What if you had but one chance to speak and your life and the life of all those who were following you depended on it? How would you start? What could you possibly say?
“We few, we happy few, we band of brothers….”
I was recently working with a group of senior executive leaders at one of the world’s largest and most successful high-tech companies and successfully used our M.A.G.I.C. communication formula to break down some long-standing barriers to effective communication in their organization.
As a part of my preparations I wanted to provide visual examples for Message, Authenticity, Gracing the stage, maintaining Interest and Commitment to practice.
In the process I found a single superb example of extraordinary leadership communication that demonstrates at the same time all five of the MAGIC principles dramatically and profoundly.
Before you take a look at the video here’s some background.
By the time King Henry Vth of England reached the fields of Agincourt in the year 1415, he was a leader without much of a following. He had promised his army quick wins on French soil and here they were six months later exhausted, hungry, most suffering from dysentery while the French army stood before them fresh, ready for battle and outnumbering Henry’s weakened soldiers by at least five to one.
Several times the French send a messenger offering Henry a peaceful but humiliating way out.
Each time Henry refused.
In Shakespeare’s version of events, on the night before the battle Henry dons a disguise and walks among his troops in the camp listening to their opinions of the King that promised much and had delivered little apart from the promise of death at the hands of French swordsmen the next day.
Henry, like many leaders, finds himself in an impossible situation. With little time left how can he change the hearts and minds of his men?
How can he rally and motivate them not just to fight but to fight believing they will win?
Shakespeare composes perhaps his most stirring speech for Henry and as I watched Kenneth Branagh’s version of the “St. Crispin’s Day” speech it occurred to me that this confluence of historical Henry Vth, playwright William Shakespeare and Branagh’s film version of the speech hit everything that our MAGIC communication model strives for.
Take a look at the movie clip and see if you can identify what Henry’s real message is; how he creates and resonates authenticity with his audience; how he uses the physical space as a persuasive tool; how he keeps his soldiers interested and how there is a commitment to practice?
Well, the actors certainly committed to practice since this complex scene is very long for a sequence that has so few shots in it.
In my next blog, I’ll tell you why I think this scene ticks all the boxes of the MAGIC communication model. And if you have ideas you’d like to share about why this is a near perfect persuasive speech, let me know.
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Howard,
This is a brilliant (and highly entertaining) example of persuasive messaging. When we get right down to it the basics, the fundamentals of persuasion, haven’t really changed all that much and this is one more example of how communication can be authentic and powerful. I’m also impressed by how closely it hews to the MAGIC formula. Great lesson and example.