How political and corporate speech will change in a polarized future
Kate Childs-Graham used to keep a Post-it note on her computer with Monroe’s Motivated Sequence on it. Developed in the 1930s by Alan Monroe, it’s a rhetorical pattern seen in speeches going back to biblical times. Some aspects of political speechwriting are timeless. Others are changing a lot. KCG, as most know her, writes for political and corporate leaders as executive director of West Wing Writers. When she thinks about the future, she’s thinking about how to reach and influence today’s and tomorrow’s splintered audiences.
Matt Carmichael: What’s changing as people get used to content in shorter forms online rather than full-length speeches?
Kate Childs-Graham: I don't know that it changes what I do, but it definitely changes what happens after. You have this whole speech, and as you're writing, you are thinking about different arguments, stories, elements and soundbites that could be pulled out and reused by the digital team online. You don’t always know the line that’s going to hit.
Carmichael: What are some of the go-to tools in your tool kit as a political speechwriter?
KCG: Professor Alan Monroe analyzed how historical speeches are they structured. How are they persuading folks? They all had these common elements: You get the audience's attention at the top. You talk about a need or a problem that needs to change. You talk about a solution. You have a call to action.
For millennia, orators and then speechwriters, as that became a profession, have been using this sequence. As the art of persuasion evolves, there are different ways and different kinds of tools in the toolbox to use. I often think about story, soundbites and statistics.
Carmichael: What are some important considerations as you put together a speech?
KCG: Knowing your audience is important — not at a surface level, but really a deep level. You're there to lay out a solution — and to do that, you need to know how they see the problem. That really informs the art of persuasion, by not phoning it in on that research. The best speeches know people deeply.
Carmichael: Politicians are seen as untrustworthy. How do you overcome that as a speechwriter?
KCG: I have been on a quest for 20 years to make sure that every fact in a speech has three sources. Every speech is run through a plagiarism checker to ensure that it's authentic and bulletproof. A key to building trust is honesty.
Another form of honesty is authenticity. The most important thing for authenticity isn’t making sure that a speech sounds like a particular speaker. The most important thing is that it thinks like the speaker.
The best speeches know people deeply.”
Carmichael: How so?
KCG: Everybody has a different way of forming an argument, whether they’re a politician, a parent trying to persuade a child to do their homework, or a person at a community meeting trying to persuade neighbors that they need a stop sign.
Carmichael: President Trump has a style he calls the “weave,” which doesn’t follow any traditional techniques but is persuasive to his audience. How?
KCG: That form of speaking doesn't speak to everyone. It speaks to some audiences, but not all audiences. The election proved we're a very divided nation. I also think of other recent political speakers like Bernie Sanders, who was able to hit a different chord and speak to similar audiences in a way that was unimpeachable but was really authentic.
Carmichael: Is it different trying to persuade supporters versus a general or opposition audience?
KCG: There's no such thing as a general audience anymore. We are so siloed and targeted. That being said, the strategy is basically the same. You meet people where they're at, and you take them where you need them to go. I think of it in terms of parenting. If I were to ask my child, who's 13, to do the taxes, that would be unreasonable. That’s bringing him too far. But if I ask him to do his laundry, he can do that. You want to take the audience to where you need them to go, but where they can go reasonably.
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