People don't just want to hear prepared words anymore. They want to watch a leader think.

This week I took five minutes to listen to Keir Starmer's resignation speech.

On a personal level, I found it a little disappointing to see him go. Whether you agreed with his politics or not, I believed him when he spoke about caring for the country and wanting to improve people's lives.

But as someone who coaches leaders for a living, I found myself watching something else.

The delivery.

The speech was carefully written, measured, and safe.

It was also heavily dependent on the script.

By the end, when emotion finally broke through, I felt much closer to the person than I had during the previous five minutes.

But watching it I did ask mysekf the question:

Has modern politics become too risk-averse to communicate effectively?

At first I wondered whether this was simply a consequence of the traditional backgrounds many politicians come from. Law. Academia. Public policy. Professions where precision and careful language are rightly valued. Academia has always created distance. Especially from the crowd.

But I think something else is happening.

Modern politicians have become extraordinarily good at reducing communication risk. They optimise for precision, defensibility, avoiding headlines and avoiding legal or political mistakes.

The result is communication that is often technically correct, but emotionally flat. And its just isn't competing.

Now compare that with leaders who are prepared to speak more extemporaneously.

Whether people agree with them or not, unscripted communication often creates a stronger sense of authenticity because the audience feels they are watching someone think, not simply read.

That doesn't mean speaking off script automatically makes someone a better communicator.

Some extemporaneous speeches are incoherent. Some are inaccurate. But the brazen way they are communicated are getting through and some more traditional leaders are starting to experiment with it.

To be clear, both can co-exist, some scripted speeches are among the most powerful ever delivered because the speaker has completely internalised the words. We saw that this year at Davos.

I have long been fascinated by this.

Good extemporaneous speaking is not the absence of preparation.

It's preparation that has been internalised.

That's something I've encouraged clients to work towards for years.

Preparation isn't becoming dependent on a script.

It's earning the freedom to leave it behind.

Perhaps that's where the future of leadership communication lies.

Not with those who memorise the perfect speech.

But with those who prepare deeply enough that they no longer need to read it.

People don't just want to hear prepared words anymore. They want to watch a leader think.

To work on your public speaking and key communication moments work with us: Executive Pitch Strategy and Training