The Strategy Trainer's Creed by Allan Elder


I will touch my audience's emotions and become their champion by connecting my life story with their interests.

I will understand their situation and make my speech relevant to their hopes and fears.

GOALS: I will demonstrate how my beliefs and goals are similar to theirs and tell them why their success matters to me. Last of all, I am a spokesperson for my goals and my mission. My mission consists of my values and my personal philosophy and drive me to speak out. I realize that my mission is joined with their success in some fundamental way and so I will connect my mission to theirs, whether they be economic goals, professional goals, emotional goals, or philosophical goals.

CHANGING TIMES: I will understand how my audience feels about the changing times and offer a different take on it. I realize their hopes and fears are constantly shifting from one extreme to another and are driven by how their world is changing and how those changes affect them. Therefore, I will connect with their feelings about the changing times and use their hopes and fears as part of my own story.

GROUND: I will find common ground with my audience's needs and offer a new perspective on them. I understand that my opportunity depends on the fact that this audience has come together for a common reason and will be a spokesperson for that shared need.

CHARACTER: I will show how my character is similar to that of the audience and how they can improve their character. I am a spokesperson for me, as my life is always part of my topic. I know that my character determines my decisions and my decisions, in turn, determine my character. Therefore, I will tell them the strengths and weaknesses of my character and how I have been caring and at times oversensitive, intelligent with occasions of over analysis, that I am trustworthy and sometimes distrusting of others, that I am self-disciplined and have been known to be rigid, and I will also share my moments of courage as well as foolhardiness.

SKILLS: I will show them how my knowledge can help them and offer skills and ideas that they can use. I am a proponent of new skills, knowledge, ideas, systems, and abilities. I connect these skills to what I know about their needs, the changes they face, and the lessons I have learned in my life. These skills are not innate or inborn that require a specific history, but skills anyone can learn. Therefore, I will excite them about mastering these skills and show how they are in tune with my core mission and their needs.

In all this I will connect first with our similarities and then enhance our relationship by highlighting the differences wherein we may learn from one another.

Competitive Arenas: