The forgotten art of the leader who actually thinks

Mark Carney, the Prime Minister of Canada, wrote his much-discussed speech for the latest WEF gathering in Davos himself. That’s news, sadly enough…

Stephen Bush of the Financial Times recently devoted a column to it. His observation: the Canadian Prime Minister turns out to be better not only at central banking, campaigning and ice hockey than Bush himself, he can also write. Annoying.

But Bush makes a more fundamental point. A point I see confirmed time and again in my work.

Ask me what lies at the heart of leadership, and I’ll name three things:

One: surround yourself with the best people for the work that needs to be done.

Two: formulate a clear, compact vision with that team. Why does this organisation exist? What do we deliver? For whom?

Three, and this is where it often goes wrong: tell the story. To everyone. Internally, externally. What are we doing, why, when, and with what result?

This third task is systematically underestimated.

In his article, Bush dissects British Prime Minister (for now?) Keir Starmer with surgical precision. Starmer did not write his two most important speeches of the past year himself. Worse still: he later distanced himself from them in conversations with his biographer.

The result? A government without direction. Civil servants who don’t govern but manage relationships. Nobody knows what the boss actually wants.

Compare that with Trump, whose chaotic, rancorous speeches precisely mirror how his government functions. Or rather: doesn’t function. Staff are left guessing what he wants. The results speak for themselves.

In short, you don’t need to write every speech yourself. Margaret Thatcher had playwright Ronald Millar who crafted her speeches. But the core, the skeleton, the direction, those came from her.

Bush puts it thus: a good leader needn’t constantly tell people what to do. They must, first and foremost, be able to anticipate what good work looks like. And the larger and more complex your organisation, the more important it becomes that people understand what you want, without having to ask.

Speeches are one of the most powerful instruments for achieving this. Whether it’s a formal address, a monthly update, a Slack message or a newsletter.

By all means, let ChatGPT polish your text. Ask a colleague for feedback. But the first draft? That must come from your own head. From your own vision. From what you want your organisation to do and understand.

Not every CEO needs to quote classical philosophers. But every leader must be able to point a direction that others can follow.

Or, in Bush’s words: “What truly makes a good speech is one that people can read and then go out into the world with a better understanding of what their leader expects them to do.”

Do feel welcome to exchange thoughts on finding and selecting the right people around you. Or to discuss your own development.

Warm regards,

Aegeus