mail bag that started, I think he would see clear signs The second thing leaders must do is William Boeing and Eddie Hubbard of the culture he helped establish. But recognize the power of the individual. carried in 1919 on the first international his amazement at most everything else Especially those who don’t look, act and U.S. Air Mail flight. would underline the common trait of think exactly like they do. Two Harvard students—a couple any great business today—a willingness For example, we all know the book local guys who did pretty well for them- to change. on Millennials. Thin-skinned, shielded selves—convinced a computer manufac- Every business needs a great story from failure by their parents, entitled, turer that their software will run its new to tell. Every business also needs new picky, inflated sense of importance. I computer—even though they had yet to stories, ones that tie the narrative of the see some of that. But what I see more is write the software. past to the vision of the future. confidence and teamwork. The world’s largest online retailer It’s leaders who strike the balance. I see people motivated not by office started selling books out of its founder’s I want to thank the Rotary Club for size and title, but by the meaning they garage. the opportunity to be with you today. find in their work. People don’t see Of course, I’m a little partial to our It’s been a pleasure.

CICERO 2016 38 CICERO SPEECHWRITING AWARDS WINNER: PUBLIC POLICY “Technology, Security, Freedom”

By Charles Crawford for Sir John Sawers, Former Delivered to Alumni of the University of Nottingham, at the Royal Chief of MI6; Chairman, Macro Advisory Partners Institute of British Architects, London, England, Nov. 25, 2015

ack in the 1960s US computer sum up our relationship to technology. tion. Following you by car or on foot. No Bgenius Gordon Moore made an The best of times? Or the worst of school like the old school! astute prediction about exponential times? Today those labour-intensive tech- growth in computer power. It’s now The age of wisdom? Or foolishness? niques are supported by high-end called Moore’s Law. Belief ? Incredulity? software. Face-recognition. Footstep- Every two years or so you can All of them at once? recognition. expect double the computer power for Thus my three themes tonight. Tech- Old and new intelligence tradecraft— your money. nology. Security. Freedom. they all have their place. But they work That relationship has been borne Can democratic societies have the when you know who poses a threat. First out over nearly 50 years. best of times without the worst of times? you have to find these people. In 1975 the Cray-1 was the world’s We’re going to get more technology. You dive deep into those data oceans. mightiest supercomputer. It had 8 Lots more technology! Are we going to You look for patterns. Snippets of digital Megabytes: £10 million in today’s get more freedom and less security? Or information that suggests activity worth money. My Apple iPhone has 128 more security, but less freedom? a closer look. Gigabytes of memory, and cost £600. As democracies grapple with these Then you have to try to work out who 15,000 times the power, at a fifteen issues, do terrorists and fanatics feel that among several thousand possible ex- thousandth of the cost. they have more freedom? Will autocra- tremist sympathisers looks set to launch Technology gets faster and better cies become stronger, and democracies a terror attack next week. You also want and cheaper and cheaper. Cars and weaker? Do the enemies of democracy to find disaffected people inside terrorist roads and factories and homes get feel more secure? organisations who might switch sides. safer. Driverless cars. Dickens’ two cities were London and Terrorists are using technology to New medical techniques. Need a Paris. change their methods and targets. We new spare part? Do some Googling, Just twelve days ago Paris was hit by a have to change the way we defend our- then use your 3D printer to make one. new horrible terrorist attack. selves. You follow terrorists and potential Data analytics is one of the new People from across Paris, across terrorists where they are. sciences. Making connections, finding France, across the globe, murdered and If a terror suspect enters a pub, it’s solutions to problems that were previ- maimed at random. Gunned down by reasonable if not vital that the police ously unknowable. killers whose twisted ideology sees a and MI5 have the legal power to enter The volume of data is growing at an cheerful tolerant culture as the enemy. the pub and monitor him there. exponential rate. Can we stop what happened in Paris These days terrorists are scheming You turn on your mobile phone. happening here in London? deep in cyberspace. Post a Tweet. Go shopping. Drive past The honest, unsettling answer: If the police believe that an active a CCTV camera. Use your Oyster Yes … Most of the time. terrorist suspect is operating online, it’s card. Watch a YouTube cat video. As MI6 Chief, my top priority was reasonable if not vital that the police and Everything you do with a digital identifying plans hatched abroad to security services have the legal powers to angle—everything anyone does, any- launch terror attacks against the UK. track him online and identify who he is where in the world—makes those data We had significant successes: work- communicating with. oceans bigger, richer, deeper. ing with intelligence partners in Brit- The point is this. Charles Dickens’ opening of A Tale of ain, America and the Middle East, we People who want to do you harm Two Cities is as great as it gets. stopped terrifying attacks. benefit from Moore’s Law just as much It was the best of times You don’t see these attacks. Because as those who want to keep you safe. It was the worst of times they don’t happen. We don’t talk about As citizens, we want maximum pri- The age of wisdom them. Why give our enemies clues to vacy and maximum security. Unbreak- The age of foolishness how we are stopping them? able encryption is at the centre of the The epoch of belief When I joined MI6, I was trained argument. The epoch of incredulity to spot people tracking me. Telephone Intelligence agencies focus on security Today, 160 years later, Dickens’ words tapping. Intercepting radio communica- and worry that terrorists will be able to

VSOTD.COM 39 evade detection. Technology companies Say you don’t trust government ominous, if not alarming. focus on privacy and the need to ensure and intelligence agencies. But you also Do our agencies really need to be that for their customers. don’t want to live in fear of further able to do all this? They each accuse the other of ignor- Paris-style attacks. Some people say that all this state ing the vital public interest they are You grudgingly accept that the surveillance did not stop the Paris at- protecting. agencies need to look at Internet data tacks, so what good does it do? The reality is they both have a point. patterns to try to find and track net- There’s a very good answer to that We all want powerful world class works like the Paris killers. one. encryption to keep our data secure. You sit down to devise tough laws. No goalkeeper has a 100% record. Encryption is a vital tool in defending You come up with something like this. Even the finest goalkeeper who makes ourselves against cyber crime. • Privacy comes first! Exceptions save after save is beaten by a top-class But we have to face the fact that allowed only when a minister decides shot or a freakish deflection. That does terrorists and extremists also benefit that an intrusion is necessary and pro- not make him or her a bad goalkeeper. from world-class encryption, keeping portionate Or make the very idea of goalkeeping their identities and communications • Government computers can search redundant. secure too. the world’s data-oceans looking for suspi- I don’t want to downplay reasonable There’s nothing new here in prin- cious patterns, but specific high-level concerns. ciple. Every modern technological authorisation is needed to access and But let me put this as bluntly as I can. advance—guns, cars, telephones—has track actual individuals Technologies that empower us, em- quickly been used by societies’ enemies. • Tight vetting: only honest, trustwor- power our enemies. Intelligence agencies know that thy people do this work You link to anyone in the world. Any- unbreakable encryption can’t be dis- • Technical alarm bells if operators one in the world links to you. invented. run improper data-searches The good news is that we can track So we find ourselves trying to do • We share intelligence with other down people like Jihadi John and ensure something subtle and sensitive and governments, but with extreme caution he can no longer brutalise and murder incredibly difficult: enjoying the huge if those governments have a bad human his captives. benefits that powerful encryption gives rights record The bad news? You and your family us, while working to stop our enemies • All this within wider oversight by are only a couple of clicks away from using this same technology against us. MPs and independent judges, and fre- people who print 3D guns, or make The big technology companies are quent spot-checks synthetic drugs. Or from ISIS and Al transforming our lives. Checks and balances, counter-checks Qaeda and paedophiles, all pumping out We trust these hugely influential and counter-balances, at every level. disgusting videos and propaganda. private companies in part because they The whole system is run by An acute policy dilemma. Is it better are private. honourable, hard-working, careful to shut down this ghastly material, even The tech companies have a vital people—people in fact just like you— if you drive it on to new websites and role—and a unique responsibility—to doing their best. deeper into the Dark Web? Or should play their part in building the security Guess what? That’s more or less what we accept that this poison is in society’s that keeps us all free and safe. we have now. bloodstream and quietly watch what’s I think the gap that opened up post- There’s never a good time for these happening and who might be infected? Snowden is narrowing again. debates. New laws passed in a rush after Public servants in the intelligence The next step is for all parties to find a major terror attack amid white-hot and security services face this dilemma a collaborative way forward to benefit public anger won’t strike a wise, prin- every day. from the new technology while doing cipled balance. The key thing is to find Your choice as free citizens here to- what we sensibly can to stop terrorists the time to think. night is unambiguous and unrelenting. and others who would do us harm. This time David Anderson QC, the You can try to avoid reality. Reality That’s the sort of cooperation Independent Reviewer of Terrorism will not try to avoid you. between the public and private sectors Legislation, has done just that, produc- You can trust the skill and restraint that’s needed in free societies where se- ing a magisterial report. The new Inves- of the people working day and night to curity underpins our privacy, our private tigative Powers Bill before parliament is protect you. enterprise and our liberal democracy. based squarely on his recommendations. Or you can pray that the people The appalling attacks in Paris show It’s designed to strike a wise, principled working day and night to destroy our so- us exactly what is at stake. balance, ensuring our privacy, and pro- cieties don’t hit your town or your family. All that sounds fine in general terms tecting our security. Today’s security means working with But how to set clear limits on how the When you put all the powers of the technology to guarantee huge areas of state and its security agencies acquire agencies into one codified legal frame- freedom for all of us, by making difficult data and intercept communications? work, the overall package might look compromises on the margins.

CICERO 2016 40 CICERO SPEECHWRITING AWARDS

That’s not an attack on privacy. today’s technological transparency gives coming to Europe in unmanageable It’s the only way to safeguard privacy our political leaders painful problems. numbers, undermining European while acting against the enemies of First problem. Time solidarity. Now Russia is involved, un- our free society who scheme to bring it Harold MacMillan was asked about constrained by democratic pressures or down. the hardest challenge of government: concern for civilian casualties, using air What about how technology is chang- “Events, dear boy, events”. power and missiles to prop up the dismal ing foreign policy? These days, events and sensations and Assad regime. A Tale of Two Massacres disasters come thick and fast. The 24/7 None of this is easy. It’s agonisingly Syria, February 1982 media cycle and incessant Internet argu- hard. The Syrian army under the first ments put leaders under huge pressure. I was part of the Whitehall system President Assad attacked Hama, Syria’s Politicians feel compelled to react trying to find a coherent way forward. fourth largest city, to put down a local quickly, often through actions offering We all share some responsibility for Islamist uprising. immediate appeal that look likely to shut the grim outcomes we now see. They killed about 20,000 fellow Syr- up the noisiest critics. When time-lines are so short and ians, torturing many more. When the World demands an in- technology gives a deafening voice to Three times the death toll of Sre- stant response it’s harder to show real all sorts of critics, well intentioned and brenica. Seven times 9/11. leadership. Taking people along a path ill-intentioned alike, thinking strategi- These horrendous events went largely that is tough and slow and uncom- cally becomes next to impossible in a unknown to the rest of the world. Even fortable and unpopular to achieve a modern democracy. as news seeped out, global reaction greater, wiser goal. Studied caution is one thing. Paralysis stayed muted. There was little public Back to Syria another. pressure. It suited most governments to President Assad the son, as brutal In the wake of the Paris attacks, we look away. as his father. In 2011, when the Syrian now have another chance to develop Compare that crime against human- people demonstrate against his rule, he a strategy to put an end to the misery ity with the shooting down of Malaysia turns the army onto them. of the Syrian people, and remove ISIS Airlines flight MH17, blown from the The West is torn: “How many more from its strongholds. sky over Ukraine in July last year. crises in the Islamic World are going to It will require both military and Swarms of amateurs and experts demand our attention?” “Let the Syrians political action. alike around the world gathered on the sort this out themselves!” A new diplomatic process for Syria Internet. In 2013 Assad uses chemical weap- has started. It deserves our every effort. They drew on live satellite imagery ons against his own people. A breach of The outcome of that process will be and other open-source Internet sites. international conventions set up after the shaped by the relative strength of the They narrowed down with amazing horrors of World War One. forces on the ground. If we want moder- accuracy the likely launch-point of the This war crime demands a swift, ates to have a voice, we need to support missile, the type of missile used, and the strong response: it’s vital to hold the them militarily. likely people responsible. They punched line against such horrendous illegal Second problem. Trust big fast holes in the official story com- weapons. Technology makes us all more ac- ing from Moscow, or appearing on the Our government takes a clear posi- countable. MPs expenses. Bankers and Internet. tion that military action is required, financial risk. The media and phone In this case the finger of guilt pointed but then seeks approval from Parlia- tapping. straight at Moscow-backed separatists. ment. Reflecting public unease about All healthy, proper exposure of abuse. James Gibney at Bloomberg calls this yet another Middle East intervention, But this spills over into unbridled a “citizen-driven open-source intelli- Parliament says no to military action. cynicism. gence revolution”. Citizens have formi- President Obama now has doubts Anything confidential or secret must dable network power to scrutinise and whether he can go ahead without Con- be a cover-up! If the establishment was check what is going on across the planet. gress’s support. not forthcoming on that one, why trust it Two months ago, bombs fell on a This left the UK and our Western al- on anything else? Médecins sans Frontières hospital in lies in a hopeless position. ‘Demanding’ Patient diplomacy relies on confi- Afghanistan. Crowd-sourced indignation the departure of Assad without tackling dentiality. and investigation forced rapid American his clear breach of international law. For years the Iran nuclear talks were acceptance of responsibility. What’s happened since then? stuck. It‘s harder and harder to keep things Syria’s raging civil war has created Both the US and Iran faced forces at secret or concealed or even delayed, as space for the rise of ISIS, who now home rejecting compromise. It all got the bringing down of the Russian plane pose the worst terrorist threat in living too open. in Sinai has shown. memory. Appalling refugee crises in The Obama Administration made a The immediacy and intensity of Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey. Refugees sustained new effort with Iran through

VSOTD.COM 41 secret meetings in Oman, far from the stronger, more effective, more orderly We don’t want the next generation to public eye. than democracies? face a ghastly choice between keeping It led to a breakthrough and then an For all their fumbling and scandal our freedoms with much less security, agreement. Not a perfect one. But much and confusion, democratic societies have or retaining our security at a cost to our better than no agreement. one huge advantage as technological freedom. If you want more jaw-jaw and less change races ahead. We must think ahead now, so we war-war, sometimes transparency has to They are flexible. Open. They em- protect the order that is essential for our sit back and give diplomacy a chance. brace new ideas and opportunities. free societies. Suspending cynicism. Trusting It’s our greatest strength. This takes us back to the beginning the government to do an honest job But we can’t take success for granted. of my presentation. properly. We are at a moment in history like Exponential growth in computer Wait. What did that former Chief the industrial revolution. Who gets first power is changing everything. The ac- of MI6 just say? Trust the government! mover advantage, as Britain did in the celerating ability of computers to learn Was he having a laugh? 18th and 19th centuries? from all those oceans of data is set to That sort of cynical response gains Societies that work out how to master re-model everything. traction across the Internet, playing into and use big data sets will enjoy a massive Our health. Our education. Our every nutty conspiracy theory. head start, whether they are democratic travel, our streets, our sense of space. When technology allows non-stop or otherwise. How we’re born. How we die. Our sneering and jeering against people in They’ll lead the way in artificial intel- government. Our safety. Our sense of public life, everything gets more stupid. ligence and robotics. responsibility. That makes it ever harder to attract They’ll reap exponentially growing Back in 1973 I went to Nottingham good honest people into politics and benefits in health and education, simply to study physics. public service. by knowing more. I soon swerved to avoid computer sci- Final problem. Disruptive change They’ll learn faster how to adjust to ence. I took philosophy modules instead. Every leader everywhere, good or new skills and ways of doing things. That took me into my career in foreign bad, wants to reap the benefit of new Nations that veer away from new affairs and security. technology and big data. technology will fall behind. I drew on my nuclear physics when What if today’s turbulent technology Radical new inequalities in wealth negotiating with the Iranians. is just too disruptive for free societies? and power and capability will emerge Foreign policy and intelligence work What if democratic societies start to fast. have echoes of physics. Balance of look weak, uncertain? A Bank of America report: forces. Momentum. Pressure. Optics. What if autocratic systems or oppres- The pace of disruptive technologi- Parallel worlds. Things working on one sive systems somehow avoid the worst cal innovation has gone from linear to scale, but not another. disruptions? parabolic … a whirlwind of creative The issues raised by the new tech- Autocratic systems can think strategi- disruption. nologies for our long-cherished freedom cally and act decisively, because they Robots and artificial intelligence will and security are really hard. don’t worry about transparency. Because transform the world beyond recognition, None of us knows where all this is they close down debate and argument, as soon as 2025. heading. But in a free society we have and become skilled in manipulating As soon as 2025? That’s only 500 dynamism and flexibility. public opinion. weeks away! Let’s do what we’re good at. Let’s What if George Orwell’s 1984 be- Pioneers of science like Stephen shape our own destiny intelligently. comes reality? Hawking urge us to consider now the I started with Charles Dickens. I fin- No country is more strategic than ethical questions posed by self-learning ish with another great writer. A Notting- China. I’ve met some of China’s leaders. computers displacing people, not to wait ham alumnus, D H Lawrence: They think in decades, even centuries. until these questions are right upon us. If only we could have two lives. The They find it curious that we appear not They’re right. And it’s not just the first in which to make one’s mistakes, to do so! moral questions. We need to think which seem as if they have to be made. As we are seeing in Ukraine and through the implications for our poli- And the second in which to profit by now Syria, President Putin is projecting tics too. them. power and his ideas of global order to To think hard about how technology With clever DNA engineering from create new realities. can support freedoms won over centu- Nottingham’s labs, perhaps we’ll soon What if autocratic states start to look ries, and not erode them. have that luxury?

CICERO 2016 42 CICERO SPEECHWRITING AWARDS WINNER: COMMENCEMENT/CONVOCATION ADDRESS “I Didn’t Follow a Dream”

By Aaron Hoover for Kent Fuchs, Delivered at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center, President, University of Florida University of Florida, Gainesville, Fla., Aug. 7, 2015

raduates, we have now reached I come to this advice from my own During my years as a professor, I Gthe part of the program known as personal experience. I went to high knew for certain that I did not want to the commencement address. The car- school in Miami, at Miami Killian ever become a university administrator. toonist Garry Trudeau has remarked High School. There, I had a spectacu- I only wanted to teach students and that the commencement address was larly good physics teacher. He inspired work in my lab with students. I rejected “invented largely in the belief that me to enter college with a dream of suggestions that I become a depart- outgoing college students should never becoming a scientist, and I started as a ment chair, and I told my friends and be released in the world until they have physics major at Duke University. family that I would never be a dean or been properly sedated.” It didn’t last. By my sophomore provost … and certainly not a univer- If you’ve been to other commence- year, my physics classes were difficult, sity president! ments, you know that too many speak- and my roommate convinced me elec- I have found over the 30 years of ers dispense advice you’ve heard before trical engineering would be easier. So, my career that the uncertainty in the to … learn from your failures … listen I changed my major, hoping college future has been the best part of my to your inner voice … and follow your would become a little more fun. I know life’s path. I didn’t have a dream that I passion and dreams. none of you ever did anything like that! have been following since I graduated All are fine ideas, and all worth try- For me, an even bigger transforma- from college. Rather, my dreams and ing to live by. tion came when I began attending a passion developed and grew with my But what if your failures just seem church that was popular with college opportunities and circumstances. like failures? What if, when you listen students. My time at this church proved I didn’t follow a dream or a pas- to your inner voice, you don’t hear so powerfully enriching that when it sion. My passions and dreams fol- anything? What if … despite having came time for graduation, I didn’t want lowed me, emerging and developing just spent years earning your valuable to be a scientist anymore. I had earned based on my actions. UF degree … you’re still not quite sure a degree in engineering, but I didn’t I have the utmost respect and about your passion … or your dreams want to be an engineer. My new dream admiration for those whose life path keep changing? was to become a minister. is straight and sure. But I bet your If this describes your predicament I pursued this dream by enrolling in parents and other loved ones in the au- right now… just an hour or so from a three-year Masters of Divinity degree dience today would agree with me that leaving the comfort of the UF campus at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School first zigging this way, and then zagging and entering the uncertain world … let in Chicago. There, I took a homiletics that way, is the more common path— me be the first to tell you: It’s going to class on the art of writing and preach- and often the zigging and zagging is be OK. More than OK. In fact, it may ing sermons. It didn’t go so well. the better path. even be preferable not to be hearing What I learned was this: I was not Certainly that was true for the voices or having dreams! very good at stirring people’s emotions woman who spent years trying to be Uncertainty, in our lives and in and reaching their hearts … but that I a writer, and then worked in advertis- our careers is good, whether we work could reach their minds. I was a better ing and did research for the military, in science, the arts … and yes, even teacher than I was a preacher. before discovering a love for French higher education leadership. The So, my dream changed yet again. I cuisine in her late 30s. We can all toast important thing is not to have needless didn’t want to be a scientist or en- Julia Child’s late arrival to her success anxiety about uncertainty and not to gineer. I didn’t want to be pastor. I in popularizing gourmet cooking in let uncertainty paralyze you. wanted to be a college teacher. the home. Instead, choose action. Start down Off I went from Divinity School in It’s a very good thing for science and any one of the several good paths Chicago to the University of Illinois humanity that a young man named before you, and let your journey reveal in Urbana-Champaign, where I spent Charles Darwin gave up on his pursuit your direction and shape your dreams. another five and half years earning a of a medical degree, much to his fam- Ride your uncertainty, discover your doctorate in electrical and computer ily’s deep disappointment. new course, and enjoy your developing engineering and then eleven years as a Millions of readers should count and maybe surprising new dreams. professor. themselves fortunate that John Grisham

VSOTD.COM 43 didn’t continue his career as a small- That sensitivity toward people, We knew you were prepared for town Mississippi lawyer and state and those communication skills, anything when we accepted you to the legislator. have proved immensely valuable to University of Florida, and you have America’s best-known folk artist, my career in university leadership, proven us right. I could not be more Anna May Robertson “Grandma” Mo- including as president of this univer- pleased to wish you Godspeed as you ses, spent her life as a rural New Eng- sity. On a personal note, it was also move forward—eyes and hearts open land homemaker before finally picking in divinity school where I met my to your changing path and its many up a paint brush in her late 70s. wife of 34 years and the love of my wonderful possibilities. These icons, and many others, took life, Linda! winding paths to their achievements Picasso once said so beautifully: *** and contributions. But here’s the really “To know what you are going to draw, important thing: None of them were you have to begin drawing.” I pray that although you may leave the worse for it. Quite the contrary: As you set out from the University Gainesville, the University of Florida Their experiences shaped their direc- of Florida and into our world of con- will always be your home, and that you tion and what they became. stantly evolving challenges … when- will return home often. As John Grisham has said, “I seri- ever your inner voice changes things An old Irish blessing expresses my ously doubt I would ever have written up on you … or worse, when it doesn’t personal affection for each one of you. the first story had I not been a lawyer. I seem to say anything at all … I want May the sun shine gently on your never dreamed of being writer. I wrote you to hear my voice. face. only after witnessing a trial.” Hear this one-time aspiring scientist May the rain fall soft upon your fields. In my own case, my three years in and minister reminding you that if May the wind be at your back. divinity school were a complete waste you’re unable to follow your dreams or May the road rise to meet you. of time from a resume-building per- passion, let them follow you … And may the Lord hold you in the hol- spective. But I took classes in counsel- Ride the uncertainty … low of his hand. ing, public speaking and fundraising, Find your new course … Until we meet again. and they taught me a great deal about Enjoy and believe in your new Thank you and Congratulations, interacting and working with people. dreams … Class of 2015! … WINNER: DEDICATION/GROUNDBREAKING SPEECH “Treating Zorro, Treating Me”

By Chris Moran for Jack Payne, Delivered at the Clinical Skills Laboratory, Senior Vice President for Agriculture & Natural Resources, University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Florida Gainesville, Fla., Aug. 4, 2015

want everyone who’s ever loved a with my dog Zorro, from Cedar Key and emotional pain, like I was that I pet to experience what I experienced that Sunday morning and Jim Lloyd Sunday morning. in the UF small animal hospital a few was waiting for me by the front door. This new facility has a communica- weeks ago. What he told his staff, though, was tions skills room. I’m here to tell you Jim Lloyd helped me get my canine something really important—to “treat” that it’s as important to me as any of companion of 15 years, a friend me as well as my dog. “Do what you do the machines. It’s one of those places through three different jobs in three every day,” is what he told them. where observers can stand behind different states, from the back seat I tell you this because facilities are glass unseen and watch colleagues and of my car to the other tower in this important, but what’s going to make students play out scenarios. building. this place really work is the people. Like how to deal with those difficult The dean’s job description doesn’t It’s where we’ll train people to be like conversations about cost of treatment. say “answer calls from SVP at 7 a.m. Jim Lloyd. Or even worse, talking about a prob- on a Sunday to comfort him as his dog To be a competent veterinarian, lem money can’t solve. is euthanized.” you need to be able to read an X-ray, So kudos to the visionaries behind But he’s a professional empathizer. examine an animal and administer this space. Like the rest of the educa- When he got the call, he immediately medications. To be a great veterinar- tors here at Vet Med, they haven’t called the small animal hospital and ian, you’ve got to know how to com- settled for just producing technically told them that I was coming. I drove in, municate with someone who’s in tears proficient practitioners. They’ve

CICERO 2016 44 CICERO SPEECHWRITING AWARDS created an environment where the She wrote: “The tragedy of dogs is This new floor makes that more next generation of veterinarians will they never live long enough, but they likely. So I’m not only proud of what learn how to manage not just the ter- do pack a lifetime’s worth of love and you’re opening here, but I’m personally minal illness of my Australian Shep- devotion into the precious years they grateful for it. Zorro is, too. herd, but the anguish that I brought spend with us.” In fact, Dr. Conner will be teaching along with my dog. This card [Payne holds up card] in this space. Students will get to prac- Dr. Bobbi Conner gave me all the told me that she understood that what tice and observe end-of-life scenarios in time I needed to say goodbye. Then happened in the small animal hospital here. By the time these students meet she let me hold Zorro as she eutha- that Sunday didn’t end when Zorro people like me, they’ll be people like nized him. breathed his last. I still carry him with Bobbi Conner. A couple of weeks later, I got a me, and her note showed me that she That, too, is a great comfort to me. card from Dr. Conner. What a classy gets that. I want everyone to have a After all, I’ve got three more dogs. gesture. veterinarian like Bobbi Conner. WINNER: EMPLOYEE MEETING “Tell Stories with Your Heart”

By Aaron Hoover for Kent Fuchs, Delivered at Emerson Hall, University of Florida, President, University of Florida Gainesville, Fla., Jan. 9, 2015

hank you, Tom. And good after- and ate his wallet. Luckily, Mikal real- were bored and tired and eager for the Tnoon, everyone! It’s a pleasure to ized what happened. As he tells the journey to be over. And then, some- be with you. tale, he reached down her throat and where over the Yukon territory of I was excited to learn about this rescued his wallet straight out of her Northern Canada late in the day, my workshop because I love stories. I be- hungry stomach. dad realized we were lost. lieve in the power of stories. My own father, Calvin Fuchs, is no This was before GPS. My dad The best way for me to convey longer living, but his family were farm- had been navigating by following the this enthusiasm … and make clear ers also. They lived in rural western Alaska-Canadian highway, which my feelings about why this endeavor Oklahoma, near a small town called was a gravel road back then. It was makes so much sense to the University Sayre. Unlike Mikal, my father was not snowing and hard to see. Without of Florida … is, of course, to share a a storyteller. Perhaps that’s why telling knowing it, he had started to follow couple of personal stories. stories has never been easy for me. It’s another road. By the time he realized I’ve got two for you, one from my one reason I became a college profes- his mistake, we were low on fuel … we father-in-law, and another from my sor rather than a pastor. were out of radio contact … and the own father. There is one family story, though, sun was setting. My father-in-law, Mikal Moskel- that has stuck with me for decades. I remember my hollow feeling and, is an immigrant from Norway My dad did not go to college, but he inside. I remember that my mother and a great storyteller. He grew up in was a self-taught ham radio operator, was fearful, and how her fear scared the country in Southern Norway, and piano player and pilot. I admired my me. I remember understanding that thanks to his stories, I have a sense that father’s self-reliance, but it sometimes our family was alone, in the winter, lost I grew up there, too. In fact, because got the family into difficult situations. somewhere over the Yukon, with night he is such a vivid storyteller, I feel that I This story begins on a family trip coming on. have a personal relationship with a cow from Oklahoma to Alaska in my dad’s I’ll never forget the moment my he once owned. four-passenger plane. dad saw the lights of a vehicle on the I don’t know if the cow had a There were five of us in the plane’s logging road beneath us. He quickly name, and in the world of storytelling, little cabin—me, my two little broth- landed our plane ahead of its path. I’ve heard that would get me into big ers, my mother and my dad. If you’re A truck rumbled up. Out spilled a trouble with Professor Foley over at the counting, that’s five people … in a four- group of men who turned out to be journalism school. passenger plane … on a three-day trip. miners prospecting for silver. They But I do know that this cow liked It didn’t help that my brothers and I cheerfully offered us a spot in their nothing more than to chew on leather. were prone to air sickness! tent for the night. One day, when Mikal wasn’t looking, I was about 10 years old, and my They made stew for dinner. That she poked her nose into his pocket brothers were about six and two. We stew is still the best I have ever tasted.

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The next day, the prospectors admissions professionals, university changing, in the center of our vision … plowed the logging road and gave my communicators, faculty and academic we can tell the stories that people will dad some gas. We flew off to that road leaders. I’m sure some of you are great never forget. to resume our trip to Alaska. at telling stories to further your im- We can get across the power of a Why has this story remained so alive portant work, and some of you are a child’s fears … the relief when it turns to me despite the passing of nearly 50 little less comfortable with the notion. out OK … and the wonder of being years? This is what I think. For those of you who are new to this taken in by a bunch of silver prospec- It’s a story about my father, and the approach, I appreciate your willingness tors on a snowy night in the Yukon. double-edged sword of resourceful- to step off your traditional path and try And don’t be afraid to relate the ness and risk-taking. It’s a story about out fresh directions and possibilities. funny story, too, when a cow eats childhood, and awakening to the very The simple lesson in my tale of your wallet. adult sense of one’s mortality. Most of my family’s trip is that the stories we As a community committed to tell- all, it’s a story about something going remember are often the human stories, ing the University of Florida’s story, wrong, and the challenge and triumph those centered on real people coping my sense is that we should not only of overcoming it. with real challenges. If we keep this bring our minds to our task—but also I know that this audience is com- at the forefront … if we put students our humanity and our hearts. I thank posed of people from all over the uni- and professors, their struggles and each one of you for being here, and I versity, including development officers, triumphs, and the lives that they are wish you all great stories. WINNER: EULOGY/TRIBUTE SPEECH “The Man Who Made Winston Churchill”

Written and delivered by Hal Gordon, Delivered at the World Conference of the Professional Speechwriters speechwriter Association, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., Oct. 7, 2015

inston Churchill was once asked inventor Thomas Edison, publisher his own. It was natural that he would Won whom or on what he had Joseph Pulitzer, writer Mark Twain have fatherly feelings towards the son based his oratorical style. He replied— and Presidents Grover Cleveland and of his beloved Jennie. And young Win- and I quote—“It was an American Teddy Roosevelt. ston, who had just lost his own father, statesman who inspired me and taught He also became known as America’s certainly needed a father figure at that me how to use every note of the hu- greatest living orator. time in his life. man voice like an organ … He was my But how did this man become the I wonder: Is it possible for us to clear model. I learned from him how to hold model for Winston Churchill? our minds, even for a few moments, thousands in thrall.” End quote. In the spring of 1895, Cockran of all we know of Churchill the great The statesman to whom Churchill visited Paris. There, he met the beauti- man, and imagine him as he was at 20, referred was in fact an Irish-American ful and vivacious widow of an English when he first met Cockran? statesman named William Bourke lord. The widow was Jennie Churchill, In 1895, Churchill was a newly- Cockran. widow of Lord Randolph Churchill minted subaltern, just out of Sandhurst. Who? and mother of Winston. He was short, lean, brash and athletic, You’ve never heard of him, right? Cockran and Jennie were instantly with a full head of copper-colored hair. Nor have most people. He’s been drawn to each other. They had a brief Up to that time, he had shown few signs almost completely forgotten. And yet but torrid love affair. And though they of his future greatness. He excelled at without him, Churchill might never ceased to be lovers, they would remain subjects that engaged his interest, and have acquired the soaring rhetorical devoted friends until Jennie died in 1921. funked those that bored him. power he needed to sustain the British Some months after Cockran During one of young Winston’s people through their darkest hours. returned home from Paris, he heard rare conversations with his father, Cockran was born in Ireland in from Jennie. Her son Winston—then Lord Randolph asked him what 1854, but emigrated to America at age 20 years old—was making his first trip he knew about the Grand Remon- 17. He settled in New York. to America. Would Cockran please strance—Parliament’s challenge to There, he became a successful law- host the young scamp when he passed King Charles I in 1641. yer, a member of the U.S. Congress, through New York? After some hesitation, Winston and a friend and confidant of some of Cockran was then 41 and a wid- replied, “In the end, Parliament beat the leading men of the time; men like ower. He had always wanted a son of the King and cut his head off. This

CICERO 2016 46 CICERO SPEECHWRITING AWARDS seemed to me the grandest remon- on average. Tariffs were favored by the great Anglo-Irish statesman Ed- strance imaginable.” the Republicans, who represented mund Burke. Cockran told Churchill Lord Randolph was not amused. manufacturing and moneyed interests, that Burke “mastered the English He would regularly send his son severe and were opposed by Democrats like language as a man masters a horse.” letters, chiding him for his “total want Cockran, who represented the farmers Burke was also a man of wide learn- of application.” But these parental ad- and the workers. ing. Churchill’s own education had monitions seem to have had little effect Churchill and Cockran were free been spotty. In 1896, about a year after on young Winston’s restless spirit or his traders for similar reasons; chief among meeting Cockran, Churchill was posted cocky self-assurance. them was the fact that free trade meant to India. There, he spent much of his In short, when Churchill met lower prices for the working poor. free time trying to fill the gaps in his Cockran, he rather resembled another How much influence did Cockran knowledge by extensive reading. And thoroughly exasperating young man, have on Churchill’s free trade stand? Cockran advised him on what to read. a character from a play by Bernard Let me quote from a major speech One biographer has determined that Shaw: “He knows nothing; and thinks that Cockran delivered at the National nearly every book that Churchill read he knows everything. That points Liberal Club in London on July 15, in India could be found in Cockran’s clearly to a political career.” 1903. Cockran said: “Since Govern- own considerable library in New York. Nevertheless, Cockran saw in ment of itself can create nothing, it can What about rhetorical devices? Churchill the potential that even have nothing of its own to bestow on Cockran told Churchill that the key his nearest and dearest had missed. anybody … If it undertakes to enrich to making a speech or addressing a jury Churchill’s son Randolph, in his mas- one man, the thing which it gives to him was this: “Make one simple bold point sive biography of his father, said this it must take from some other man.” and keep pounding on it with many about young Winston’s first meeting Now let me quote from a speech illustrations and examples.” with Cockran: that Churchill gave in Birmingham just Churchill would repeat this admoni- “Bourke Cockran must certainly four months later. tion throughout his own career. Once, have been a man of profound discern- Churchill said: “Governments create he said a speech was like a symphony; ment and judgment of character. As nothing and have nothing to give but it could have three movements but far as we know, he was the first man what they first have taken away—you must have one dominant theme. or woman Churchill met on level may put money in the pocket of one And he would pass on this advice terms who really saw his point and his set of Englishmen, but it will be money of Cockran’s to other young, up-and- potentialities… Cockran in some ways taken from the pockets of another set coming parliamentarians who were fulfilled a role that Lord Randolph of Englishmen ... ” struggling to find their own voices. should have filled if he had survived.” Was Churchill “plagiarizing” Cock- When Harold Macmillan, the future Churchill was Cockran’s guest for a ran? No. Churchill had not been pres- prime minister, gave his first speech to week early in November of 1895. Ac- ent at Cockran’s Liberal Club speech the House of Commons in 1923, he cording to Churchill, they had “great and Cockran did not send him the text asked Churchill for his opinion. discussions on every conceivable sub- until after Churchill had spoken in Churchill replied, ”Harold, everyone ject from economics to yacht racing.” Birmingham. But the striking similarity in the gallery is saying, ‘Young Macmil- They found that they had certain between their two speeches demon- lan’s giving his maiden address.’ Then principles in common. One was a pas- strates just how deeply Churchill had they ask, ‘What’s it about?’ And Harold, sionate love of liberty. absorbed Cockran’s arguments. no one can say in one sentence what the Because they loved liberty, Churchill Churchill left the Tories for the speech is about, and if you can’t say in and Cockran believed in free trade. Liberals at the end of May the follow- one sentence what the speech is about, it Free trade would be crucial to ing year. Shortly afterwards he wrote to is not worth giving.” Churchill’s career after he was elected Cockran. “I beg you,” he said, “to send What else did Churchill learn from to parliament in 1900. When Churchill me as much of your political literature Cockran? met Cockran, Britain had free trade, as you can—particularly your own We get some strong hints from an but there were prominent Tories who speeches. As I have told you before you unpublished essay that Churchill wrote wanted to make the British Empire a have powerfully influenced me in the in 1897. He called it, “The Scaffolding self-contained, closed market. political conceptions I have formed…” of Rhetoric.” Churchill would leave the Tory So Churchill wanted Cockran’s The essay begins: “Of all the talents Party over this issue in 1904. He would speeches. What else did he get from bestowed upon men, none is so precious return, twenty years later, only when Cockran? How, exactly, did Cockran as the gift of oratory. He who enjoys it the Tories themselves had returned to help Churchill become one of the wields a power more durable than that free trade. greatest orators of all time? of a great king. He is an independent America at that time had stagger- For one thing, Cockran introduced force in the world. Abandoned by his ingly high tariffs—nearly 50 percent Churchill to his own favorite orator— party, betrayed by his friends, stripped

VSOTD.COM 47 of his offices, whoever can command the world”—a man who could make intimacy and sincerity. He says that this power is still formidable.” and unmake presidents by the force of a speaker, wherever possible, should When we read that passage today, his eloquence. employ “short, homely words of com- we think immediately of Churchill Churchill took note. He followed mon usage.” himself—Churchill during the so-called Cockran’s speaking tour, writing to He talks about how a speaker can “Wilderness Years” leading up to World him, “please send me press cuttings of persuade by means of analogy … an War II. Churchill was out of office— your speeches.” apt analogy, he says, “appeals to the shunned, belittled and widely regarded Churchill says much more in “The everyday knowledge of the hearer.” as finished. Yet by the sheer power of Scaffolding of Rhetoric,” and Cock- And he talks about the importance his rhetoric, he was able to awaken his ran’s influence is evident throughout. of sincerity. For an orator to convince countrymen to the Nazi threat and, Churchill talks about oratory on the others, says Churchill, “he must him- ultimately, to become prime minister. grand scale. He talks about correctness self believe.” Yes, today we think of Churchill. of diction—the importance of using Here, let me note another bit of But who was Churchill thinking of the best possible word. advice that Cockran gave Churchill: when he wrote those words in 1897? He talks about rhythm—the use of “Speak the simple truth.” The previous year, 1896, had seen “long, rolling and sonorous” sentences And, yes, Cockran himself used one of the most dramatic and fiercely- to appeal to the ears of the audience. simple, down-to-earth language and il- contested presidential elections in He talks about the accumulation of lustrations in his speeches—juxtaposed American history. argument; he says that “The climax with his more florid passages. The crux of the campaign was the of oratory is reached by a rapid suc- In the Liberal Club speech from gold standard. The Republicans were cession of waves of sound and vivid which I just quoted, Cockran also for the gold standard and monetary pictures.” And he notes the “tendency said: “I have a farm on Long Island. stability. The Democrats wanted a gold to wild extravagance of language” that I require plows. I am told that if I and silver standard—cheaper dollars, is evident in most perorations. don’t have protection from foreign easy money, inflation. All of this he would have observed plows they’ll be dumped on me. If that The Democrats had nominated in Cockran. means I’ll get plows cheaper than my a little-known, 37-year-old former I’ll give you just one example. I’ve own country can produce them … I congressman named William Jen- already mentioned Cockran’s speech say, dump on!” nings Bryan. Bryan was a spellbinding to the Liberal Club in 1903. In this In 1943, Harold Nicholson summed orator. He is still remembered for the speech, Cockran moves to his conclu- up the secret of Churchill’s rhetorical white-hot convention speech that won sion with this full-throated aria extol- power in a single, laser-beam insight. him the nomination: “You shall not ling the blessings that accrue to Britain “The winning formula,” he said, “was press down upon the brow of labor this from free trade: the combination of great flights of crown of thorns; you shall not crucify “At this moment, in every quarter oratory with sudden swoops into the mankind upon a cross of gold.” of the globe, forces are at work to sup- intimate and conversational.” Byran’s incendiary rhetoric ignited ply your necessities and improve your We see this especially in Churchill’s a political prairie fire; he had a real condition. great wartime speeches. chance of becoming president. And “As I speak, men are tending flocks I will quote two brief and familiar he might have made it, but for the on Australian fields and shearing wool examples. intervention of the one politician in which will clothe you during the coming First, his tribute to the RAF dur- America who could out-talk him: Wil- winter. On western lands, men are reap- ing the Battle of Britain in 1940. liam Bourke Cockran. ing grain to supply your daily bread. Churchill said: Cockran was a gold-standard “In mines deep underground, men “The gratitude of every home in Democrat. He opposed cheapening are swinging pickaxes and shovels to our Island, in our Empire, and indeed the currency for the same reason that wrest from the bosom of the Earth the throughout the world … goes out to he opposed tariffs. Both meant higher ores essential to the efficiency of your the British airmen who, undaunted prices for working people, while their industry. by odds, unwearied in their constant wages would stay the same. “Under tropical skies, dusky hands challenge and mortal danger, are turn- Cockran undertook a nationwide are gathering, from bending boughs, ing the tide of the world war by their speaking tour on behalf of the Repub- luscious fruits which in a few days will prowess and by their devotion.” lican candidate, William McKinley. be offered for your consumption in the And then: When McKinley was elected, Cock- streets of London. “Never in the field of human con- ran was called the “Warwick of the Now don’t those rolling sentences flict was so much owed by so many to Democratic Party”—after Warwick remind you of Churchill? so few.” the Kingmaker in medieval England. But in “The Scaffolding of Rhetoric” Second, Churchill’s response He was truly “an independent force in Churchill also talks about simplicity, to President Franklin Roosevelt in

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February of 1941. FDR had sent I began this talk with a quote from The speech was a major news event. Churchill an expression of support Churchill, in which he said of Cockran, Churchill was introduced by the Presi- for Britain. Churchill said: “He was my model.” I did not tell you dent of the United States, Harry S. “We shall not fail or falter; we shall when or to whom Churchill said that. Truman, and his words were broadcast not weaken or tire. Neither the sudden He said it in 1953, at the end of his throughout the whole nation. shock of battle, nor the long-drawn tri- career. And he said it to Adlai Steven- And it was in that speech that he als of vigilance and exertion will wear son. Stevenson had been the Demo- chose to honor the memory of his us down. “ cratic Party’s candidate for president mentor and model. He said this: And then: a year earlier. (He lost to Dwight “I have often used words which I “Give us the tools, and we will finish Eisenhower.) According to Stevenson, learned fifty years ago from a great the job.” Churchill then went on to quote—from Irish-American orator, a friend of Now of course I must acknowledge memory—long passages from speeches mine, Mr. Bourke Cockran. ‘There is that Churchill’s great oratory was the that Cockran had given over half a enough for all. The earth is a gener- product of many influences. century before. ous mother; she will provide in plenti- Churchill had read Gibbon and Ma- But there is even stronger evidence ful abundance food for all her children caulay. He was intimately acquainted of the esteem in which Churchill held if they will but cultivate her soil in with the King James Bible and the Cockran. In 1946, at Westminster justice and in peace.’” plays of Shakespeare. He had memo- College in Fulton, Missouri, Churchill That was Churchill’s favorite quote rized reams of poetry. He had studied gave the single most important of his from Cockran. the speeches of all the great parliamen- post-war addresses. He called it, “The Cockran had told Churchill to tary leaders who had preceded him— Sinews of Peace.” We know it as the imitate Burke—to “master the English Pitt, Burke, Disraeli, Gladstone—and “Iron Curtain” speech: “From Stettin language as a man masters a horse.” his father, Lord Randolph Churchill. in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, Churchill did more than master the He was a journalist; he had an eye for an iron curtain has descended across English language; some said that he detail and a flair for vivid language. the Continent.” “mobilized it and sent it into battle.” He is supposed to have read over 5,000 Churchill had been turned out of Would he have been able to do that books and had a vocabulary of 65,000 Downing Street the previous year. if he had never met Bourke Cockran? words—two or three times as many as He was then leader of the opposi- We’ll never know. We know only this: the average person. tion. But he knew that his speech To the end of his days, Churchill was And yet ………….. in Fulton would put Churchill back conscious that that he owed Cockran a And yet for all that it was Cockran where Churchill knew that Churchill great debt. And, through Churchill, so whom he credited for his prowess as a belonged—smack dab at the center of do we all. speaker. world affairs. Thank you. WINNER: INAUGURAL SPEECH “A Legacy Born of Hope”

By Mark L. Kelly for Elizabeth Davis, Delivered at Furman University, President, Furman University Greenville, S.C., March 19, 2015

hank you, Robert. Charles Tompkins and Gary Mal- Mayor White and Mayor McCall, T What an extraordinary week vern, I kept trying to sneak into the thank you for representing the local this has been. auditorium to hear the prelude selec- communities in which we live and And what an honor to be formally tions. Thank you for setting the tone work. Your spirit and vision are models installed as the President of Furman for our ceremony. Les Hicken and the for us all as we seek to be meaningful University. Wind Ensemble, Hugh Floyd and the partners in the community. I am grateful to each and every Furman Singers, you all are amaz- To my colleagues representing one of you here, and to those who ing. Thank you for stirring our souls sister institutions and societies, are viewing the broadcast on and with your music. And Jay Bocook, thank you for honoring Furman with off campus, that you have come your Gloriana is beautiful and a fitting your presence. Educating a nation, together today to celebrate all that accompaniment for official university indeed the world, is accomplished is extraordinary and wonderful about processions. I’m humbled that it was through the collective energies of in- this University. commissioned for today’s ceremony. stitutions with different missions and

VSOTD.COM 49 competencies to meet the needs of a today, you now know why I am never In each of these courageous mo- variety of learners. in a bad mood when I come to work on ments, Furman discovered newfound Furman Trustees, past and present, this undeniably beautiful campus. strength, bolstered by the confidence we are humbled by your service and Those gates, protected by our of its past achievements, and sustained care for our beloved university. majestic trees and framing a view of by hope for what was yet to come. Faithful Alumni, your enthusiasm the mountains just beyond, reflect an Having survived near-death experi- and love for your alma mater is infec- aesthetic that has inspired talented and ences and crises of conviction, Furman tious. I look forward to strengthening ambitious women and men to seek out was in a position of strength when Da- the ties that bind you to Furman and this distinctive community, challenged vid Shi took the helm. David, then, set bring you home again and again. them to engage in the advancement the course for how—to this day—we Faculty and staff, your dedication to of knowledge, and prepared them to understand a Furman education. our students is inspiring to me, and was depart confidently for lives of pur- In his inaugural address on April 19, one of the most influential reasons that pose—always knowing that they can 1995, exactly one month short of 20 I wanted to be part of this university. return, and alma mater will welcome years ago today, he officially coined the Students, you are a true source of joy them home once again. term “engaged learning.” for me. I am so proud of the ways that Those gates—indeed, this entire His notion, as he said in his remarks you are growing, questioning, challeng- campus—are the legacies of hope… that day, was that engaged learning ing, and enjoying the many opportuni- of the courage and creativity of those would “breach the walls of the ivory ties afforded to you these four years. who came before us. tower stereotype,” giving our students To my dear friends who have The courage and creativity of greater responsibility for their own travelled across the country to be here our founder, Richard Furman, who education, sharpening their self- today, I so appreciate your support and envisioned a classical and theological confidence, and honing leadership and friendship. seminary in South Carolina with a communication skills. And of course, I wouldn’t be here priority of educating ministers. From the moment I arrived on today were it not for the unconditional Of Furman’s son James, the Uni- campus, I have been told, with great love of my family. My brother, Doug- versity’s first President, who when pride, that we were the first university las, my sister-in-law, Mary George, my faced with a national economic crisis to use the term “engaged learning.” It in-laws, Shirley and Cedric—thank that threatened the very existence is a testament to David’s vision, and to you for being here today. And Charles, of the University declared he would the work of the faculty, that the term Chad, and Claire, words cannot ex- “lash himself to the mast and go down engaged learning has been co-opted by press what you mean to me. Thank you with the ship.” nearly every other university in the na- for being co-travelers with me in this Of President John Plyler, who led tion. It kind of reminds me of the song new adventure. the move from our downtown cam- that Barbara Mandrell made famous: I This day—with its pomp and cir- pus—where we had been located since was country when country wasn’t cool. cumstance, its reminders of tradition, 1851—to this site, assessing that the Well, engaged learning is now cool, and and its ceremony rich in symbolism— risks of departing from a campus in the so is country music, much to my dismay! this day is not really about me. heart of Greenville would be countered Two decades after David Shi’s pre- This day is about Furman. by the opportunities to achieve true dis- scient call, we still talk about engaged This day is about Furman and the tinction on a national scale, an abiding learning. It’s the shorthand way we de- many lives it touches, its historic role goal of his predecessors. scribe the web of internships, research, in American higher education, and its Of Gordon Blackwell whose insis- and study away, all conducted within dedication to serving the world at large tence in the face of often unbending the close intellectual partnerships through what has been—and always opposition led to the racial desegre- between faculty and students, that have will be—our greatest hope for progress: gation of the University in 1965, a immeasurably enriched our students’ the education of the mind, and the milestone we have commemorated as a experiences. In my judgment, we still enrichment of the spirit. University community this year. do it better than our imitators. Today is also a day to renew our And the courage of John Johns, who But we need to ask ourselves: What’s commitment to the qualities that have came into office vowing to strengthen next for engaged learning? How do allowed Furman to flourish for nearly ties with the South Carolina Baptists, we continue to breach the walls of the 200 years: but who ultimately decided that the Ivory Tower in an era when educa- Courage. fractiousness born of fundamentalism tion—and liberal arts education in Creativity. would not serve Furman well. Under his particular—is under increasing and Compassion. leadership, the Trustees amended the intense scrutiny for its value and, I And Community. Charter to permit the Board to elect its daresay, its utility? For those of you who passed members, and the convention ultimately As I’ve pondered that question— through our gates for the first time voted to sever ties with Furman. what’s next?—I’ve considered what

CICERO 2016 50 CICERO SPEECHWRITING AWARDS makes sense for Furman. Recently, we classroom, but rather the focus. For We should, as my colleague and friend celebrated a $500,000 gift from Susan much has changed in the world, and Nancy Cantor said in her thoughtful and Alec Taylor to support the en- today’s students have grown up in a and inspiring talk, begin to formalize our gaged learning aspects of our Poverty time markedly different than many of work, and embrace the power of our Studies minor. us experienced. place in this community and our capac- Why do we consider it important Rapid advances in technology, the ity to contribute to meaningful change to offer a minor in Poverty Studies, increasing interconnectedness of na- and the democratic ideal of America. and why is it now the largest and most tions and economies, the rise of terror When I consider the spectrum of popular minor among our students? as a political weapon, and deep-seated minds at work at Furman—faculty and What is in our ethos that drives us to disagreements over ethnic, social and students from the humanities to the sci- develop a national model for innova- cultural mores have created a con- ences to business and the arts—I think tion in sustainability education, with text that is confusing in its pace, and we miss the mark if we do not tap the its cross-disciplinary approach that deeply complex. richness of their expertise, insight, and encompasses the sciences, humanities, Is it any wonder that today’s stu- dedication. We fall short if we fail to social sciences and the fine arts, and in- dents show a marked inclination to create avenues by which our intellec- volves nearly one third of our faculty? volunteer service? Just consider that tual capital can be applied to solve our How have we attracted over 1,400 the Heller Service Corps attracts over common burdens. of the state’s civic, educational, and 1,800 student volunteers every year to However, for public engagement business leaders to the Diversity Lead- its expansive array of community ser- to work, we need shared conviction ers Initiative of the Richard Riley vice programs in the upstate —mak- of mutual benefit. Are we ready to be Institute, whose graduates are making ing it the largest student leadership equal partners in identifying the ques- tangible progress in addressing impor- group on campus. tions worthy of study? Are we ready tant issues of opportunity and econom- Today’s students are seeking mean- to pivot the expectation that engaged ic development in their communities? ing in a world that is fractious. learning is designed to benefit the And how does a leading national So how do we balance the desire to student and focus on the benefit to the liberal arts university sustain a program make a difference with the messiness community? Either way, the student like Bridges to a Brighter Future, which that we face when it comes to the chal- will benefit. The question is, are we is raising the sights of underserved high lenges of the 21st century? Maybe it’s committed to our place, to our com- school students and making the seem- time to move from the idea of service munity? If so, we must change the ingly impossible dream of attending and service learning to equal part- focus of our engaged learning efforts. and graduating from college a reality? nerships and mutual stewardship of I’m not suggesting anything that will And then it became clear. Under- place. Our place is Greenville County. be a problem for our students. Students lying the courage and creativity that Whereas we were once a part of tend to take more pride in their work have previously defined Furman are downtown Greenville, where there was and the outcome when they become an abiding compassion for human- no distinction between where Furman important contributing members of ity and a clear sense that the work of ended and the city began, we should groups working together towards com- Furman University is inextricably tied strive for that same co-existence. mon goals, and ones that will contrib- to community—be it the larger com- My predecessor, Rod Smolla, articu- ute to something much larger than self. munity outside our gates, or our own lated this sentiment in the Vision 2020 To the students who are here today, academic community and its daily Strategic Plan developed four years ago: I challenge you to imagine your own presence in our lives. “The relationship between Furman legacy of engagement—not only at From our very first day, we have and the surrounding community ought Furman, but in whatever endeavor been in the business of hope—the not be articulated as relations between you decide is worthy of your time, and promise of what education coupled “town and gown,” as this phrasing ac- your passion. with a commitment to transforming cents separateness, as if the University The world is full of need, and you lives can accomplish. and the community are neighboring are being equipped with the knowl- So today, we must turn our attention countries. The better imagery is to con- edge and skills to meet challenges. with the same seriousness of purpose, ceive of Furman as an integral part of How you go about it is up to you. But the same courage and compassion, to a complex and vibrant community.” my fervent hope for you is that you the important work of carving out our As this week’s faculty-led series of think beyond yourself. own ambitious legacy. What imprint discussions about Public Engagement There is power in leaving a legacy, will we leave behind for those who fol- have demonstrated, our work in teach- no matter how small it may seem. low us in the next 200 years? ing, research, service and institutional You may leave a legacy of engage- Maybe it’s time to rethink engaged partnerships represents an already rich ment with seven streetlights in the New learning. Not the pieces that enhance tapestry of involvement with the com- Washington neighborhood that makes a student’s education beyond the munity in which we live and work. it safer for residents to walk at night.

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You may leave a legacy in a musical Ultimately, if we are not willing to President Plyler had a vision, and performance that touches the hearts of engage in the fullest sense of our mis- it has been realized. He saw beyond your audience. sion, if we are not willing to imagine the present moment and imagined a You may leave a legacy studying with courage and creativity what University and a campus that would cancer cells in a lab in the Townes Sci- could be, then we have no recourse for serve a world he could not know, a ence Center, work that in some small dissatisfaction with what is. faculty he would never meet, students way advances our understanding and When I arrived at Furman, one of as yet unborn. furthers our search for a cure. my first visitors to the office was John Sixty years ago, he thought about us. You may leave a legacy of engage- Plyler Jr., son of the former President. Vision requires constant tending if ment as a coach or teacher or parent, He told me that his conversations with it is to flourish. Just a month ago, our where your rewards will not be im- his father always focused on Furman’s Trustees approved a long-range plan mediately seen but will without doubt future. In particular, he said that one to replace trees on our Mall that had affect lives. of his father’s dreams for Furman was reached the end of their natural lives. So where’s the courage in all of this? that it would be regarded as one of Their roots were crowded, the canopy As an academic community, we have the most beautiful campuses in the had become a hazard. Pruning was no to agree that public engagement has country. Back in the mid 1950s, that longer an option. value. To do so, we must acknowledge might have been hard for people to Under our plan, we will plant trees that advancing public knowledge is imagine. The campus was in the midst with a life expectancy of 200 years. as valuable as advancing academic of a barren cotton field. Ours is not to know what Furman knowledge. Advancing public knowl- I love that story; and it is a true University will look like two centuries edge is not merely service, it’s scholar- one. There is a letter in the Univer- hence. We will not know the manner ship. It makes a difference today and is sity’s archives, dated May 1955, that of faculty and students who will be no more or less important than basic confirms it. Written by Dr. Plyler engaged in teaching and learning on research for which the benefits often to Richard Webel, a noted landscape this campus, nor the subjects of their have a longer horizon. architect and arborist from New inquiry and discernment. And that means bucking a trend York, the letter discusses landscap- All we can hope is that as they pass in higher education. As scholars for ing and new plantings, and President through those front gates, they will whom teaching is both an impera- Plyler wrote: be inspired by the same beauty that tive and a passion, we are in the best “We should make general plans inspires us today, and reminded that position to demonstrate the applicabil- for the location of from 5,000 to theirs is an inheritance of courage and ity of theory to practice. We cannot 10,000 trees and then emphasis could compassion that forever remains the be content to let others interpret the be placed on which trees should be hallmark of a place called Furman. results of our academic scholarship or planted first.” He went on to list spe- What a legacy we have an inherited. try to scale innovation in an unin- cific species that would provide beauty A legacy born of hope. formed fashion. and instructional opportunities. Thank you. WINNER: MOTIVATIONAL SPEECH “Lullabies on the 4 Train”

Written and delivered by Tommy Fernandez, Delivered at DeVry University Keller Graduate owner & Speechwriter, Y&R Communications School of Management, New York City, N.Y., Feb. 24, 2015

y parents sang lullabies to me on Ridiculous. Honored Toastmaster, in the Bronx. It is the 1970s. Two kids Mthe 4-train. guests and judges. I want to sing to with a loud baby get on-and-off the DaDa Da DaDa, Da Da Da. you my ridiculous lullaby. Because trains to-and-from Manhattan. For me, it was magic. Straphangers people will sometimes tell you your When the door closes {Act out], turned into dancers. The ratta-tat-tat dream is impossible. That your dream they start to sing. The baby’s favorite of the train wheels became drums. is as ridiculous as singing to a baby on is “Bridge over Troubled Water,” by The conductor on the fuzzy intercom, the subway. Well, my parents taught Simon & Garfunkel. a clarinetist {“Next stop Wha-Wha- me that sometimes, ridiculous can be “When you’re down and out. Feel- Wha”]. brave. ing small.” Some riders sang along. “This is The train doors of this musical open The song quiets the baby. He starts ridiculous,” others said. {Act out} at the 167th Street station to nod with the ratta-tat-tat of the

CICERO 2016 52 CICERO SPEECHWRITING AWARDS train wheels. He smiles at the danc- chemistry tests. DaDa Da DaDa. He Ridiculous. Ridiculous. Silly things ing straphangers. He closes his eyes spins on office chairs as Mom punches can be brave. by the refrain, “Sail on Silver Girl.” little holes in program cards for giant Ivan and Milagros Fernandez sing Ratta-tat-tat. “Sail on By.” In the tun- office computers. He watches Mom Simon & Garfunkel to that boy for over nel under the Harlem River, the baby run a supermarket cash register and five years on the subway. And that train imagines the violins. Da Da Da Da! Dad translate Spanish for doctors. Da ride leads to others. He falls asleep. Da Da Da! [Act out door] Madison Square Ridiculous! What parents sing lul- No one approves. Friends, neigh- Garden, they graduate. [Act out door] labies on the subway? Poor ones with bors, professors, bosses, even strang- Union Street and 4th Avenue, they buy big dreams. ers on the street walking little dogs. a house.. [Act out door]. Cranbury, Dad gets haircuts once a year. His [Act out shaking finger.] ”Ridiculous. New Jersey, they buy a farm. only shoes are the combat boots that Ridiculous.” “See how they shine!” took him through Vietnam. Mom sews Here’s where ridiculous can be Your dreams may not belong on her own coats, with buttons all over the brave. other people’s subway maps. They may place, and saves for a month to buy the With a silly song, you can laugh off seem ridiculous. But which is more Dad four White Castle burgers. the scary days. Like when the land- ridiculous, dreaming or doing nothing? With no money for babysitters, they lord once cut the heat and flooded the Here is the sound of doing nothing. take the baby everywhere. And they apartment. DaDa Da DaDa. Or when [Hold hand to one ear, and then the sing to him. Dad had to sell textbooks for food. Sail other] The boy gets frightened by heroin on By! And here is the sound of something addicts in the neighborhood, always With a silly song, the ridiculous can ridiculous. Please sing with me. swaying, never falling. DaDa Da beat the impossible. When a commu- “Sail on Silver Girl. Sail on By!” DaDa. He cries when he hears the nity college tries to close night school Anything you do, anything you pop-pop of firecrackers down the for Mom, Dad and hundreds of other dream, will always be more beautiful street. The parents know they aren’t students, they protest and put the boy than the silence of doing nothing. firecrackers. {Act out gun.] Sail on By on stage during a demonstration. The This is your life. This is your train They sing to him through at least toddler screams [Raise fist] “Sail on ride. What will you sing on it? five jobs and three community col- Silver Girl!” I hope it’s ridiculous. leges. The boy draws space ships on That college maintains night courses {Act out closing door] chalkboards as Pappa takes organic to this day. Thank you ladies and gentlemen. WINNER: STATE OF THE INSTITUTION SPEECH “Purpose and Northwestern Mutual”

By Mark Lucius for John Schlifske, Delivered at Annual Meeting of Network Representatives, Chairman & CEO, Northwestern Mutual Milwaukee, Wis., July 20, 2015

ood morning, everyone. Thanks And for me, I also get in a little being the sportsman I am, I follow Ted Gfor being here. Wow! golf as a way to reconnect with some into the woods to help him look for the Welcome to Milwaukee, and wel- of you. ball. Well, we were there for about two come to the 2015 Annual Meeting. It is This year was no different. In fact, I or three minutes and weren’t having so great to see all of you here. For my was playing golf with your FRA presi- any success, so Ted said, “John, I don’t wife, Kim, and me, this is one of the dent, Ted Sangalis. I am a competitive know if we’re going to find it. Go back, highlights of our summer. person, and we were playing for a little hit your ball. When you’re done, if I We look forward to the chance to money on the side. Our match was tied haven’t found it, I’ll declare my ball lost reconnect with so many of you at this going into the last hole. and concede the match.” meeting. I think that’s one of the best I had the first shot, so I hit my drive. So I go back out to the fairway and parts about this meeting—the way we For me, pretty good, about 240, 250 hit my shot. It’s a workmanlike shot. connect with one another. And there yards down the middle of the fairway. Lands short of the green, kind of drib- are so many ways to connect. The race Not bad. Ted gets up, and he hooks his bles on. I’m 40 or 50 feet away and just yesterday morning. The garden party ball across the fairway way into the left as I’m getting ready to move down the last night. The company show on Tues- trees and tall grass. So at this point I’m course, I hear Ted yell from the woods, day. And all the meetings in between. thinking I’m in pretty good shape, but “I found it.” A couple seconds later, I

VSOTD.COM 53 see this incredible shot fly through a want to talk about today, this nobility whole life policy from another major gap in the woods, land on the green, of purpose that that helps us do great mutual.” (Anyone want to guess where bounce once or twice, and roll up an things together. that company is headquartered?) “I inch or two away from the cup. I believe we can sum up our purpose discovered that that company was So now I have a moral dilemma. in three concepts. One is our identity, providing a higher dividend to new Do I pull Ted’s ball out of my who we are. The second is where we’re policies than older policies. I concluded pocket, and tell him he hit the wrong going as a company, our vision for our that that company was serving its best one? Or do I give him the point and future. Lastly, it’s our culture; what interests, not mine. I thank you and concede the match? What would you separates us from every other company Northwestern Mutual for your long- do in that situation? in our industry. term commitment to treating everyone I’m kidding. It wasn’t in my pocket. When we talk about our identity, the same.” I kicked it in the water when no one we have to start with mutuality. For us, This is what I mean about mutual- was looking. mutuality isn’t simply a form of owner- ity. For us, it’s like the golden rule. We No. I tell that story simply to point ship. It defines who we are. It perme- treat our policyowners the way we to something, and that’s the competi- ates every decision we make. It’s impos- would like to be treated ourselves. tiveness of our field force. It’s some- sible to attend a meeting in the Home Another aspect of our identity is our thing I admire about you. You are so Office without hearing somebody ask financial strength. We are the strongest competitive. You compete with each the question, what’s in the best interest company in the industry. Now, I know other for awards, honors and ribbons. of our policyowners? I talk about this all the time, and some You compete with yourselves for your Now, mutuality takes different forms of you are probably saying “Yeah, personal goals every year. And you in how we run our business. But one yeah, yeah, I’ve heard it all before.” certainly compete with the home of- we don’t we get enough credit for is But we cannot forget what that means. fice in the Roots and Wings Run, in the way we treat policyowners. It’s the Standing here on this stage, in July golf, in whatever. fact that we give equitable treatment 2015, I can assure you that Northwest- But underlying that competitiveness to all policyowners—whether they ern Mutual has never been stronger. is our sense of reliance on each other. bought policies 30, 40, or 50 years ago. You can look at our assets, our invest- It’s a friendly competition. There’s a Or whether they’re part of an unborn ment portfolio, our reserves, our capital huge amount of respect in it. And this generation that will someday become ratios, our business model—everything underlying respect, loyalty and integ- policyowners. Plain and simple, we comes together to make Northwest- rity we have with each other has been treat all policyowners the same. ern Mutual the strongest company in part of our company for years. Now, that’s not true for a lot of com- the industry. And I made that point If you consider the very first annual panies. They “wall off” old business. recently to Moody’s Investors Services, meeting of your association, in 1877, They create closed blocks of business one of the major credit rating agencies and you look at the meeting notes from to move aside old policyowners so they we deal with. that meeting, you’ll see they talked can treat new policyowners better. I Every few years, we to go to New about the “inseparable community of was reminded of that recently in a let- York to meet with the entire Moody’s interest” that exists between the home ter I got from a major policyowner. rating committee, and this was one of office and field. That got me thinking This person has been a policyowner those years. We were in the midst of that there must be something about of Northwestern Mutual going on 50 our annual review, and in that meet- the home office and field together that years, with cash value well into the six ing I made the point that our goal creates this “inseparable community of figures. He saw an article in a financial as a company is to be the strongest interest.” And I believe it springs from publication. The article quoted some- company in the industry, bar none. our common purpose. one many of you know, a man named At a break, one of the senior leaders This year, as I’ve been going around Peter Katt. Now, Peter is perhaps the at Moody’s took me aside and said, meeting with you, I’ve asked many of leading fee-based insurance adviser in “That’s quite a bold statement, John. you, why do you come to the Annual the industry. He can’t sell our products, I’ve never heard another CEO say Meeting each year? What is it about of course, but he has a high regard for something like that.” this meeting that brings you and your Northwestern Mutual. Of course, I pointed out that is family to Milwaukee year after year, In this particular article, Peter was because we are the strongest company, decade after decade? talking about how Northwestern Mutu- and no other CEO can say something The most frequent answer you share al treats all policyowners equitably. So like that. with me is that it helps you reconnect this policyowner wrote me a letter, and But I also pointed out that we are to why you’re in the business—and I want to read it for you right now. not strong simply for the sake of being why you work with Northwestern Mu- He writes, “Dear Mr. Schlifske: strong; we’re strong because our finan- tual. It creates and defines the purpose Equitable treatment is important to cial strength helps us make an unwav- in your working lives. That’s what I me. Many years ago, I surrendered a ering commitment to our promises.

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We never let our financial situation in the United States and the envy of So there you have it. That’s our get in the way of doing what’s right. our industry. identity. The strongest company sell- And we never let profits get in the The final aspect of our identity is ing the best products through the best way of keeping our promises to our the strength of our products. We have salesforce in America—all to benefit policyowners. the best long-term product values of our policyowners. Nothing about that That is what I explained to Moody’s, any company in the industry, and it’s is ever going to change. and that’s also why I like to say: We are been that way for a very long time. What is changing is how we interact the company for all economic seasons. (IMAGE) with our clients. Whether economic times are good, bad, I’ll bet nobody in the room knows I was talking with one of your or in between, your company keeps its who this person is. And no, it’s not a colleagues, a 30-year veteran of your promises and thrives. young Ron Joelson. (Sorry about that, field force, a perennial Forum qualifier, (IMAGE) Ron.) No. This is a man named A.J. and he told me, John, I wish I could The New York Times recently ran Flitcraft. Besides being very comfort- start all over again. I’d put up with all an article about “Risky moves in the able with facial hair, A.J. is known for the hassles of business as a young rep, game of life insurance.” While your something else. building my practice, meeting clients, company is getting stronger and stron- A.J. Flitcraft was the father of all to be able to be young—and have ger, the rest of the industry is getting dividend illustration history summaries. this future. He said, “This is the most weaker and weaker. Back in 1927, he began the process of exciting time I’ve ever seen to be at The article reports how many of analyzing the dividend performance Northwestern Mutual.” our major industry competitors are of all major life insurance companies. And I couldn’t agree with him more. doing things with their reserves and Over the years that task has gravitated Our future is so bright, and there are capital to weaken them—to prop up from Flitcraft to A.M. Best to the many reasons why that’s true. ridiculous pricing on indexed universal Blease Report and now to LIMRA. Take demographics. From a demo- life policies or to drive more profitabil- But despite all those changes over graphic perspective, the market oppor- ity to shareholders in the low-interest- that time, one thing is a constant. And tunity is outstanding for your company. rate environment. But I can tell you that’s the performance of the best (IMAGE) one thing: if everyone else is getting company, Northwestern Mutual. Look at this graph. This shows the weaker, we’re getting stronger. And (IMAGE) breakdown in age of the U.S. popula- that’s also a key part of our identity. Take a look at this chart. This shows tion, oldest on top, youngest on the (IMAGE) the 20-year actual histories from 1927 bottom. And what you see at the top is A third aspect of our identity is to 2013, and it shows the number of the boomer generation, those people be- our exclusive distribution system—all times our major competitors have tween the ages of 51 and 69. There are of you. As you know, we only sell our ranked first in that study. 74 million of them in the United States, products through you, the Northwestern You’ll see one competitor ranked and they get most of the attention. Mutual Financial Network. This is our first eight times. A second, twice. Big But here’s what I love about this commitment to you, and the reason doughnut for a third competitor. But chart: Look at the millennial popula- we invest so heavily in you. We invest look at your company—76 out of 86 tion, people between the ages of 19 tens of millions of dollars each year on times. Now, you know what I like best and 37. It’s actually a bigger age cohort systems, product upgrades, training and about this chart? We ranked first in than the boomer generation. And technology, all to ensure that you are the 1927, the first year this survey was what’s really intriguing about this is best-equipped, most competitive field done, and we ranked first the last year that few companies are paying atten- force in the United States. this survey was done. And we ranked tion to the millennials. Every now and then, I get a ques- first 74 times in between. (IMAGE) tion from an industry analyst or That’s a winning percentage of 88%. You may have seen the article in somebody who doesn’t really know our Think of your favorite sports dynas- Bloomberg Business, all about how business. They ask me, John, outside of ties, the Yankees, Celtics, Bulls, Packers. everyone in our industry is chasing the exclusive distribution, what is Plan B? None of them have come close to that baby boom generation. They noted I always tell them, there is no kind of a winning percentage. that “Financial advisers just don’t care Plan B. And you’ve heard me say before: in about millennials.” The boomer gen- Folks, not only are you Plan A, corporate America, the best predictor eration is where the money is, so that’s you are also Plan B, C, D and so on. of future results is your track record. where everyone is going. But nobody For us, this commitment to you pays Track record, track record, track re- sees the potential, the income, the as- big dividends. It creates an incredible cord. And with a track record like this, sets, the pure growth inherent in the loyalty between the home office and is there any doubt who the best per- millennial generation. the field. I believe it is one reason why forming company will be in the future? Ignoring millennials is not true you’re the most productive field force Not in my mind there isn’t. of Northwestern Mutual. When we

VSOTD.COM 55 recently bought LearnVest, and I was looking for someone to help them find planning are significantly more produc- on the media circuit, several reporters the way to financial security. tive than people who don’t. asked me if the reason for the acqui- You’ve heard me talk about the And what I think is best about this sition was to get “a toehold” in the nagging gap that exists in the indus- is it doesn’t matter where you are in millennial market. I told them no, it’s try—the gap between what people your career. The data is equally com- not. As a matter of fact, the average need, and what others are offering. pelling whether you’re an under-five- new Northwestern Mutual customer Most companies in our marketplace year rep or whether you’re a veteran is younger than the average LearnVest are offering either product solutions or and have been in business for more customer. investment-only solutions. As a result, than five years. (IMAGE) consumers in America are feeling frus- This is why we say we’re at the center In fact, look at the breakdown of trated and vulnerable. They don’t quite together. Nobody is approaching the our new clients last year. This shows know why, but they know they’re not marketplace like us. Nobody is holisti- Northwestern Mutual’s new clients in financially secure. cally integrating insurance and invest- 2014. Now, think what you bring to the ments with trusted advice and enabling Forty-three percent of our new cli- picture. You help all these families technology—all on a platform of finan- ents were millennials—those between build confidence, and you do it in cial strength and product values. the ages of 18 and 34. two important ways. First, you bring This isn’t just about the best getting Sixty percent of our new clients discipline into the equation. You help better. This is about the best creating were under the age of 35. people reduce their vulnerability to the future. And you know and I know the risk. But you also do something else. So I’ve talked about our identity and beauty of this is we’re going to main- You bring foresight into the equation. our vision. But ultimately, it all comes tain these people as clients for 10, 20, You help people plan, save and manage down to our culture, what separates 30, 50, even 70 years. their money to achieve these goals. us from every other company. And I So while every other company is off Now, you know how important believe you can sum up the culture at chasing the boomer generation, our planning is to our business model. But I Northwestern Mutual with four words: business model works great across all can tell you one thing. You’re not going Do the right thing. life cycles. to be able to read a financial publica- We do the right thing. Our goal is to And the best part about this mil- tion about individual investors without be first in benefits, not first in size. lennial mix is diversity. Our focus on hearing about planning. Planning is We brag about paying claims, multicultural markets is creating a becoming the new buzz word. while many companies are using lapse customer base that’s more diverse than (IMAGE) rates and other things to avoid paying it’s very been in our history. That’s why There was a sarcastic article about claims. But we proudly step up to the I like to say that millennials are the a broker-dealer recently. The headline plate to make sure our policyowners foundation of your company’s future. was about a company “discovering and clients get what we promised them. (IMAGE) goals-based advice (and thinking Do the Right Thing But the future of your company goes it’s new.”) If you look at that article, Now, in preparing this speech, I well beyond demographics. It extends basically what they were saying is came across a recent claim story that I to the sheer size of the market. All that company is simply repackaging believe is special, and I want to share available research on the United States their investment advice and calling it with you. One of your colleagues, a marketplace shows us that there are it planning. It is neither holistic nor representative out of Chicago, Chuck about 40 million U. S. families who are comprehensive. Volpentesta, was working in the north- either uninsured or underinsured, who This is where we stand out. Our ern Indiana market. He came across a are interested in buying insurance, and business model is built on the holistic prospect named Luis. Luis had just got- who have either the income and/or integration of insurance and invest- ten back from the Marines in Afghani- assets with which to make a purchase. ments—all on a robust planning chassis. stan, was in his late twenties and had That’s 40 million families, about 6,000 (IMAGE) three daughters. families for each and every representa- And we know that planning leads to Luis was about to join the Gary, In- tive in this room. Think about that. results. This chart shows the difference diana fire department. He decided he There’s nothing about the marketplace in productivity gains between planners wanted to take out a policy on his life that’s holding you or your company and non-planners. We know that in our for the protection of his daughters— back. It’s right there for the taking. system, representatives who use plan- for $500,000. In the context of putting But there’s another part of our ning daily are significantly more pro- that policy together and submitting the future that’s even more important ductive than representatives who don’t. application, a few issues arose on the than market availability, and that is Look at the data. Whether you’re talk- medical part of his application. the simple fact that people need you. ing about new clients, repeat clients or When we shared the issues with People need what you do. They are total compensation, people engaged in three of our reinsurance companies,

CICERO 2016 56 CICERO SPEECHWRITING AWARDS three out of four turned it down flat. our promises to ourselves, all of you reach out to as many of those 40 mil- They would not issue a policy to Luis. and our policyowners. lion families as humanly possible to The fourth company rated him with So there you have it. Purpose at make sure they’re protected and well- a substantially higher premium. And Northwestern Mutual. Who we are, positioned for the future. when Luis heard this, he said: I still where we’re going and how we think, That’s what separates you and want to get life insurance. But I can’t act and live each day. So I want to Northwestern Mutual from every other afford $500,000. I’ll apply to get a return to those questions I asked you at company. While our competitors are $250,000 policy. the beginning of my talk. expanding overseas, building their asset But Chuck and his team did not Why do you do what you do, and management services, or buying retire- give up. They kept working, trying to why do you do it with Northwestern ment plan businesses, we are focused find a way to get Luis the full coverage Mutual? I think I know the answer. I on individuals. he needed, $500,000 of life insurance. think it’s the same reason so many of We’re focused on families. And In the middle of all this, a tragedy you have signed up for the 100 Lives together with those of us at the occurred. Luis was murdered in his Challenge, that commitment to write home office, you will reach out to hometown of Gary. 100 lives between now and next year’s everyone you possibly can—one by Now, for every other company in annual meeting. one, life by life. our marketplace, I believe that would It’s because you know that bad So yes, you are in the right profes- have been the end of the story. After things happen to good people. sion. Yours is a noble profession, and all, the case was unresolved. The rein- And you also know that if those people need you now more than ever. surers had turned it down—or rated it people work with you, in the face And yes, you are with the right com- highly. Luis had mentioned that maybe of tragedy, you can look at their fam- pany, because your company will make he’d take a lesser amount of insurance. ily members and tell them—you are sure you can deliver what you promised But we resumed our efforts, work- going to be okay. to your clients. ing aggressively with the reinsurance Remember those 40 million families So that’s our future, working company. And eventually, we issued a I mentioned, the 40 million who are together, reaching out to every family policy for $500,000 on a man who who underinsured or uninsured? we can to make sure they are finan- was deceased—and immediately paid They don’t know what to do. They cially secure. a death benefit to his family. Now his don’t know who to see. They don’t So go out there and help all of daughters have had trust funds set up, know where to go. Many don’t even those families enjoy the journey. And so they can go to college. know they need you. while you’re at it, have a great annual This is why I say our culture is Folks, that’s your opportunity. In meeting. special. We do the right thing. We keep fact, I’d say that’s your obligation—to Thanks everybody. I appreciate it.

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