{"id":13024,"date":"2016-08-11T16:53:01","date_gmt":"2016-08-11T15:53:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.davidvigar.co.uk\/?page_id=13024"},"modified":"2017-02-20T11:41:04","modified_gmt":"2017-02-20T11:41:04","slug":"examples-of-writing","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.davidvigar.co.uk\/writing\/examples-of-writing\/","title":{"rendered":"Examples of writing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Examples of writing<\/h1>\n<\/div>
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A \u2018purple passage\u2019<\/h2>\n

This is the introduction to a speech about broadband communications. It was delivered by a French CEO who spoke with lot of panache and it would only work with a natural performer as speaker. I would never try something like this for a speaker whose style was more conversational.<\/p>\n

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The copper wires that carry telephony and the internet to Britain\u2019s homes and offices have laid in their ducts or hung from their poles for up to 40 years. And for decades they carried nothing but phone calls \u2013 people talking to each other. They were simply \u2018talking wires’.\u00a0\u00a0With the advent of the mass market internet in the late 90s, the wires started to carry data, information, education, emails, radio broadcasts and \u2013 controversially – music. In other words, they began to sing a little.\u00a0\u00a0Now, the broadband internet is here, with the potential to transform these same lines into full-scale entertainment highways, carrying action movies, interactive games, and multimedia services of all kinds. The wires are starting to dance.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>

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A \u2018bridge-builder\u2019<\/h2>\n

This is part of a speech in which a business leader was speaking at the company\u2019s showcase building to a group of\u00a0community leaders who run projects in areas such as health and homelessness. This passage was intended to help bridge the gulf that some in the audience might have felt between the executive lifestyle on display and their own everyday experience among deprived communities.<\/p>\n

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We need to share expertise and pool our experience. In ordinary parlance it\u2019s called swapping ideas \u2013 but in business-speak as you may know\u00a0it\u2019s called \u2018knowledge management\u2019.\u00a0\u00a0For example, we can learn from the way you minimise your costs. Social entrepreneurs usually have no choice but to work with very little money. In ordinary parlance this is called being skint \u2013 but in business-speak it\u2019s called \u2018having a world class cost base\u2019.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0And we can also learn from your determination. We can learn to work as hard as you do to overcome those things that ordinary people call \u2018problems\u2019, but business people call \u2018opportunities\u2019.\u00a0\u00a0You may even have heard of the CEO who insisted that his company never had problems, only \u201copportunities\u201d \u2013 and he insisted on this right up to the day when his finance director came to see him and said \u201cI\u2019m afraid I have to report that our opportunities have become insurmountable.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>

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A rallying cry<\/h2>\n

Finally, here is a speech \u2013 edited to protect identities \u2013 which was written in about an hour at one company\u2019s senior management conference at the Amsterdam Hilton. It was challenging time for the company concerned in which many executives were about to take on new responsibilities in a re-organization. Although I\u2019d been asked to write the CEO\u2019s opening speech, no-one knew if he wanted a text for the closing one. But shortly before the speech had to be given, he asked me to \u201cGive me something really emotional\u201d – and promptly disappeared. He clearly didn\u2019t want a video of \u2018Love Story\u2019, so this is what I wrote.<\/p>\n

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You\u2019ll probably have noticed that this is the hotel where John Lennon and Yoko Ono held their famous \u2018bed-in\u2019. Thirty years ago, they addressed the world\u2019s media from a rather large double bed in room 702.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Now I\u2019m not suggesting that this should be the model for our press conferences in the future, but I am going to borrow a few lines from John Lennon and the Beatles.\u00a0\u00a0I was thinking \u2013 what Beatles songs would give us the right inspiration? \u2018Let it be\u2019? Certainly not \u2013 we need to do anything\u00a0but let it be. \u2018Imagine\u2019? No. We want action – not people imagining things. How about this – \u2018 Help!\u2019\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Well I guess that\u2019s how a lot of you feel \u2013 and sometimes it\u2019s how I feel too. In fact, given the challenges we face \u2013 and the changes we need to make, you\u2019d be a fool if you didn\u2019t think \u2018Help!\u2019 We have more to do than most companies \u2013 and as xxx pointed out, we\u2019re giving ourselves less time to do it than most companies. Individually, none of us can do this \u2013 we can only do it collectively \u2013 by working with each other and helping each other\u2026\u2026
\n\u2026.OK let\u2019s move on \u2013 next Beatles song \u2013 Drive my car.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0You are all drivers now. None of you are passengers.\u00a0\u00a0Put it another way, you all have to be leaders now, not just managers.\u00a0\u00a0And what\u2019s the difference?\u00a0\u00a0Well I could give you lots, but I\u2019ll stick to one.\u00a0\u00a0Managers make plans – but leaders make choices.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Managers can draw up a plan to get from A to B, set a budget, hit the timetable. Leaders have to decide where they are going. They have to choose NOT to do certain things. As the old saying has it, \u2018to govern is to choose\u2019.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Now in the last year, I have made some choices. The Board has made some choices. The company as a whole has made some choices.\u00a0\u00a0Now it\u2019s YOUR turn to make some choices.\u00a0\u00a0And it\u2019s time to really motivate your people\u2026\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2026Let me give you one final John Lennon song – \u2018In My Life\u2019.\u00a0\u00a0I don\u2019t know if you\u2019ve ever worked out how much of your life you spend on work.\u00a0\u00a0I know it seems like 100% – but for many of you it\u2019s probably around 60 or 70% of your waking hours.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0So what happens at work is important in our lives \u2013 and our people\u2019s lives. And this is a crucial point in those lives.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0What we do over the next few months \u2013 the next 100 days – is going to matter for a long time.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0100 days is always a symbolic period of time. American Presidents get judged on their first 100 days. Harold Wilson talked about \u2018100 days of dynamic action\u2019 back in 1964.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Well, 100 days from now will be the beginning of March. Plenty will have changed by then. \u2026..The next 100 days is going to be critical for all of us.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0So what kind of period will it be in\u00a0your<\/strong>\u00a0life? How will you remember it when you\u2019ve retired? Because sure as hell, you\u00a0will<\/strong>\u00a0remember it.\u00a0\u00a0Will it be your great achievement? Or will it be something you\u2019d rather forget?\u00a0Let\u2019s make the next 100 days count. Let\u2019s make them 100 days that each of us will remember with pride.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We have the talent as individuals.\u00a0\u00a0We have the strength as a team.\u00a0\u00a0We can do this.\u00a0\u00a0So let\u2019s just go and do it.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>

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