“If We Stop Making Assumptions, We Can Set People up for More Success”

FORMAT: Speech

CLIENT: Senior director at a North American company with 65,000+ employees

INDUSTRY: Automotive

OPPORTUNITY: To celebrate and honor Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month

CHALLENGE: To confront and change the habit of making assumptions about people — especially those whose backgrounds or styles differ from our own — so colleagues would instead ask questions, understand individuals more deeply, and set them up for greater success at work.

SERVICES: Speech strategy/alignment to corporate strategy, planning, interviewing, research, message and framework development, speechwriting, line editing, executive speech coaching

APPROACH: Build the speech around a simple big idea: “Don’t make assumptions.”

Then bring the idea to life with short, concrete, personal stories from the speaker’s own life, her human resources work, and the experiences of Asian American and Pacific Islander colleagues.

Use clear contrasts, repetition of key phrases, direct second-person challenges (“I challenge you” and “You are the driver”), and vivid examples instead of abstract language to make the talk feel more like an honest conversation than a formal presentation.

EXCERPT:

“If you talk to Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders here at work, they will tell you that people sometimes make assumptions about them.

“During a meeting, they may not be as vocal or as assertive as someone else.

“They DON’T interrupt.

“So some people assume they have no point of view, and no new ideas to share.

“Indeed, they DO have a point of view, and they DO have ideas to share.

“They just need people to understand a little bit about their culture — and give them enough space and time to communicate.”

SAMPLE: Request a copy of the speech

“Thanks so much. I couldn’t have done it without you.”

THE SPEAKER
Senior director at a North American company with 65,000+ employees