The aphorism "a picture is worth a thousand words" has become part of the collective imagination to the point of being taken as an axiom about the power of the audiovisual media, which is attributed with a capacity for impact far superior to that of the simple written or spoken word.
What not everyone knows is that the ingenious phrase was a slogan created in 1921 by the American publicist Frederick R. Barnard to promote the benefits of the advertising posters that his agency produced.To give it more prestige and credibility, Barnard even dressed up his creation as a proverb, attributing to it a supposedly completely invented oriental origin. But a more critical analysis is enough to reveal the trap of this commercial trickery.
And the fact is that, although the slogan was originally inserted in a striking visual advertisement, it’s not the images but its (not a thousand, but only seven) words, the impeccable efficiency of its construction in a round, resonant and eloquent sentence, which has ended up being passed down to posterity.
What am I going to read about in this article?
Throughout history, many great orators have tried to transform reality through the power of words. From Martin Luther King's famous "I have a dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington in 1963, to Steve Jobs' "Your time is limited, so don't waste it living the lives of others" at Stanford's commencement ceremony in 2005, leaders of all ages and geographies have used their oratory skills to stir consciences, guide thoughts and mobilise wills. If spoken language is such a powerful weapon, it is because, although it may sometimes appear to be so, it’s not neutral. The choice of terms that make up a speech, its tone, its cadence, its nuances, are always intentional and involve an initial subversive action by the sender of the message through words.
The semantic load of a sentence is emphasised, nuanced, softened or exaggerated for a purpose that’s not always transparent to the audience. Thus, companies restructure or promote, armies invade or intervene, and people persuade or manipulate depending on who’s sending the message and the effect they want to generate in the audience.
But what makes a person a great speaker, what skills give them the power to transform the world through words? In fact, the formula was already enunciated by Aristotle 2,300 years ago in his Rhetoric, the famous treatise on persuasion through language. A recipe that is as effective today when it comes to garnering thousands of likes for the video of a TEDx talk broadcast on social networks as it was when it was used to captivate the audience from a tribune in the Athenian agora in the 3rd century BC. According to Aristotle, there are three keys to effective or "persuasive" communication.
The first of these is what Plato's disciple called ethos, which is related to the speaker's prestige and credibility; a communicator with ethos generates confidence in his audience, who are willing to listen attentively and with an open mind to what he has to say. The second element of this virtuous formula is logos, which is related to the content of the message, to the speaker's ability to argue coherently and effectively. Finally, pathos is the speaker's ability to convey his speech eloquently and to arouse the emotions of his audience, with his pauses, with his voice inflections, with the passion with which he says what he says; a speaker with pathos manages to connect intimately with his audience beyond the content.
These three elements of persuasive communication must work together harmoniously, so that if one of them fails, the whole speech falls apart. But the recipe, while excellent, isn’t enough to guarantee success. It requires refined technique, a lot of practice, a personal and recognisable style and truth, a lot of truth. Authenticity is key. Millions of people have failed and continue to do so every day in their attempt to convince the masses with memorised, impostured, blunt, hypocritical speeches, full of platitudes or lacking in conviction.
There’s one environment in particular where mastery of public speaking is especially important: business. In an age dominated by technology, oral communication skills are the key differentiator for any self-respecting business leader. In today's business, a leader's success is not only measured in terms of financial performance or the stock market value of the company's shares, but also on his or her ability to convey the company's purpose, mission, vision and values in a credible, effective and exciting way, and on his or her ability to guide his or her team and bring people together around a common goal.
This ability to inspire others and push them to pursue a better version of themselves is achieved mainly through two tools: example and words.
That ability to inspire others and push them to pursue a better version of themselves is achieved, mainly through two tools: example and words. Gone are the days when leaders had to be infallible and have all the answers. Now, what’s expected of them is empathy, the humility to recognise mistakes, the shrewdness to ask good questions and consistency between what they say and what they do. The best speakers in history have been those who’ve been able to skilfully handle the who, what and how elements of Aristotelian persuasion, though not in a canonical or unique way, but adapting it to personality and circumstances. Fortunately, there’s an abundance of references who have left memorable lessons from which today's business leaders can learn. Some of them are:
- The undisputed moral leadership of civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. was reinforced by a powerful oratory, full of metaphors and images that inflamed his audience and allowed them to envision a more just and egalitarian world not as a utopia, but as a legitimate aspiration worth fighting for.
- Less theatrical than Reverend King but no less impressive, Nelson Mandela disarmed even his fiercest detractors with his serenity, his charisma and a genuine conciliatory spirit unbecoming of a man who had spent 27 years in prison for defending his ideas.
- Steve Jobs was the undisputed king of business speeches. His short, punchy phrases have inspired and awakened the entrepreneurial spirit of millions of people. The iconic co-creator of Apple dominated the stage like no one else and was the creator of a format (dressed casually, in jeans and a T-shirt, and in a minimalist setting except for the technological elements) that has been imitated ad nauseam and is still the standard for product presentations today.
- Pakistani activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai is one of the great contemporary speakers. A survivor of a Taliban attack for defending the right to education for girls, her style is characterised by simplicity and the absence of artifice. Her themes abound in fundamental values such as peace, justice and gender equality, which she conveys with clarity and great authenticity.
At a time in history dominated by transparency and over-information, mastering the art and science of business storytelling can be as powerful a competitive advantage as innovation, price, logistics or product quality. And in that struggle for the best storytelling, the spoken word will always be a far more powerful weapon than any other resource invented by mankind - in essence, a tool of inspiration and hope. In the business world, when used with authenticity and coherence, the spoken word becomes an engine of transformation capable of generating more humane, innovative and goal-oriented organisations.
Ramón Oliver is a journalist specialising in employment, economics and sustainability, topics he has covered for outlets such as El País, El Economista, OK Diario and Capital Humano. He currently contributes to Vozpópuli, La Vanguardia and Ethic Magazine, and is the editor of the specialist website MetaEmpleo.