The Finest Hour

A motivational speaker should never treat his work as just another job. He or she is involved in making the lives of others more productive and fulfilling. And along the way it makes your life more fulfilling as well, when you realize how many people’s lives have been changed by what you said on stage on a given day. 

If you go back to how it all began, motivational speech had its origins in war cries. Smaller or less powerful armies often had to face mightier foes, and kings and generals of the weaker forces would press them on to dream bigger and have full confidence in their abilities. They were told that even the mighty army facing them was no match for their courage and might. It instilled determination in them. Such speeches are recorded in religious and historical texts. 

In the 21st century, we have no greater example of a motivational speaker than Sir Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of Great Britain during the dreadful years of World War II. The famous Battle of Britain was the air battle which would decide the fate of the democracy in the Western world. On the eve of this battle, Churchill made his most famous motivational speech urging Great Britain to fight for its ideals and stand firm against the onslaught of the despotic Axis powers led by Adolf Hitler. Here are some excerpts from this speech which is called “The Finest Hour”:

The Battle of Britain is about to begin. On this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization…Hitler knows he will have to break us in this island or lose the war.

If we can stand up to him all Europe may be freed and the life of the world may move forward into broad sunlit uplands; but if we fail, the whole world, including the United States and all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new dark age made more sinister and perhaps more prolonged by the lights of a perverted science.

Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duty and so bear ourselves that if the British Commonwealth and Empire last for a thousand years, men will still say, “This was their finest hour.” 

We know that Britain won the battle, which was a decisive blow to the Axis forces. But along with the fighter planes and anti-aircraft guns, Churchill’s words played a big part in saving Britain and the entire Western world from despotic onslaught of the Nazis. It was at a time when Hitler’s forces were marching ahead through Europe, securing victory after victory, particularly the French victory. Churchill knew this battle had to be won or there would be no stopping him. 

The British Royal Air Force delivered, and gifted the country its “finest hour”. These days too there are decisive battles being fought, but they are in corporate circles were employees and senior staff need to beat the odds to meet deadlines and help their organization soar above the competition.  

As Peter Theodorou has realized over the course of his career, the motivational speaker plays the role of raising employee morale and making them experience “their finest hour”.