A Leader's Guide to Giving a Memorable Speech

Expert advice on delivering an unforgettable, stirring talk or lecture!
“Highly readable, immediately useful and deeply enjoyable!” —John J. Nance, Aviation Analyst , ABC World News
“Insights on avoiding panic and other pitfalls, the use of rhetorical devices, and how to wow audiences from this masterful speaker who has done over 1000 speeches and interviews.”
—John N. Kennedy, United States Senator for Louisiana

A good leader must be intelligent, charismatic, strong, and inspiring. A good leader must stir passion and instill knowledge in the minds of followers, whether in the field of business, medicine, politics, sports, or entertainment. A memorable speech is a powerful tool for demonstrating leadership and inspiring listeners for years to come. You can give a stirring, memorable speech, and be seen as a real leader, and Donald J. Palmisano can help you.

Here Palmisano shares proven tips on delivering an inspiring and motivating speech. Drawing from his popular seminar at Tulane University School of Medicine and over 1,000 speeches and interviews, Dr. Palmisano teaches readers how to:

• Use rhetorical devices effectively
• Stay on message
• Practice delivery
• Glean lessons from great speeches of powerful leaders from the past, such as Cicero, Winston Churchill, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Ronald Reagan
• Organize speeches to emphasize the message
• Weave in stories that are unforgettable
• And more!

If you are a professor or teacher, if you are a CEO or manager, if you are thinking of running for office or trying to raise money, then A Leader's Guide to Giving a Memorable Speech belongs on your bookshelf. It's a great gift for anyone with aspirations of teaching, leading, or managing.

Donald J. Palmisano, MD, JD, FACS, a New Orleans native and USAF veteran, is the principal of Donald J. Palmisano Consulting (Intrepid Resources ®). He is a frequent speaker on leadership, risk management, patient safety, and how to give a memorable speech. Former president of the AMA, he served on the boards of the American Medical Association, the Joint Commission, the National Patient Safety Foundation, and The Doctors Company, as well as on the editorial board of the Journal of Patient Safety. A sought-after speaker at national meetings, he frequently contributes Op-Eds and does media commentary on national TV and radio. He teaches Leadership: How to Give a Memorable Speech as clinical professor at Tulane University School of Medicine and lives in New Orleans. His previous books include On Leadership and The Little Red Book of Leadership Lessons.

"Dr. Palmisano’s book is of supreme importance to all. An indispensable template to educate all who wish to write or give speeches. A buoy for support of all who have shuddered in anxiety before giving an occasional address. A beacon of hope for audiences that they will cease being subjected to boring, ill prepared and irrelevant speeches." —Ronald J. French, MD, reigned as Rex, King of New Orleans Mardi Gras in 2007

"A surgeon, an attorney, an extraordinary leader, an author, and a man fully engaged in the richness of life, Dr. Palmisano, the bestselling author of On Leadership, has written another remarkable book. A Leader’s Guide to Giving a Memorable Speech delivers on the promise of the title with an abundance of practical advice that you will find useful whether you are an experienced public speaker or deathly afraid of addressing an audience. But the book offers much more. You will learn how to envision your message, shape it, and deliver it beautifully, as Dr. Palmisano interweaves his own vast experience with that of great writers and orators throughout history. It is impossible to read this book without wanting to highlight it, and to you will find yourself making notes for your next speech. You will enjoy every page for the richness of the writing, the curated tour of literature and oratory, and the no-nonsense wisdom presented. You will learn how to achieve memorable communication in contexts ranging from an elevator pitch to a TED talk. You will see words that have moved the wheel of history and explore literary devices that have been effective for thousands of years. You not only need this book, you will enjoy it immensely." —Richard E. Anderson, MD, FACP, Chairman and CEO of The Doctors Company

“‘If there is an awful malady in the world, it is stage fright,’ Mark Twain recalled. ‘My knees were shaking…I didn’t know whether I could stand.’  I felt those sensations at age seven giving a camp lecture. Dr. Palmisano’s book would have saved me. Built on the remarkable experiences of a superb speaker whose own memorable addresses I’ve heard, Dr. Palmisano assembles principles from history and literature to create a spinal column of rhetorical devices, demeanor, and inside knowledge that can structure and polish in-person or media success for first-timers or the experienced. Twain would have loved it like me.” —Mark B. Constantian, MD, FACS, Traveling Professor, American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery

"In this easy-to-read, practical and well-organized guide to public speaking, Donald Palmisano, MD notes the importance of 'being yourself.' He personifies this advice consistently and brilliantly—in person, in print, on stage, on TV and radio and in this book, providing invaluable tools for more effective communication and success." —Donna Bavier Rovito, editor, Physician Family Magazine

"I am very much looking forward to reading Dr. Palmisano’s book! His leadership and public speaking seminar is highly rated by our medical students due to his uncanny ability to convey important lessons through storytelling. This book will undoubtedly provide much-needed practical strategies for becoming an effective, engaging, and memorable speaker." —Jenniifer W. Gibson, PhD, director, Office of Medical Education at Tulane University School of Medicine

“When I was offered the chance to have a look at A Leader’s Guide to Giving a Memorable Speech by Dr. Donald Palmisano, I jumped at the chance. Tulane medical students have had the opportunity to take his elective course, “Leadership: How to Give a Memorable Speech.” Well, I missed my chance by only forty-five years or so I thought. Now, we all have that second chance for leadership guru Dr. Palmisano has synthesized this course into this, his latest book. Drawing from seemingly boundless examples from Demosthenes to Mick Jagger, from Shakespeare to Lou Gehrig, this book comes fully loaded with practical tips, examples, and directions enough to make Mark Twain take notes. This book is also chock full of the lagniappe of his own life experience. From the young boy frozen with stage fright to “Aloha, Mahalo” in his farewell address to the Louisiana Medical Society, Dr. Palmisano pulls the reader alongside him as he revisits the highway of his life while sharing the insights gained at every rest stop on the path to leadership. Whether tasked with addressing your local PTA or your state legislature, you need to look no further than A Leader’s Guide to Giving a Great Speech for inspiration. This is truly the only how-to guide you will ever need. I wish I had seen this book before giving my own inaugural address.” —Art Fougner, MD, president of the Medical Society State of New York 2019–2020

“Giving a high-impact speech requires a thorough understanding of the art and science of passionate communication, and in A Leader's Guide to Giving a Memorable Speech, Dr. Don Palmisano has drawn from over two thousand years of wisdom and structure to put all the keys in your hands. As important and immediately useful to a speaker as a six-gun was to a lawman in the old west. Highly readable, immediately useful and deeply enjoyable!” —John J. Nance, Aviation Analyst for ABC World News, author, and speaker

“Story telling at its best! Dr. Donald Palmisano takes you from Aristotle and Cicero to modern day orators, with insights on avoiding panic and other pitfalls, the use of rhetorical devices, and how to wow audiences from this masterful speaker who has done over 1000 speeches and interviews.” —John N. Kennedy, United States Senator for Louisiana

"Speaking powerfully, with confidence, can transform your career. Palmisano, himself a famed speaker, provides tips and techniques that are invaluable." —Philip K. Howard, bestselling author of The Death of Common Sense and leader in legal reform