August 27, 2008

Because my day job includes writing speeches and coaching speakers, media contacted me about Hillary's speech last night. My take was that she showed that the power of the speech is not dead in this digital age.

Through her speech, she accomplished plenty, including:

1. Like Al Gore, she transformed adversity into a new identity. That speech demonstrated that she had finally found her independent voice.

2. Resurrected a dying campaign. If the Democrats can handle themselves as well as Hillary did, then, hey, we'll give them a shot.

3. Moved the Democrats from the vestiges of JFK, especially the tone, content and gestures of the Kennedy-era rhetoric.

Based on how Hillary used to present herself on her feet and how she did last night, attorneys might find it useful to invest in assessing their rhetorical skills and having the courage to even adopt a new advocacy persona. There's one thing more: Adversity is increasingly proving to give those suffering major career setbacks a fresh competitive edge.