The Leaders we loved in 2019
2019 has been a roller coaster year for the progressive movement. As we head into an even more eventful 2020, we reflect on how 2019 showed us what a leaderful movement we have. Our movement’s rising leadership is broader and more diverse than anything we’ve seen before -- and the world is taking notice.
Convey Communications founders sat down to discuss some examples from the past year, focusing on how these leaders conveyed their passion, their vision, and their values out into the world. We look to specific instances where their words and actions spoke to values and vision. At Convey, we really hone in on how leaders convey their vision and develop their public persona. We had a number of inspirational examples from this year. Take a look and see if you agree, or better yet, chime in on the moments, movements, and leaders that most inspired you.
Greta Thunberg
Arshad Hasan
This is an unusual and striking speech, brimming with emotion and moral clarity. The body language, vocal intonations, the opening lines, and thematic refrain of “How dare you?!” all make this one of the most remarkable addresses of the year. The movement around our ongoing climate crisis has been around for decades, but we’ve reached the point where a Scandanavian teenager brings world leaders to task and everyone had to sit up and listen.
She starts with a statement that catches our attention, “This is all wrong…” and paints a stark contrast between what should be happening, and what we can see with our eyes is really happening. It’s an excellent unspoken metaphor for the issue itself. Her face shows true anguish and anger, as she challenges us, repeatedly, “How dare you?!” There’s science and data in her speech, but first she makes us sit up and listen to her. Her authority is rooted in moral clarity.
Vicki Roush
“You are failing us. But young people are starting to understand your betrayal.” Co-panelists nod in hearty agreement.
With her voice, Thunberg evokes the tremendous sense of urgency. More so even, than with her words or facial expressions, which are mighty. She speaks quietly and never raises her voice. When reciting facts - scientific data - she modulates her vocal expressions to be more matter-of-fact, but when she pleads with and denounces the people who are failing young generations, her intonations and expressions leave little doubt about the importance and urgency of taking greater action now.
The Squad
Arshad Hasan
In terms of projecting fresh new leadership, I think ‘The Squad’ is the best thing that’s happened in the Democratic Party in the last few years. I know that’s a controversial opinion, and it’s not one driven solely by my firmly Left-leaning ideologies. Look at these women. Notice how each of them hold themselves with excellent poise and posture. Leaders who are women of color know to take extra care to make sure each piece of their presentation is on point. A rich white dude going up on stage in a hoodie might be seen as ground-breaking (a la Mark Zuckerberg), but they can only do this because they know they already own the space, that no one will question their belonging in that space. These women, even in a friendly space (Netroots Nation) know they are being scrutinized. Indeed, Donald Trump tweeted about them immediately after this appearance.
You can see each are their own persona - with their own energy, pacing, stories, body language - but all present powerful contrasts from the voices we often see representing the Democratic Party. Tlaib has an earnest seriousness to her remarks, calm and clear in her opening remarks but just as forceful as when later on she passionately rails against detention camps; Omar connects comfortably with both the audience and the speakers on the stage and speaks with a deliberate resolve; Pressley ties the audience into her role models and deftly uses this to explain her motivations and values.
I could go on, of course. But the point is that these women present a vision of leadership we don’t see often enough, but is undeniably powerful in the way they convey their values.
Vicki Roush
It is clear that these women in particular are very, very eager to express their values, then live and work those values for all to see. Watching them together is instructive as to the differences in how they present and express themselves.
Rep. Ayanna Pressley’s demeanor is powerful and compelling, but her speech is moderated, quiet yet forceful. She’s regal in a sense, and really does command attention.
While she speaks and acts with a quiet calm and sensitivity, I think Rep. Omar’s presence belies a very big personality. Her clothing choices are so bold! The words she uses are equally as bold. Yet, her manner of speaking is quiet and reflective.
Reps Tlaib and Ocasio-Cortez are more enthusiastic in their presentations, more exuberant, and it works for them. Note that AOC really does change up her level of enthusiasm depending on her audience. Firing up a group of voters in Queens is vastly different than her stern determination during questioning on the Oversight Committee. She truly knows her audience and the atmospheres of the moment.
Megan Rapinoe
Arshad Hasan
We use this image all the time in our trainings when we talk about what confidence looks like. The look of confidence, of standing in your power, is an open stance. Megan Rapinoe has every reason to be confident, of course; She’s perhaps the best soccer player in the world. But it’s her well-earned, unabashed, and yet never overbearing confidence that speaks to true leadership. She’s used her megaphone well -- from equal pay to standing up to President Trump to her own political activism.
Vicki Roush
I love her interactions in this interview with Don Lemon.
He tries to interrupt her on multiple occasions, but she is not backing down. She powers through with her thoughts backed up with her values. Lemon demands answers to non-substantive and horse-race non-questions such as, “Polls tell us Democrats want a candidate who can beat Trump.” Her facial expression tells us that she is ready for business and pivots to meaningful reasons she supports her candidate. I’d like to clean up a few on-camera techniques, but as a passionate and positive leader, Rapinoe’s got what it takes. LFG!
Nancy Pelosi facing down Trump and a room full of men
Official Whitehouse Photo: Shealah Craighead
Arshad Hasan
Speaker Pelosi knew going into the room that she was going to stand out. She is literally the only woman at the table. Anything she did, then, was going to stand out. She could not know, however, that the White House itself would release this picture. Two different groups saw two very different things from the same image.
Some see a woman standing in her power, not backing down, and standing up to the most powerful man in the world. Others see a woman scolding a bunch of men. This gulf in perception makes it seem like a metaphor for a divided country, but I see what both camps see: Confidence and fearlessness. One camp interprets that as heroic, and the other interprets it as a woman out of her place, but the underlying fact is that everyone can see that the Speaker is asserting her power.
Look closer... at the men. On the right side of the image, many of these men are casting their gaze downward. They can not meet the Speaker’s eyes. This look could be guilt, shame, embarrassment, submission or some combination of any of these. We have no transcript, but the body language speaks volumes more than words ever could in this case.
Vicki Roush
This moment is reflective of what these men fear more than anything else on earth: a woman coming for their power. Not just coming for their power, but in many ways aspirating the sense of power right out of them. Their body language shows them to be at once furious and cowering, making themselves smaller, avoiding Nancy’s sword. (Or her perceived Deadly Finger Laser.)
Speaker Pelosi is doing something natural, something she does all the time - telling her grandkids to behave. These men are experiencing something rare and surreal. We can see it plainly in their body language. There are few powerful people who understand the importance of presence more than Pelosi, right down to her shoes. 🕶
Ali Stroker
Arshad Hasan
Great speakers use their body and their environment, and stage actors know this implicitly. Ali Stroker takes this to another level. All too often we notice a distinct ableist bias in the more widely available speaker training. It would be absurd to tell Ali Stroker to please ’stand up a little taller’ in order to project better. She’s more than merely compensated in her performances, however, when she uses her wheelchair as an extension of her body in her expressions on stage. When she gave her acceptance speech at the Tony’s, she exhibited open body language in a way she made her own.
Vicki Roush
Breaking barriers. Stroker is the first actress who uses a wheelchair for mobility to appear on a Broadway stage, and to be nominated for and win a Tony Award. Beyond mobility issues, Ali must learn to adapt using her breathing apparatus differently than a person who can stand tall and straight. Singing eight shows a week takes intense training and skill to be able to perform that much without injuring your voice. Ali Stroker has always felt powerful on the stage, and during her Tony Award acceptance speech declared, “I was meant to be in this seat.” She uses her high profile to speak all over the world on behalf of other-abled people spreading her message, "Turn your limitations into your opportunities."
Jacinda Ardern
Arshad Hasan
Leadership isn’t always (or even often) standing in front of a crowd and yelling. Leadership often means meeting the moment. After a violent Islamaphope committed a mass shooting at a Mosque in New Zealand, Jacinda Ahern stepped up in that moment. She met that moment with solemnity and resolve. Indeed the calm, almost quiet nature of her speeches not only met the moment, but set the tone for the momentous actions she took swiftly afterwards.
Vicki Roush
Days after the attack in Christchurch, with calm determination and heartfelt compassion, Ardern addressed her wounded country. First in Maori, then English, Prime Minister Ardern spoke to affirming goals of healing, unity, and inclusiveness. There was no yelling. There were no histrionics. No threats. She consciously used her voice so powerfully. She managed to exude a great strength through her stirring calmness. A nation could look to this 37-year old young woman and see a great leader.
Stacey Abrams
Arshad Hasan
I’ve seen Stacey Abrams speak at many venues, each time matching the energy and the gravity of the moment. Here she is giving the SOTU response, an honored spot for the opposition party, and a necessarily challenging one. She wastes no time in establishing a speech that is values-centered and story-driven, the kind of speech that sticks.
Right away she starts with a beaming expression telling us she’s happy to be here, and throughout her face is expressive - joy, pride, concern, outrage, and hope - all ways to connect with her audience going beyond words. Too often, speakers come off as lackluster and forgettable because they neglect to understand the power of emotion in our expression. This is not the case with Stacey Abrams. If you’d never met her before, you’d know after this speech that she’s passionate, she cares, and she’s driven by a sense of justice.
SOTU response pieces are notoriously awful. It’s almost a running joke. Abrams breaks this losing streak, and in so doing establishes the Democratic Party not only as the oppositiuon or the ‘reisistance’ but as driven by a set of values that powerfully contrast with the President. She gives us something to root for, as a Party.
Vicki Roush
Providing the response to any President’s State of the Union address has historically been a risky proposition. Most SOTU responses are remembered for some unusual quirkiness, but Stacey Abrams’ response was met with high praise for being authentic and affirming. Her welcoming facial expressions and comfortable stance tells us she is compassionate and genial, full of warmth. We feel comfortable with her, watching her makes us hopeful. With subtle changes in facial expressions and body language, her stern, more urgent words are conveyed appropriately. Stacy combines body language and spot-on vocal intonations to help get her message understood. Hearing about her righteous fight for voter’s rights, we feel more confident and feel we’re working beside a warrior because of the leadership skills she has honed.
Former President Barack Obama at Cummings’ Memorial Service
Arshad Hasan
A confident demeanor is one of the most important aspects we develop in emerging leaders. But, as we often say, confidence isn’t aggressive or bombastic. It is calm, it is in control, it can be quiet, and it should look easy - even when there’s no reason for it to be so - and there is an openness to it. And that’s exactly what Barack Obama has here in this appearance.
Eulogies and remembrances are difficult speeches to give. Magnify that a thousand times when you have nearly every major US leader, past and present, in attendance. How do you summarize a person’s life? How do you celebrate while being somber? Obama’s speech here relies on a strong and steady theme throughout (the parable of the sower, seed in good soil). It’s the reference point, the frame from which each major part of his speech hangs on. It allows Obama to diverge a little bit here and there, both for levity and poignancy.
Vicki Roush
Is there anyone who knows his audience better than Barack Obama? He knows this audience very well, and he is so at home on that stage. Beyond using words and stories relevant to the audience and situation, he adjusts his cadence and emphases equally pertinent to his audiences. He uses language and inflections as appropriate to his audience. And, so importantly, he makes eye contact with his audience, his entire audience. He takes them all in.
(Side note: One of the things I appreciated about President Obama with regards to public speaking is his ability to land a joke. An under-appreciated art form that few in politics can master.)
Which leaders did you love in 2019?
2019 had deep, dark moments. What gives us hope going forward were the leaders who held a light up to guide us forward. When we sat down to think about it, we realized how many there truly were this year. Each of our examples deserve reflection as we move forward, and these only scratch the surface. Who else stands out to you? What are the moments in which you saw a leader stand up and light the way forward?