Inspiring Talk, as Well as Action, Can Help Solve America’s Current Problems

President Obama may be off the campaign trail but he is still hard at work giving Americans a future vision for this country. On Inauguration Day he told us, “Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions — who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.”

In a more recent televised segment he said, “That’s the test facing the United States of America in this winter of our hardship. … After a day of speaking with and listening to the fundamentally decent men and women who call this nation home, I have full faith and confidence that we can do it.”

Just as Presidents Lincoln, Roosevelt, and Kennedy sought to inspire generations of Americans, we need President Obama to tell us over and over again that there are brighter days ahead. We need him to tell us that the problems we face are not insurmountable but solvable.

Barack Obama isn’t the only leader in the United States who needs to be speaking out. Now is also the time for heads of nonprofit groups and foundations to talk to their staff members and grant recipients. In troubled times, people need to hear more from their leaders, not less.

This means more than mass e-mail messages, Web postings, or blogs. Every chief executive of a nonprofit or a foundation should make giving his or her own “live” visionary talk a priority. It’s not enough to explain next steps in senior staff meetings and on emergency board calls.

A visionary speech is a very specific type of communication. It tells us where we are going and most important why anyone should follow. A visionary speech isn’t focused on asking for money or administrative matters. People are looking for meaning and answers, not fund-raising requests and management jargon.

At moments of great unrest, true leaders speak out about the need to come together and meet the challenges ahead. They need to sell their solutions and offer a vision that gets us through dark times. This vision needs to serve as a light and shine bright with great passion, not blink through in an e-mail.

“We are strong enough to stand tall tearlessly, we are brave enough to bend to cry, and we are sad enough to know that we must laugh again. We are Virginia Tech. … We will prevail.”

Spoken at the university’s convocation one day after the worst shooting on a college campus in American history, Nikki Giovanni, a Virginia Tech professor and poet, used those words to acknowledge shared sorrow, but also issue a rallying cry to unite the families of the victims, students, and others who mourned across the nation.

After losing the battle for the Democratic nomination, Hillary Rodham Clinton brought together a deeply divided party in support of Barack Obama with her forward-looking concession speech: “Now, when I started this race, I intended to win back the White House and make sure we have a president who puts our country back on the path to peace, prosperity, and progress. And that’s exactly what we’re going to do by ensuring that Barack Obama walks through the doors of the Oval Office on January 20, 2009.”

Matthew Shepard’s father quelled the anger following his son’s murder by painting a picture of a better, more tolerant world. Speaking directly to his son’s murderer, Mr. Shepard declared that he would do his best “to see that this never, ever happens to another person or another family again. … My son has become a symbol — a symbol against hate and people like you.”

In each of these examples, these leaders overcame their own personal concerns, challenges, or sorrow to inspire the people who look to them for answers and hope.

Nonprofit leaders must understand that before they ask for more money or discuss fund-raising cycles, they need to first inspire people to continue to fight the good fight. Money alone cannot get us through tough times. Money is not the only thing that can make housing affordable, get people the health care they need, or jump-start an economy that is on the ropes, nor can it protect civil liberties or make sure every child gets a good education.

Those things only happen when leaders stand up and say with conviction that these things are possible — and then continue to push forward until they prevail.

Fortunately, vision is something that is plentiful in the nonprofit world. But it isn’t enough just to have it. We have to hear it — again and again. Without it, people lose the vision and things get dark.

Since the Greeks, visionary speeches have had a specific format. Visionary speeches have one central truth. The speech makes one call to action — and it’s usually not for money or to understand an administrative decision. It asks for people to be brave, to ask not what your country can do for you, and to let freedom ring. It is an inspiring speech that changes people’s lives and changes their behavior from that day forward. It happened to some people after they saw An Inconvenient Truth. It happened to some who left luxury to go into the Peace Corps.

What a leader says at times like this must make people have the hope they need to push for the changes we all want to see in the world. A leader must show colleagues what he or she is doing that is brave or risky in the face of great challenges. Leaders must demonstrate that they are optimistic and explain why. And they can’t be afraid to acknowledge that change may not come easily.

Not every chief executive can gather all staff members into one room — that doesn’t matter. A visionary speech can be turned into a podcast or a video on YouTube and distributed to everyone who needs the inspiration — from board members to volunteers to donors and grant recipients. And who couldn’t use a little of that right about now?

The nation needs to hear from leaders. Despite the inspiration of Obama, we don’t have just one visionary leader, we have thousands. These leaders need to make a message of hope their mantra and deliver it over and over again. By speaking up now, when we need them most, these leaders will offer the reassurance that is vital to our nation’s recovery from these difficult times.

Kristen Grimm is president of Spitfire Strategies, a strategic-communications firm in Washington.