Integrity and honesty are at the heart of our business. We expect our people to maintain high ethical standards in everything they do, both for the firm and in their personal lives.

Goldman Sachs Annual Report 1999

One must remember that every time a national corporation takes a step which is, or appears to be, against the public interest, it reacts on all corporations and is detrimental to our whole system of private enterprise.

Sidney Weinberg, Chairman of Goldman Sachs, 1930 to 1969
(thanks to James Kristie’s “Boards at Their Best” Blog

It’s too early to tell whether Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne can save that endangered automaker. But it is clear already that he knows how to use speeches to help turn his company around.  A month ago he spoke in New York to the National Automotive Dealer’s Association on (what else) transforming Chrysler. That speech is definitely worth a read – especially because it’s breath of fresh air after all the wease-ly,  responsibility-shirking remarks by Titans of Finance these days.

Marchionne acknowledges his industry’s failures (we “got into businesses we did not know how to run and, in doing so; we created clumsy bureaucracies that impeded innovation in what should have been our core expertise: making cars that consumers want to buy.”) He’s frank about how much Chrysler needs government help.He also lays out specific steps Chrysler is taking to turn things around (more fuel efficient cars, more R&D, better engines, etc) AND he sets out his vision for the revitalized company – (“a profound transformation, both in terms of quality and quantity.”)

One of the things I liked most about the speech is the clever way he addresses one of the biggest questions about the merger – can the conflicting cultures of a European company and an American one really be blended in a way that works?

To take on the skeptics, he does an extended riff on how “Bruce Springsteen showed us the power of change.” It’s not just a throwaway line: he talks about the Boss’s song structure and lyrics in a way that shows he (or his speechwriter) really is a fan. Subliminal message: if this Italian guy knows archetypical American music so well, maybe an Italian firm and an American one can work together to make and sell good cars.

The latest edition of my column in the Washington Business Journal, Speaking to Rise, focuses on the role of speeches and presentations by senior executives in the government contracting business. I interviewed Tim Dowd, the CEO of Input, which helps companies develop business with federal, state and local governments; and Kevin Parker, CEO of Deltek Inc., which provides enterprise software for project-driven businesses, including many of the nation’s largest government contractors.

Interesting observations, including:

“I can say things at staff meetings, but the organization tends to react more to things I say publicly than internally,” Dowd said. “The message often has more power when people hear me say it at a public event or see it in the press.”

Parker revealed that he’s not “a deep technical guy.”  “But one of the skills I do have”, he explained, “is the ability to take something very complex and distill it down. I can explain it in a way that will resonate with a large group of people so a complex idea becomes a compelling idea.”

What I have found is that the more people that really understand where you’re going and how you’re going to get there and what is expected of each of us, then the faster you make progress. So this communication is not just about me telling them, it’s about creating an environment — like the business plan review process — where everybody knows the plan. The more that everybody knows what’s going on, I think that you really accelerate individual performance, and you accelerate team performance.

Ford CEO and President Alan Mulally in an interview with the Washington Post’s Steve Pearlstein

In The Washington Post’s On Leadership blog I got the chance to offer some advice to CEOs about how they can use stories to boost the impact of their speeches. Here’s a key paragraph, and you’ll find the rest online.

The most effective politicians know how powerful the stories of individuals can be in driving home their point. Business executives, on the other hand, tend to shy away from stories. They are much more comfortable with statistics, chains of logic, quotes from business experts, etc. Those elements are important, of course, but well-chosen stories, offer something more. They are a great way to connect with an audience, humanize issues, and make listeners remember message points.