{"id":4961,"date":"2019-01-08T19:38:04","date_gmt":"2019-01-09T00:38:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=4961"},"modified":"2019-08-13T13:00:04","modified_gmt":"2019-08-13T17:00:04","slug":"speechwriter-mike-greenly-writes-for-coaches-executives-to-make-great-presentations-and-find-fulfillment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=4961","title":{"rendered":"Speechwriter Mike Greenly Writes for & Coaches Executives To Make Great Presentations And Find Fulfillment"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"By Brad Balfour<\/em><\/p>\n

Mike Greenly<\/strong>
\nIBO January Evening Meeting
\nWednesday, January 9, 2019
\nNetworking starts at 6:30 p.m.
\ntalk starts at 7:15 p.m.
\nGlucksman Ireland House
\n1 Washington Mews
\nNew York, NY
\n<\/em><\/center><\/p>\n

A man of precise words, master speechwriter Mike Greenly has lived several lives and is much better for it. He had held key marketing positions at both Lever Brothers and Avon Products — mega-corporations that easily represent what\u2019s meant by mainstream America. So it was surprising when that this impressively effective corporate citizen had thrown aside the exec life to become an entrepreneur who provided services as a speechwriter, PowerPoint presentation guru and speech coach.<\/p>\n

Yet in abandoning that corporate world as an employee \u2014 going freelance instead — Greenly not only transformed his life and work, but found himself happier in his role of helping other execs be more effective in their careers. Explaining his decision, Greenly remarked, \u201cI know I\u2019ll live longer having left corporate life, but the knowledge I gained by having worked on my clients\u2019 side of the desk gave me a great advantage in the wisdom I gained and now use to help others.\u201d<\/p>\n

The mustachioed multi-talent realized that to be happy he had to follow his passion. \u201cI knew I was good with words and enjoyed what I did with them in the corporate world, but nothing was as pure as what I\u2019m doing now.\u201d <\/p>\n

When Avon made Greenly a V.P., he was told he was the youngest officer in the company\u2019s history of more than a century. Greenly had certainly been successful in his corporate career, but once he\u2019d had enough of corporate life, he discovered something far more fulfilling. \u201cI realized it was time to find and become my own authentic self.\u201d<\/p>\n

Greenly had jumped into the cyber revolution as an early pioneer of digital communications. After his corporate stint, he formed the Transcoastal Electronic News Service (TENS) with two colleagues he\u2019d met online \u2014 Sherwin Levinson in Atlanta, and Diane Worthington in San Francisco. As far apart as they each were geographically, their online interactions made them a team.<\/p>\n

Typing on his then state-of-the-art Radio Shack laptop, Greenly was in the reporter pool when tech super-guru Steve Jobs launched the Macintosh computer. He then became the first journalist to send reports out online about both the Democratic and Republican conventions and the Academy Awards, finding readers from around the world. As he explained, \u201cBy that time, thanks to that computer Avon bought me, I had become known as a pioneering online journalist. TIME actually did a story featuring me and my work online.\u201d<\/p>\n

Segueing successfully into being a sought-after speechwriter and presentation coach \u2014 acquiring such clients as ExxonMobil, Google, IBM, Johnson & Johnson, New York Life, Novartis and Sanofi \u2014 Greenly made his clients a promise. He\u2019d help them \u201csound like themselves, only better.\u201d He\u2019d taken the 100% Guarantee with him, and he never accepts an assignment unless he knows he can delight his clients.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how he achieves the results he\u2019s now known for. \u201cI interview my clients the way a journalist interviews a subject. In the process, I help them get in touch with the core of who they are and the message they want to deliver. The result each time is a speech that is more authentic to the executive and his\/her mission … which makes the message more effective and impactful to an audience.\u201d <\/p>\n

Said ExxonMobil\u2019s Ann Juranek, \u201cMike is a true expert. First in developing presentations that wonderfully achieve their objectives, and then, in coaching delivery that makes his clients the winners they want to be.\u201d <\/p>\n

Greenly has also authored or contributed to several books, including \u201cChronicle, The Human Side of AIDS,\u201d about the start of the global health crisis of 30 years ago. He\u2019s contributed several chapters to \u201cThe CHANGE\u201d book series for readers\u2019 self-empowerment. His chapter in volume 8 is titled, \u201cFrom \u2018Stage Fright\u2019 to the Power of Authenticity.\u201d In it, he shares some of the insights he uses in effectively speech coaching his executive clients. <\/p>\n

Though Greenly admits that he \u201ccan barely change a light bulb,\u201d it seems he has always had an affinity for words. He still remembers the first poem he composed at the age of four and \u2013 unusual, in his home town congregation in Beaufort, South Carolina — he wrote his own Bar Mitzvah speech instead of having the Rabbi write it for him. \u201cEventually I went to Duke University. So I am a real Southerner by birth and upbringing. But I\u2019m also Jewish which made me \u2018different\u2019 \u2013 especially back then. I actually had classmates ask, in all seriousness, if I had been born with a Devil\u2019s tale. Being Jewish in the Deep South back then, I had swastikas carved into my locker. My own family pharmacist once asked a customer, right in front of me, \u2018Did you Jew someone down to get a lower price?\u2019 That hurt but … what could I do?\u201d <\/p>\n

That Jewish experience in the South helped to shape who Greenly was and who he became. It made him even more of an outsider that he was chosen to skip the second grade and now was younger than all his classmates. Being something of an outsider — the kid who didn\u2019t quite fit — motivated him to learn how to fit in \u2014 almost too much so. \u201cWhen I went to high school, I was determined to become popular and, indeed, was voted \u2018Most Popular\u2019 as a senior. The problem was, that persona was not the real me … just the identity I had invented to hide behind. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn college on a scholarship to Duke, I was called into the Dean\u2019s office and was told, I would lose that financial support because my grades were just average instead of meeting the Dean\u2019s List requirement. They said, \u2018You’re a smart guy, so why aren\u2019t you getting better grades?\u2019 What they helped me to discover was that my inherent anxiety from childhood was getting in the way of my studies. Thanks to their help, I got into psychotherapy, kept my scholarship and graduated Phi Beta Kappa. That therapy was the best gift I ever gave myself.\u201d <\/p>\n

Though raised in the South, he headed North for the lights of Broadway. \u201cI came up to New York City on a Greyhound bus from the tiny island community of Beaufort, SC. I quickly discovered that no one was hiring playwrights \u2013 no matter how much I\u2019d come to love the theater \u2013 I became an executive so at least I could afford at least to see a Broadway show.\u201d<\/p>\n

From that point on, Greenly began to develop the knowledge that has led him to the career and creativity he so enjoys today. \u201cI can remember being at a sock hop with my classmates, where my job was to change the old 45 RPM records. Even just walking across the stage in front of my peers freaked me out. Now I can easily give a speech to 5,000 people. I transformed myself and eventually found a way to share the knowledge I gained with the execs I coach today.<\/p>\n

Along the way \u2013 with a career that began in educational book publishing, continued at Lever while marketing toothpaste and detergents, and then at Avon, he was forced to become effective at public speaking.<\/p>\n

Then a couple of books changed his life and gave him the courage to go freelance. \u201cAlvin Toffler\u2019s \u2018The Third Wave\u2019 made me aware of the newly emerging Information Age we all were entering. My presentation to Avon leadership about that message caused them to buy me one of the first apple computers. My \u2018assignment\u2019 was to report back to senior management about what our company needed to do in an increasingly digital time. Another book — Gail Sheehy\u2019s \u2018Passages\u2019 — made me realize that I was at a potential turning point in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

The following is a Q&A discussion outlining who is Mike Greenly is and how he does what he does.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong> Do you have a format with which you can make a great speech?<\/p>\n

MG:<\/strong> It\u2019s an established fact that human attention spans are shorter than ever in our history \u2013 now shorter than that of a goldfish. So it\u2019s essential for any client to decide what is his or her #1 take-away message? What needs to be firmly planted into the minds of every listener? That principle holds true for any speech, video, PowerPoint presentation or anything else I write.\u201d<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong> When do you stay on script and veer off?<\/p>\n

MG:<\/strong> Many of my clients are in highly regulated industries \u2013 pharmaceuticals, beverage alcohol, finance, etc. Lawyers must review and approve of every scripted word.<\/p>\n

Even in those cultures, it\u2019s understood that a presenter can choose to have a spontaneous, in-the-moment interaction with or comment to the audience … while never including new facts or direction not already reviewed by lawyers.<\/p>\n

For some of my clients, I write a complete, word-for-word script to begin with. Then, once Legal has approved, for them I\u2019ll convert the text to \u201cbullet points\u201d to allow a speaking style that\u2019s a bit more informal and conversational.<\/p>\n

But again \u2013 deviations and ad libs must never distract from the primary take-away message of any communication.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong> Are there certain givens you can or will employ depending on the executives background.<\/p>\n

MG:<\/strong> I should mention that some speechwriters I know keep re-cycling material they’ve kept \u201con the shelf.\u201d Not I. I never do \u201ccookie cutter\u201d work. Everything is custom-created for each individual client or team.<\/p>\n

One of the most uniquely successful presentations I ever wrote was decades ago, for the CEO of DuPont to his senior global management. He was a brilliant thinker and leader but, given the motivational needs of the occasion, I got him to tell a \u201cbedtime\u201d story to the hundreds of execs in his audience. He was wearing pajamas and a bathrobe, sitting in a wing chair on-stage, like a loving grandfather. The execs were served milk and cookies for the end-of-day message. I got tremendous positive feedback about the \u201cfable\u201d with a moral (about teamwork) and the impact it had on its audience.<\/p>\n

The only \u201cgiven\u201d is my need to help each presentation convey a desired message in a way that suits the situation. Again, my tagline expresses this: \u201cSound like yourself … only better.\u201d My clients say they can feel the difference in my work \u2013 that my writing reflects our input discussion. <\/p>\n

While my #1 skill has to be writing, of course, I sincerely believe that my ability to ask the right questions is crucial to my ability to deliver the right results. <\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong> To achieve what you want to find for yourself are you as much a life coach as a writer?<\/p>\n

MG:<\/strong> I\u2019m not really a \u201clife\u201d coach \u2013 even though I was in training to become a full-time psychotherapist when Avon made me a VP. But I am definitely a communications coach; that is my expertise.<\/p>\n

I do know for sure that my interactions with clients are always personal. Real. Authentic. Even intimate. And I\u2019ll admit that, given my decades of corporate experience and my work with many hundreds of presenters, clients sometimes (always privately) turn to me for advice based on my life experience. <\/p>\n

A few agencies I know only wish to have eager and attractive 30-year-olds representing them in competitive pitches. But the client execs, themselves, readily understand that my decades on their side of the desk offer experience that a younger person won\u2019t yet have had time to gain.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong> From one speech has there ever come a series and even brochures, pamphlets or whole career course work?<\/p>\n

MG:<\/strong> One major pharma exec \u2013 for whom I\u2019d written and coached his delivery for years \u2013 called me in near-panic. He was about to give the most important speech of his lifetime, he said: to the House of Representatives in Washington, DC. He said he\u2019d been learning from my verbal feedback but that it would help him if I\u2019d write my guidance down on paper. I did \u2013 with a special Presentation Tips document. My client later said it was so helpful, it enabled him to experience a \u201ctriumph\u201d in front of Congress.<\/p>\n

That same document eventually became the basis for some of what I\u2019ve shared in vol. 8 of The CHANGE book series. I\u2019ve also used its content when I\u2019ve lead Presentation Skills Workshops for companies as diverse as Roche Pharmaceuticals, Patr\u00f3n Spirits and Metz Culinary Management. The \u201cbasics\u201d of being effective really don\u2019t change from one industry to the next.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong> When crafting a great speech how personal do you get?<\/p>\n

MG:<\/strong> I learned a very important lesson long ago: when an exec allows him- or herself to be personal, the message has significantly greater resonance. Specifically, I remember \u2013 over 20 years ago \u2013 helping a pharma exec with her speech.<\/p>\n

Her message was feeling \u201cmuddy\u201d until I got her to share a relevant memory she had from being a Girl Scout decades earlier. All of a sudden, the ideas she was passionate about came to life in a more human and relatable way. Later she thanked me for nudging her outside her comfort zone.<\/p>\n

The simple fact is: not once have I had a client regret sharing something personal that fit the context. Another example: a different pharma exec shared his own medical condition and family history when launching a product that could make a difference for similar patients. Afterward, he praised it as one of the best speeches I\u2019d ever written for him. It wouldn\u2019t have been the same if he\u2019d not been willing to be personal.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong> How spiritual do you get?<\/p>\n

MG:<\/strong> Most of the organizations that hire me have zero interest in being \u201cspiritual.\u201d Talking about values? Yes, absolutely. Along with making a positive difference to the world. But clients \u2013 rightly, in my opinion \u2013 tend to avoid spirituality, religion and even, for the most part, politics.<\/p>\n

The goal is to unite an audience behind a common point of view, never to divide or segment. Personal history is one thing, as I mentioned with your previous question. But while there are, indeed, rare exceptions depending on context, spirituality is generally too private and personal for most situations. <\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong> How much do you employ macro ideas?<\/p>\n

MG:<\/strong> Analogies can be useful. And in some situations, big-picture metaphors can be helpful. In general, however, every presentation I create is focused on the client\u2019s message … his\/her\/their macro ideas \u2013 behind a product, reorganization, employee policy, whatever. The wrong macro idea, superimposed onto a message, can be a distraction if it\u2019s not truly relevant.<\/p>\n

My client is always the subject matter expert. I\u2019m only the communications expert who helps a desired message get across in the best and most vivid way.<\/p>\n

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