Gettysburg...

As a speechwriter — whether you deliver the remarks yourself or ghost them for someone else — you command enormous power.

You can change the world.

Lincoln did it. His remarks dedicating a new national cemetery at Gettysburg, for instance, are widely credited with not only redefining the rationale of our Civil War, but re-framing the very nature and destiny of our nation.

And he did it in 263 words.

Consider this:

There are people in our society — in every society — we classify as opinion leaders.

Are they necessarily smarter than the rest of us? No.

Are they wealthier or taller or cooler than anyone else? Nah.

But they can articulate their thinking with words carefully chosen and themes carefully crafted.

Their power lies in their ability to influence how the rest of us view the world and interpret events.

Pick your topic: Civil rights. Abortion. War and peace. The words opinion leaders use to make their respective case — whether for or against — come from somewhere. They are not casual or arbitrary, but deliberate. Their language is crafted and shaped and honed so that each sentence, each phrase, says precisely the correct thing, triggers precisely the desired response, evokes precisely the intended imagery, invokes precisely the necessary action.

Your message may be weighty, life-changing, monumental … or not. Regardless, the mechanics of good speechcraft remain constant.

Abraham Lincoln knew that, intuitively, from a lifetime of studying the classic orators.

Franklin Roosevelt knew it, too. So did Martin Luther King. And Ronald Reagan.

We know of these people, what they believed and what they expected of us because of the words they used to talk to us. By the structure of their arguments that led us to intended conclusions. By the stories that converted abstract concepts like freedom or justice or national identity into meaningful examples each of us could feel and appreciate and assimilate.

Your words make a difference when you want them to. Whether advocating for global peace or an increase in your department’s budget, what you say and how you say it matters.

Just remember, it’s never a function of how many words you use, but of how you use the words — of the stories you tell, the images you evoke, the confidence you show in your own message and its meaning.

No matter how large or small your world, you have the power to change it.