Angela Merkel: projecting power through speech

When the political parties in Germany agree to a new government, Angela Merkel will step down as Chancellor.

Trained as a quantum chemist, she spent her first 35 years living in East Germany, until the Berlin Wall fell in 1989. Then she left behind her scientific work and embarked on a political career.

While her legacy will be examined and debated, what's clear is that her extraordinary role as world leader has given us a view of what a respected, trusted woman leader on the world stages looks like, and sounds like.

Her extraordinary role as world leader has given us a powerful view of what a woman leader on the world stages looks like, and sounds like.

In hundreds of speeches over the past fifteen years as Chancellor, Merkel has developed a signature speaking style: sober, methodical and measured, sometimes hesitant and noncommittal, always humble and humane.

In Germany, her name has even become a verb: "merkeln." According to the German dictionary Langenscheidt, it means "to do nothing, make no decisions, issue no statements."

For years it was obvious to viewers that public speaking was not her strong suit — in fact it seemed to make her uneasy. When she didn't quite know what to do with her hands, she would turn to her own gesture, bringing her fingertips together in a diamond shape.

It too got a nickname: the "merkel-raute." (Raute in German means rhombus, or diamond.)

“I have no charisma,” she once complained to Tony Blair, “and I’m not good at communicating.”

And yet on the international stage, Merkel has emerged as a confident, authentic, skillful speaker, unflinching during crises, principled in her beliefs.

Time and again, she has used the podium to establish policy, impart her vision, steer the course, and project power.

Time and again, she has used the podium to establish policy, steer the course, impart her vision, and and project power.

Here are a few of Merkel's most enduring speeches:

• Her joint address to the US Congress in 2009. She speaks about Germany since reunification and how her life was influence by her experiences during the Cold War.
• 2014 Falling Walls Conference in Berlin. On the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, she talks about how science can shape our lives, and why her political hopes so often rest on the scientific community. 
• Her 2019 commencement address at Harvard. One of her most personal speeches, she opens up about her experiences as a young woman and what influenced her growing up.
• Her candid March 2020 speech on the state of the coronavirus in Germany, asking for cooperation to get through the crisis.

Can you think of other significant speeches by Merkel that we should know about? Please let me know in the comments.

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My name is Dana Rubin, and I help women put their ideas into the world powerfully and persuasively. I’m the founder of The Speaking While Female Speech Bank, and the editor of the forthcoming Speaking While Female: 50 Extraordinary Speeches by American Women (Real Clear | Spring 2022).

I'm opening up a discussion about the role of women’s public speech in history and invite you to take part. We need to hear the best ideas from everyone to address our toughest problems — so let's improve this world together.

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