50 High-Impact Speeches and Remarks: Proven Words You Can Adapt for Any Business Occasion [Paperback]

John Kador (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0071421947 | ISBN-13: 978-0071421942 | Publication Date: February 27, 2004 | Edition: 1

A leader's sourcebook of ready-to-use speeches for any occasion

Effective leaders must be able to speak to groups of employees in ways that motivate, inspire, and challenge. 50 High-Impact Speeches and Remarks is a sourcebook of proven speeches successful business leaders have used to rally their troops at a sales conference, carefully announce a major change or restructuring, or celebrate an important achievement.

Each speech has been edited to make it easy to adapt and customize to suit any organization.

Leaders will find the powerful, inspiring, and diplomatic words they need to:

• Challenge people to do their best work
• Congratulate the workforce after a successful quarter or year
• Announce a round of layoffs
• Inspire the organization with a new direction or strategy
• Ask employees to cut costs
• Deliver congratulations for a retirement

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Business/Communication

Model your next public remarks on actual speeches from Lee Iacocca, Jack Welch, and other leading executives

One measure of your leadership ability is the effectiveness of your public remarks.  Leaders rely upon well-crafted speeches to help them motivate and inspire people, inaugurate change, rebut public criticism, announce good news and break bad news.  Now this collection of business speeches and brief remarks offers you an unparalleled opportunity to learn the craft of public speaking from great business leaders.

Each of the fifty speeches represents an outstanding example of speechwriting. You'll find speeches for articulating vision and values, announcing major organizational changes, managing a crisis, officiating at formal ceremonies, giving and receiving awards, and saying farewell. Compiled and edited by John Kador, speechwriter for Fortune 500 CEOs, 50 High-Impact Speeches and Remarks:

• Lets you learn from the best how to write powerful and effective speeches for every occasion
• Provides proven models that can be adapted to your unique needs and style
• Features annotations explaining successful rhetorical techniques used throughout each speech 

High-impact speeches and remarks by:

• Lee Iacocca, Chrysler
• Jack Welch, GE
• Jim Kelly, UPS
• Harry C. Stonecipher, Boeing
• Jerry R. Junkins of Texas Instruments
• Michael R. Bonsignor, Honeywell
• John Bogle, Vanguard
• Daniel P. Burnham, Raytheon
• Roger Smith, GM
• Wayne Allen, Phillips Petroleum
• Dennis Strigl, Verizon
• And many others

John Kador is a professional speechwriter and has written speeches for many high-profile CEOs. He is the author of eight books, including The Manager's Book of Questions.

About the Author

John Kador is the author of eight books and a former speechwriter for Fortune 500 CEOs. He is the author of The Manager's Book of Questions and 201 Best Questions to Ask on Your Interview.

Product Details

• Paperback: 300 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (February 27, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071421947
• ISBN-13: 978-0071421942
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #149,797 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

John's latest book is Effective Apology: Mending Fences, Building Bridges, and Restoring Trust. Learn more at www.effectiveapology.com


John is an author, consultant, and speaker who acts as if every word is a moral choice. His work centers on identifying and describing best practices in leadership and promoting the highest standards of personal accountability, humility, and transparency. This book, which describes the benefits that leaders accrue when they embrace apology rather than shy from it, is squarely in that tradition. His personal credo is that different is not always better, but better is always different.

He is the author of over 10 books, including Charles Schwab: How One Company Beat Wall Street and Reinvented the Brokerage Industry , 50 High-Impact Speeches & Remarks: Proven Words You Can Adapt for Any Business Occasion, and the NY Times bestseller Net Ready: Strategies for Success in the E-conomy (with Amir Hartman and John Sifonis). His career books include The Manager's Book of Questions: 751 Great Questions for Hiring the Best Person, How to Ace the Brainteaser Job Interview, and 201 Best Questions to Ask On Your Interview. As a corporate ghostwriter, John has distinguished himself as a writing partner to a number of Fortune 1000 executives who credit him for his willingness to embrace the hectic and unpredictable schedules of busy executives.

John began his writing career in Washington DC at a high-tech advertising and public relations agency. For the past 30 years he has been the principal of Kador Communications, providing editorial assistance to dozens of corporate and media clients. John's insights have been featured in more than one hundred magazines and newspapers, including The Chicago Tribune, Computerworld, Working Women, and Business to Business. John has columns in Chief Executive, Registered Rep, and Human Resources Executive.

John holds a master's degree in public relations from The American University and an undergraduate degree from Duke University. John was born in Budapest, Hungary. He came to the U.S. when he was six and settled with his family in New York City. John currently lives in Winfield, Pennsylvania, with his wife, Anna Beth Payne, a psychologist at a university counseling center. He has two children, Dan, a software engineer in San Francisco, and Rachel, an undergraduate at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. When he isn't working, he likes to fence, a sport which he has practiced since high school.

To inquire about having John speak about apology at your event or if you have questions about any of his writing services, email him. John welcomes your questions and suggestions about effective apology at www.effectiveapology.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must for Speakers, June 21, 2004

By 

Craig L. Howe "The Pointed Pundit" (Darien, CT United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: 50 High-Impact Speeches and Remarks: Proven Words You Can Adapt for Any Business Occasion (Paperback)

Public speaking has never been more important. The ability to deliver a well written speech is one of the most effective measures of a leaders' ability. The ability to motivate, spire, console, rebut and address the eventualities of everyday life in a forthright and honest manner will mold their futures.

This speech collection offers unusual insight into the speechwriter's art. No speaker who aspires to greatness should be without it.

Using 50 speeches as a model, the reader is provided proven presentations. By providing a running rhetorical commentary on the techniques of the speech, John Kador, a professional speechwriter, illustrates the art and science of effective speechwriting. Adapt the models to your style, but follow the rules. This book contains the wisdom and experience of more than 25 professional speechwriters

I have the good fortune to have a speech I wrote included. While it is tempting to criticize the commentary on my edited text, it is pointless. The lessons are invaluable to the reader.

To paraphrase the showman P. T. Barnum speaking to reporters, "write what you will, just spell my name correctly."

Being included in this collection is an honor.