Martin Luther King (2)

Martin Luther King

Martin Luther King was shot dead on April 4 1968 at the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee by James Earl Ray, but his personality, the fire in his words and the vividness of his speech changed America. Such was the power of his oratory (such as his famous address of August 1963) that, today, few cities in that great country do not have either a street or square named after him.

Communication is about nothing but effect. So we start and end by understanding our audience, knowing what the desired end result is, what we are trying to achieve. And we plan our communication, the language we use, the timing, the highs and lows, the length, the sound and, above all, the imagery, so that we achieve the effect we want in the perception of our audiences. We plan, so that we speak in a way they will hear, will see, will feel.

Here are some observations that have been made about King’s speech and quoted by James Kouzes and Barry Posner in their book on leadership ("The Leadership Challenge" Kouzes & Posner: Jossey–Bass 1995):

  • "It was vivid. He used a lot of images and word pictures. You could see the examples."
  • "People could relate to the examples. They were familiar to them – for example, the spirituals."
  • "His references were credible. It’s hard to argue against the Constitution and the Bible."
  • "He talked about traditional values of family, church, country."
  • "He mentioned children – something we can all relate to."
  • "He appealed to common bonds."
  • "He knew his audience."
  • "He made geographical references to places the people in the audience could relate to."
  • "He included everybody: different parts of the country, all ages, both sexes, major religions."
  • "He used a lot of repetition: for example, ‘I have a dream,’ ‘Let freedom ring." "He was positive nd hopeful."
  • "He talked about hope for the future, but he also said people might have to suffer in order to get there. He didn’t promise it would be easy." "There was a cadence and a rhythm to his voice."
  • "He shifted from ‘I’ to ‘we’ halfway through."
  • "He spoke with emotion and passion. It was deeply felt."
  • "He was personally convinced of the dream."

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