May 2013 / The New York County Lawyer 7

By Maria Guida

Copyright 2013 by Successful Speaker, Inc.All rights reserved.

Attorneys have great deal in commonwith actors. They face negative stereo-types that they must continuously seek todestroy: actors are unreliable, phony air-heads; attorneys are longwinded, arrogantsheisters.

How do successful attorneys and actorsinfluence people to believe otherwise?How can you, as an attorney, help defeatthese stereotypes and continue to buildyour business?

Persuasive attorneys and convincingactors understand the key finding of astudy conducted by the Harvard BusinessSchool: while your message is alwaysimportant, content constitutes only sevenpercent of your persuasive power. A full93 percent of the impression you make isbased upon how you deliver your mes-sage, to build belief within your listeners.

You can become a more masterful per-suader: spend less time preparing yourcontent and invest more time rehearsingdelivery behaviors that build listenerbelief. Convincing actors know how todo this, because they spend years honinga craft that is designed to help the audi-ence believe.

To establish belief, actors nurture whatStanislavski (the great Russian stagedirector and teacher) called the “sense oftruth.” In daily life, truth is what actuallyexists. On stage and camera, however,truth is not what exists, but what is possi-ble. To do their jobs, therefore, actorscreate truth; they exercise the power ofthe imagination to satisfy their own senseof truth, so that they themselves canbelieve.

In or out of court, the attorney’s situationis similar to the actor’s. The more sin-cerely you believe and deliver your mes-sage as truth, the more completely yourlisteners (and jurors) believe it.

When actors are preparing a role on stageor camera, they make careful plans abouttheir actions. One of the things they do isto pursue acting objectives that are per-sonally appealing and powerful, so thatthey will be motivated to speak the linesthat the playwright or screenwriter wrote.These carefully worked-out acting objec-tives are important building blocks thatactors use, in order to build belief.

As an attorney, by pursuing acting objec-tives as you speak, you can help yourprospects and existing clients believe that:

• you listen to your clients• you put the clients’ interests in frontof your own• you are passionate about a case –that it’s not just a cash cow for you• you truly are the client’s businesspartner• if you can’t handle a case, you willhonestly say so, and you will recom-mend someone who can handle it

No matter what practice area you are

in, pursuing acting objectives when youspeak will help you 1. project commit-ment and passion and 2. create thesebeliefs (and more) for your businesslisteners.

“Pursuing acting objectives” meansfocusing on what we do with our words –the powerful communication actions thatlie underneath the words we speak. Inorder to make choices about actions,actors divide the script into units, called“beats.” Each beat is a separate topic,smaller than the overall subject of themessage.

When actors have identified what eachbeat is about, they identify an actingobjective for each beat, choosing objec-tives that have the following qualities.Each objective should be:

• directed toward the listener and notbe concerned with dramatic effect

• personal yet appropriate to the spo-ken message and the listener’s situa-tion

• truthful (for our purposes, truthfuldoesn’t mean actual; it means believ-able)

• identified in active verb form andmove the communication forward

• specific

Here is an example from the theater. Anactor is about to begin rehearsal for anew Broadway play, and she is explor-ing her script to identify her actingobjectives. She decides that, at one par-ticular moment in the script, her charac-ter wishes to be powerful. That is herverb to be powerful. But the verb “tobe” is static and does not contain theenergy of action necessary for anactable objective. So, the actor rephras-es this: “I wish to obtain power.” Theverb “to obtain” is active, but it is notspecific. Now, the actor must ask her-self, “What must I do, in order to obtainpower?” When she answers that, sheknows what specific actions to taketoward the listener. She may decideupon one of these verbs as an objective:

“I want to (1) impress my listeners (2)instill confidence within my listeners (3)earn my listeners’ affection.”

Here are some sample acting objectivesthat might be useful when you speakdirectly to clients and prospects:

“I want to:

• direct my listeners toward behaviorthat will benefit them or their organi-zations• illustrate to my listeners the benefitsof taking action• save my listeners from making deci-sions that will waste time andmoney, or put them in a compromis-ing position”

These are actable objectives. You can acton them. Pursuing acting objectives likethese as you rehearse and speak will helpyou build prospect and client belief.

Keep your acting objectives private;never share them with anyone! Secretshold great power over us; when we letthem out, they lose some of their influ-ence on our behavior. Keeping your act-ing objectives a secret will help ensurethat they have power over you; power toaffect your tone of voice, body language,and every aspect of your demeanor. Yoursecret objective will also have the effectof strengthening your motivation to speakand increasing the level of commitmentand passion in your voice and gestures.

Actors write their acting objectives inthe margin of the script, right next tothe dialogue. In rehearsal, as they speakthe words of each beat, they focus onthe underlying acting objectives andpursue those objectives as if their livesdepended on it.

Attorneys can easily identify what theyconsider to be their overall objectiveswhen they speak. Many, however, do notrealize the importance of identifying themany different (and highly specific)objectives contained within the various

parts of the spoken message. It is these“micro,” beat-by-beat objectives that helpbuild belief when you identify them care-fully and pursue them rigorously.

Rehearsing the way actors do will helpyou speak strategically at each momentand project a conviction that is visible onyour body and audible in your voice.

Do the following:1. Divide your notes (or script, if youuse one) into beats, each one a dif-ferent subject.

2. Identify an acting objective for eachbeat. Choose objectives that areattractive for you to pursue and thatmeet the five criteria.

3. Write your objectives in the marginof the page.

4. Rehearse aloud, rehearse often, andrehearse at “performance-level”energy.

5. Internalize; do not memorize(rehearsal should be the practice ofspontaneity).

6. As you speak the words of each beat,focus on your underlying actingobjective. Keep it at the forefront ofyour mind, and pursue it energetical-ly.

This process should become part of yourpreparation for client/prospect meetings,telephone negotiations, networking/CLEevents, and conferences—as well as yourcommunication in the courtroom and theboardroom.

Apply this technique from the actor’stoolkit to build belief every time youspeak. Then, watch your persuasivepower and your practice grow!

Maria Guida is a speaking strategist/coachat major law firms and law associations,as well as a corporate and televisionspokesperson. As an actor on Broadway,TV, and film, she has worked with PaulNewman, James Earl Jones, and KevinKline. Maria can be reached at 718-884-2282 or via email at maria@successfuls-peakerinc.com.

Build Your Practice By Building Belief:A Lesson From the Theater