It could be said that Alexander the Great achieved his conquests due to one thing: his personality. His feats required more than military intelligence; they required a personality that people could rally behind. An unlikable Alexander the Great doesn’t lead armies across unknown terrain to conquer everything their path. The unlikable version probably stays home and farms, dreaming of bigger things.
Focusing specifically on one aspect of his success, we have a speech preserved from The Campaigns of Alexander, as addressed to his troops. Within these ancient words, we can find inspiration for our own speeches today. It’s potent. It’s motivating. And even now, we can see how Alexander the Great was such an incredible leader of men.
You can read the speech in full here, but let’s pull apart three of the most important aspects of the talk to see what lessons we can learn from the ancient text.
Call to Action
“I observe, gentlemen, that when I would lead you on a new venture you no longer follow me with your old spirit. I have asked you to meet me that we may come to a decision together: are we, upon my advice, to go forward, or, upon yours, to turn back?”
We often encourage presenters to end their speech with a powerful call to action, but in this case, Alexander the Great cuts right to the core of his purpose at the start. He wants to press on, and they want to stay behind. The question of what they should do is to be discussed, and he is clear that “going forward” is his choice.
If you want to grab your audience’s attention, take a lesson from Alex and say the difficult thing first. Challenge your audience from the start and watch them sit up in their seats to listen.
Humility
“I could not have blamed you for being the first to lose heart if I, your commander, had not shared in your exhausting marches and your perilous campaigns; it would have been natural enough if you had done all the work merely for others to reap the reward. But it is not so. You and I, gentlemen, have shared the labour and shared the danger, and the rewards are for us all.”
Would you expect Genghis Khan to say something like that? How about any other conquerer throughout history? By tying himself to the cause and acknowledging that the cause itself is exhausting, he humanizes himself to his audience. His soldiers aren’t working for him, they are working together.
Great leaders display humility. Take a lesson from Alexander the Great and describe how you feel the same pain points as your audience. Admitting that you’re not perfect is a great way to relate yourself to your audience.
Challenge
“With all that accomplished, why do you hesitate to extend the power of Macedon–your power–to the Hyphasis and the tribes on the other side? Are you afraid that a few natives who may still be left will offer opposition? Come, come!”
Without explicitly calling out cowardice or shaming the army, Alexander uses moments like these to brush away fears and challenge his men. It has a similar ring to “are we men, or are we mice?” and achieves the same effect. Also noted within the above quote is the expert placement of the words your power.
A great speech, whether it is political or otherwise, challenges its audience without insulting them. What’s holding them back? Alexander addresses their concerns swiftly, with an undertone that their worries are not valid.
The result is a speech that has been passed down through the ages because of its clarity and power. Take a queue from Alexander: follow his style and lead an army of your very own.
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