The Stories We Spell
Introductory Post
I had just been promoted to Head Speechwriter when Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. A few weeks into the job, in March of 2022, after scrambling to get my diplomatic passport, I found myself staffing Prime Minister Trudeau on a European tour to reaffirm Canada’s support for NATO. The itinerary had us ping-ponging between the United Kingdom, Latvia, Germany, and Poland, with each stop feeling more hurried than the last. The biggest speech of the trip would be with the Atlantik-Brücke in Berlin at an event for which the organizers graciously (read: barely) gave me a week’s notice on the keynote’s topic: democracy. Ok cool… That’s quite… broad…
I immediately got to work—day and night—collaborating with advisors, experts, Ambassador Stéphane Dion (Canadian Ambassador to Germany at the time), and of course the PM himself. Most bureaucrats and officials advised me to repeat all of the safely baked lines that already existed in various statements and new releases, such as: “our-support-is-steadfast-for-Ukraine-as-it-defends-its-sovereignty-and-territorial-integrity” (in a robot voice if you want the full effect).
It’s always normal to have a certain amount of basic diplomatic language in those speeches, but I also needed some kind of storytelling for a 25-minute keynote. So I pushed back against the robot language and was told to draw inspiration from President Biden's State of the Union address, which he had just delivered.
The 2022 SOTU was much more powerful than our news releases and included language echoing the Cold War: “In the battle between democracy and autocracies, democracies are rising to the moment and the world is clearly choosing the side of peace and security.” Basically, Biden was telling a story of good guys versus bad guys. I ran with it.
Unfortunately, due to the tight schedule, the only opportunity to present the full final speech to the PM was on the eve of the event. An hour before our flight to Berlin, I was in a hotel lobby in Riga with a printed draft balanced on my lap, feeling like a student waiting to hand in a term paper rewritten too many times. While some colleagues were laughing loudly over drinks at the bar: “Alex do you want something?”, for me, time dragged like a budget committee meeting. Finally, I got called up to the PM’s room. Long story short: The boss LOVED the speech… just not for him. Why? “That’s not the story I want to tell,” he said. Instead of democracy will always win over autocracy, he wanted to say democracy at its best will always win over autocracy, but democracy is not at its best right now so we need to work harder.
“Now Vladimir Putin is undoubtedly a threat to Ukrainians, and a threat to people beyond their borders. But even as we are cleared-eyed about the challenge he represents, we mustn’t despair. Because at its best, democracy is always stronger than authoritarianism. But if we’re going to be honest with each other, democracy hasn’t exactly been at its best these past few years. Even as we’re fighting Putin’s invasion, we need to recommit ourselves to the work of strengthening our democracies. Apathy. Cynicism. Misinformation and disinformation. Declining voter turnout. Mistrust in our institutions. It’s our job to rebuild that trust. To give people reason to have faith in their institutions. To get involved in civic life. We can’t let fear, anxiety, and envy overcome the hope, the earnest optimism, that is necessary for democracies to thrive. We can’t settle for simplistic answers to complex problems. We can’t let nativism distract from the hard work of building better systems and real solutions. These challenges are not easy for any of us. But addressing them head on is essential. […] The respect for the infinite dignity of each individual* means no one should get left out. And this is also true for people who hold different political views. We all need to commit to more listening, and less shouting. Diversity of ideas helps us learn from one another. Talking with people who think differently from us is how we challenge ourselves. And challenging ourselves is how we grow.”
Full transcript:
* I was inspired to quote Thomas Mann in the speech by a 2017 New York Times article by David Brooks: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/14/opinion/democracy-thomas-mann.html
State of the Union 2022 full transcript: https://www.whitehouse.gov/state-of-the-union-2022/
Why am I sharing this anecdote in my first new newsletter?
I left the Prime Minister’s Office this past summer after serving for four years as a speechwriter. Now, as a private citizen, I’m watching politics unfold from afar—including the recent election in the United States.
Since November, everyone seems to have a theory about the stories progressives should or should not tell, and how they should tell them. On political speechwriting specifically, pieces like The 6 New Rules of Communicating on the
The Honest Broker Substack have been especially thought-provoking, announcing that “the era of teleprompters and talking points has come to an end” (I first heard about the article on The Curse of Politics podcast). Former Ronald Regan’s speechwriter Peggy Noonan just released a new book called A Certain Idea of America, and had a great interview with over at The Free Press where she spoke about the responsibility to embody the ethos of the institutions you serve, among other topics.All this talk, all those theories, combined with yet another escalation in the war in Ukraine, and Tucker Carlson back in Russia, and tariff threats – this brought me back to the Berlin speech I mentioned earlier. How the PM told me in his hotel room in Latvia: “you wrote a great story but it’s not the right story for me.”
At the time, on the easy-peasy topic of democracy, nothing less, I was given ten (nighttime) hours to start over and craft a new narrative from scratch. But now, years later, I’m left wondering of we ever found the right story after all. The excerpt I shared above (many of those lines came from the boss himself) could still be read today and be accurate about the present moment, but read by whom, and for whom?
This is a time right now when there’s a lot of soul-searching happening. Since I have sold my soul a while ago, I won’t be looking for mine—but I still find myself pondering these things. So I thought I could start a Substack to archive and monitor the evolution of speechwriting, public speaking and political communications going forward. Everyone from brands to politicians claims to be telling a story. But what does it actually mean to tell a good one?
We need to look at storytelling as more than just a tool for political messaging or marketing. Stories don’t exist in isolation—they’re shaped by books, cultural trends, and the wider world. This is what this newsletter will explore: how narratives in politics, literature, and pop culture intersect and influence one another. Oh, and don’t worry: no partisan politics here. Honestly, I just don’t find pundits all that interesting, and the world doesn’t need another ex-staffer reinventing himself as a Monday morning quarterback. As a speechwriter and novelist, I want this to be a space for speeches, books, stories, and everything in between.
The first challenge I’m setting for myself for this Substack is to post a monthly recap of the world of speeches and public speaking on the first day of each month. Each time, I’ll choose a few notable public remarks or keynotes and share some techniques, insights or context worth noticing. That, along with a few late-night reflections sprinkled in between.
Let’s see how it goes—this is very much a work in progress. I’d be incredibly grateful if you subscribed and shared, and I’m always open to feedback on how I can improve.
Fall Speeches - World Leaders
PM Keir Starmer speech on migration - November 28, 2024
Watch:
Why is this important:
Here in Canada, PM Justin Trudeau also recently published a video in which he promised to reform and review immigration policies.
PM Starmer starts his speech by flipping the script and accuses his opponents of what the left is usually accused of: “…the previous government were running an open borders experiment.”
President Biden at a Gratitude Dinner – November 22, 2024
Watch:
Best lines:
“One thing I’ve always believed about public service and especially the presidency is the importance of asking ourselves, ‘Have we left the country in better shape than we found it?’”
“Jill is the rock of our family. She has been one of the — I think, one of the finest first ladies in history, in my view.”
Speech by the President of Brazil at the Closing Ceremony of the G20 Social Summit in Rio de Janeiro – November 16, 2024
Thoughts:
Speeches at summits are almost guaranteed to bore you out of your mind. They’re overly scripted by diplomats and bureaucrats who insist on sticking to the language of the communiqué, cramming in as many unreadable program and agency names as possible, and avoiding any trace of emotion or storytelling. BUT that’s exactly what makes them useful: they reveal what the 'system' is trying to say—or wants you to hear—without any distracting fireworks... if you’re able to decode it.
A touch of populism:
“Over the sixteen years since the inaugural Summit, the G20 has established itself as the premier forum for global economic cooperation and a vital platform for political dialogue. However, the economy and international politics are not a monopoly of experts or bureaucrats. They are not only in the offices of the New York Stock Exchange or the São Paulo Stock Exchange, nor only in the offices in Washington, Beijing, Brussels or Brasília. They are part of the daily lives of each one of us, expanding or narrowing our possibilities.”
Chinese President Xi Jinping at Session I of the G20 Summit "Building a Just World of Common Development" – November 18, 2024
Read: https://english.www.gov.cn/news/202411/19/content_WS673b9965c6d0868f4e8ed256.html
China will continue to increase its presence in Africa:
“Third, supporting development in Africa. At the Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation held in September this year, I unveiled ten partnership actions on joining hands with Africa to advance modernization over the next three years and, in this connection, a commitment of RMB360 billion yuan in financial support.”
On tariffs:
“Eighth, China is pursuing high-standard opening up, and unilaterally opening our doors wider to the least developed countries (LDCs). We have announced the decision to give all LDCs having diplomatic relations with China zero-tariff treatment for 100 percent tariff lines. From now to 2030, China's imports from other developing countries are likely to top 8 trillion dollars.”
China is playing the long game:
“The Chinese often say, ‘A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step.’”
Fall Speeches - Business Leaders & CEOs
CEO Bruce Flatt of Brookfield Asset Management: 2024 Investor Day Presentation – September 16, 2024
Watch:
Why is this interesting:
Bruce Flatt explains how the backbone of the economy has evolved and how Brookfield operates.
CEO Satya Nadella at Microsoft Ignite 2024 - November 19, 2024
“Copilot is the UI for AI”
Watch:
CEO Tom Oxley of Synchron at the Fortune Global Forum 2024 - November 12 2024
“A breakthrough in brain powered communication”
Watch: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x992cu4
Vice Chair and President of Microsoft Brad Smith – AI is for everyone keynote – October 10, 2024
Watch: