It is no wonder that people think greatly of such significant people such as Stalin and Malcom X. These were firebrands, who rallied people to great deeds and thus provided a major focal point and influence for events that left an indelible mark on the world.

It’s worth thinking about for a minute to ask exactly why it was that made them such inspiring figures -  and why they are vilified or quoted years or even centuries after their own era.

The answer: speech.

It is obvious that huge numers have made massive contributions to various fields with just as much influence as figures like. They may have come in many guises: exceptional logical thinkers, far-seeing with vision far in advance of their era. Not often do those ideas reach a broader constituency.  It is no exaggeration to say that brilliant people can often work alone and cannot reach a broad constituency. Innovations like a wonderful new filing system could revolutionise  a particular industry, but it would appeal only to a narrow selection of technical specialists.

So what differentiate the poorly renowned achievers, and {the people|those} who become legenday names? Communication. And much of that rests with the power of speech.

If Martin Luther King hadn’t been such a powerful public speaker, the black American emancipation movement would have maybe never succeeded. Today King is most familiar to us for his soaring ‘I have a dream speech.’ That we remember it all is down to the powerful way in which words come to mean so much more than they seem.

Much the same could be said of a figure like Churcill. His idiosyncratic inability to stop tinkering with the army’s plans, combined with an overweaning belief in ‘destiny’ might have meant that his premiership could have proved fatal to Britain during World War 2. His faults are today mainly forgotten and he is universally acknowledged as one of the great world leaders of all time. Much of his reputation lies on his public speeches – which were so inspiring that lifted the people he he had been chosen to represent to great deeds.

So a good motivational speaker can galvanise and create inspiration. The humdrum setting of the annual company meeting might rarely ring to great speech, but a great motivational speaker can inspire new achievements.