Zelensky’s Audience-Centered Speeches Connect To Shared Values

 

Zelensky’s Audience-Centered Speeches Connect To Shared Values

 

Carmine Gallo(Senior Contributor Forbes)

Forbes

Leadership Strategy

 

 

 

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 16: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks to the U.S. Congress by ... [+] GETTY IMAGES

 

 

 

Nearly 2,400 years ago, the Greek philosopher Aristotle urged public speakers to prepare by knowing their audience. It marked the beginning of audience-centered speechmaking, which remains a sophisticated, high-level communication device.

 

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine relies on knowing his audience to persuade world leaders to aid his country as it defends itself against the Russian invasion.

 

The rhetorical device that Zelensky uses in every speech is called “allusion.” Allusions are references to well-known events, people, or places that remind audiences audience of the values they share with a speaker and the topic.

Zelensky’s allusions are part of his impressive speeches over the last week, which have ended with sustained standing ovations.

 

On Wednesday, Zelensky received a standing ovation from the U.S. Congress after a speech he delivered via video link from Kyiv. According to a report in The New York Times, “Zelensky invoked the memory of America’s darkest days as he pleaded for more military aid.”

 

Zelensky said:

 

“Americans, in your great history, you have pages that would allow you to understand Ukrainians, understand us now when we need you, right now. Remember Pearl Harbor, terrible morning of Dec. 7, 1941, when your sky was black from the planes attacking you. Just remember it. Remember September the 11th, a terrible day in 2001 when evil tried to turn your cities, independent territories, in battlefields, when innocent people were attacked, attacked from air. Just like no one else expected it, you could not stop it.”

 

In addition to invoking traumatic events in U.S. history, Zelensky also alluded to a famous American landmark and used it as a metaphor for connecting over shared values.

 

“Just like anyone else in the United States, I remember your national memorial in Rushmore,” Zalensky said. “The faces of your prominent presidents, those who laid the foundation of the United States of America as it is today: democracy, independence, freedom, and care for everyone, for every person, for everyone who works diligently, who lives honestly, who respects the law. We in Ukraine want the same for our people, all that is normal part of your own life.”

 

 

Zelensky also cited Dr. Martin Luther King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech in his remarks. King was also a speaker who supported his arguments with well-known historical references. King’s famous speech made several allusions to Abraham Lincoln, the Emancipation Proclamation, and the Declaration of Independence.

 

After speaking to Congress, Zelensky connected to audiences in Germany in a speech that, once again, invoked dark times in the country’s past. However, the references were different from those he used for the American audience and specific for the German audience.

 

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According to the Washington Post, “The most oft-cited remark involved Zelensky talking about Russia erecting a wall in Europe between freedom and oppression, and urging German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to ‘Tear down this wall’ — evoking President Ronald Reagan’s famous line about the Berlin Wall.”

 

Earlier in the week, Zelensky addressed the Canadian Parliament and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau—whom he repeatedly addressed by his first name.

 

“Justin, can you imagine hearing it?” Zelensky said. “You, your children hear all these severe explosions: bombing of airport, bombing of Ottawa airport, tens of other cities of your wonderful country…Imagine that someone is laying siege to Vancouver. Can you just imagine for a second? Can you imagine the famous CN Tower in Toronto, if it was hit by Russian bombs? Of course, I don’t wish this on anyone but this is our reality in which we live.”

 

Although Zelensky was seated 4,500 miles away from the Canadian parliament building in Ottawa, his words brought the war home and made it personal for Canadian listeners.

 

Speaking to the U.K parliament last week, Zalensky echoed words from Winston Churchill’s iconic “never surrender” speech in June of 1940 after the evacuation of Allied troops from Dunkirk. Although it was a retreat, Churchill turned the event into a rallying cry for the British people and urged them to “never surrender.”

 

Here is what Churchill said, followed by an excerpt from Zelensky’s speech.

 

Churchill: “We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.”

 

Zelensky: “We will not give up, and we will not lose. We will fight until the end, at sea, in the air. We will continue fighting for our land whatever the cost. We will fight in the forests, in the fields, on the shores, in the streets.”

Zelensky’s speeches prove, once again, that words matter. While technology changes—Aristotle did not have video links—leadership still requires using words effectively to move hearts and minds.

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Carmine Gallo