Smash it like Schwarzy
Not many people represent success as well as Arnold Schwarzenegger. The award-winning bodybuilder conquered Hollywood, governed California and now advocates climate action across the globe. The “Austrian Oak”’s keynotes as well as social media posts went viral, showing that we can learn more from him than just pumping iron.
A motivating tone
How many views can the recording of a seminar get? In 2018, Schwarzenegger gave a motivational speech that people watched over 100 million times. He encouraged the audience to chase their dreams and accomplish them with the help of a set of rules that guided him throughout his life.
Arnie’s five rules of success
Find your vision.
Never think small.
Ignore the nay-sayers.
Work your ass off.
Don’t just take.
Although he is not the first person to give this advice, he illustrates each point well with concrete examples from his career. For instance, people in the gym once asked him why he did not eff and blind but smiled when lifting weights. Arnold said that he had a clear vision making the pain fade away. The joy resulted from him knowing that every effort was getting him closer to his goal. You can share personal anecdotes as well but remember that you need more than stories to convince your audience.
Listen to any part of the speech for 45 seconds. How does he come across?
Arnold Schwarzenegger took on characteristics from his roles on the screen. He presents himself as an optimistic hero with a deep voice, plain words and controlled gestures. At the same time, he does not come across as too formal due to his colloquial style, Styrian accent and witty remarks, making one think of Kindergarten Cop and other action comedies. The tone of voice rarely changes throughout his speeches and there is a good reason for it.
Great leaders are calm, proud and cheerful. This is at least the key finding of research by Daan van Knippenberg published in the Journal of Organizational Behaviour in 2021. Even if you are not a CEO, do not forget that it is not only what you say but how you say it. The Nielsen Norman Group identified four primary dimensions: funny vs. serious, formal vs. casual, respectful vs. irreverent, and enthusiastic vs. factual. Try different ones during rehearsal and select two in the end that reflect your personality and the organisation’s brand image.
Striking artefacts
The terminator also shows how you can prop up your presentation. After the 2021 United States capitol attacks, he addressed fellow Americans. At one point, he pulled out the sword he wielded in the blockbuster Conan the Barbarian to describe the strength of democracies. You do not always have to find a striking artefact. At the Austrian World Summit 2020, he placed an old rotary phone on his podium and called on decision makers not to invest in the past.
You can see a perfect display of this technique in Bill Gates’s 2009 TED talk. At one point, he releases mosquitoes to make people aware of Malaria’s impact. Although the mosquitoes were not infected, let’s remember that death by props is as possible as death by PowerPoint. Hence, choose wisely.
The question you should ask yourself is, “what is the right prop?” If you are having a meeting with another colleague, you do not have to - literally - bring out the big guns. The smaller the audience the smaller the show. However, when you opt for a prop, make sure that people can see it. What works at a video conference does not necessarily work on stage.
When choosing the right item, you also want to pick one that is related to you and relevant to the topic. Conan’s sword, for instance, fit Schwarzenegger yet linking it to democracy required some explanation. A rotary phone and action movies do not have much in common but it supported the message of technologies in transition perfectly. We recommend choosing no more than one artefact and to hide it after revealing it so that your audience focuses on you. Props must be an aid but not a distraction.
Alternatives to monologues
Schwarzenegger used to perform with big crews on sets over months. When Putin invaded Ukraine, he had to act swiftly and recorded a message at his desk. The setting and outfit is almost identical to the one after the capitol attack, but this time he used two techniques that can help you engage your audience.
The first one is called direct address. If you watched the American version of House of Cards, you saw Kevin Spacey breaking the screen from time to time to speak directly to the viewer. In a similar but less creepy way, Schwarzenegger directly addressed Russian viewers, and Russian soldiers in particular, to keep their attention in this 9-minute clip. N.B. A shorter clip would not have worked as well because his team distributed it on various channels, on some of which the watch time impacts the ranking.
The second technique you will witness is dialogism, developed by Russian philosopher of language Mikhail Bakhtin. Schwarzenegger establishes ethos and wins some brownie points early by expressing his admiration for Russia and Olympic weightlifter (and former nationalist Presidential candidate) Yury Petrovich Vlasov. Later in the clip, he elaborates by re-enacting a conversation he had with Vlasov. When you want to exemplify a point but worry about being too descriptive, you can choose a more dynamic approach and present it in the form of a dialogue between two or more people.
For further examples of dialogism, check out our 2019 blog post.
Three tips for a more powerful speech
Demonstrate supportive leadership by striking a calm yet cheerful tone.
Inspire with the help of one prop fit for purpose.
Captivate your audience using dialogism and direct address.
- written by Benjamin Wilhelm, benjamin[at]thedandeliongroup.eu
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