How to be a Presentation God: Build, Design, and Deliver Presentations that Dominate!

4.5. LOU GEHRIG'S FAREWELL SPEECH

Man is mortal. We're naïve to take the stage as though we have the luxury of time. Treating a message as though we have decades to impart it to the world isn't strategy; it's wasted time. If it matters, we should act as if only a short amount of time is available to get it out.

Lou Gehrig wasn't facing the end of an era or a cerebral notion of time. He had been promised certain death. Just as he stood so calmly at the plate and delivered year after year, he faced the unknown with a stoic grace that could make barbed wire cry.

Influence can be attained light-heartedly and with humor. However, the more successful we become, the more strength, fortitude, and vision will be required of us. Gehrig probably didn't have the courage to face the end with strength when he was just a rookie. He grew into his own legend, rising to a level of respect so high that the fact that he was a star baseball player came to be secondary to his reputation as a man. His example reminds us that the longer we present, the more character is demanded of us. We can hitch a great ride on a single presentation with high design and jokes—but if we want to become great, we have to be personally extraordinary.