Do you have a dream like Martin Luther King Jr.?

Our world is in dire need for someone who can articulate a dream that draws us together in the same way Martin Luther King Jr. did. Could that be you?

When Martin Luther King Jr. stood up to speak on the 28th of August 1963, he was still feeling unsure whether he had prepared the right words.

Standing in the shadow of the Lincoln memorial, and in front of a quarter of a million people, his speech was initially ok, but not memorable. Things changed however, when legendary singer Mahalia Jackson called out, “Tell them about the dream, Martin.” 

Looking up from his notes, Martin Luther King Jr. went off script, and finished the speech in a way that changed America and the Western World.

No speech has moved and captivated people in the last 150 years like Martin Luther King Jr. did on that day. 

Ingredients of a dream

Listening again to the speech I find myself stirred. It remains a powerful piece of oratory and stands in stark contrast with the kind of speeches we routinely get from the people who call themselves our leaders.

Social researchers are getting clearer and clearer on the importance of what they call “storytelling.” What they mean by that term is not reading a book to children but the communication of a narrative that captures people’s hearts and minds.

A 2017 study showed that good storytelling is what helps get any group of people on the same page  “by broadcasting social and cooperative norms.”

That’s what happened in the shadow of the Lincoln Memorial. People heard a story about a different kind of society based on a different kind of values, and it galvanized people for action.

The author of “The Disney Way”, Bill Capodagli, was telling anyone who would listen back in 2010, that storytelling is how you build culture. He used the example of Disney and Pixar:

“At Pixar they say the story is king. And every team has a story and revolves around telling that story. The same thing needs to happen whether you are publishing books or making refrigerators or selling hot dogs; what is the story of your organisation, does everybody know what the story is, the mood and how to engage your customer, and how to make your customer part of that story – whether it is making a product or providing a service so that every one on the team knows their role in that story.”

Professor and Movie producer, Peter Guber, says that storytelling is;

“one of the world’s most powerful tools for achieving astonishing results. For the leader, storytelling is action oriented—a force for turning dreams into goals and then into results.”

Harvard Business Review December 2007

Martin Luther King Jr. told a story that all his hearers could find their place in. We need leaders today who can do the same.

Peter Guber took the time to isolate four elements of powerful storytelling in an article for the December 2007 edition of the Harvard Business Review, and his analysis helps to identify why “I have a dream” continues to resonate today, and can give some pointers for leaders who are seeking to move people today.

The dream has to be true for the teller

There are lots of “how to” books in the world, lots of people with theories about the “best way” to do things, including the best way to make a speech.

Martin Luther King Jr. worked hard on communication. He had been trained in the art of preaching and public speaking. He knew the theories. The theories, though, don’t guarantee a speech that moves people. 

The thing that does can’t be taught…is authenticity. Peter Guber writes:

Authenticity … is a crucial quality of the storyteller. He must be congruent with his story—his tongue, feet, and wallet must move in the same direction.

Too many politicians speak words that are not truly theirs. We are sick of leaders who have positions designed to gain votes rather than express their convictions. Too many people live incongruent lives.

“I have a dream” wouldn’t have been “I have a dream”, unless Martin actually had a dream. Nobody could deny, was that Martin Luther King Jr. was authentic. His life matched the words of his greatest speech and gave his words the kind of weight that meant people had to listen. 

When you are authentic, your words carry natural emotion that draws people in to what you are saying. Guber writes:

Being true to yourself also involves showing and sharing emotion. The spirit that motivates most great storytellers is “I want you to feel what I feel,” and the effective narrative is designed to make this happen. That’s how the information is bound to the experience and rendered unforgettable.

When Martin stopped sharing his prepared speech and started sharing his dream, the world changed. 

We don’t need leaders who will say what we want to hear, we need leaders who are motivated by a vision that is bigger than themselves. We need leaders who don’t need speechwriters because the words pour from their life experience and from their hearts, not from a focus group.

Authenticity though is not enough by itself.

The dream has to be true for the Audience

Martin Luther King Jr. knew that his audience was far bigger than the African-Americans who had organised themselves to be there for the rally. 

He knew that the people he needed to hear his story were the ones who could influence the policymakers. Martin needed to share his dream in a way that a white mother in the suburbs of Los Angeles, or a New York businessman, or a young person in the deep South could identify with.

That was exactly what he was doing when he began to share the dream:

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

What Martin was doing was telling a story that was true for the audience he was attempting to reach out to, which is what Peter Guber describes as the second essential element of an effective story:

The great storyteller takes time to understand what his listeners know about, care about, and want to hear. Then he crafts the essential elements of the story so that they elegantly resonate with those needs, starting where the listeners are and bringing them along on a satisfying emotional journey.

Martin doesn’t simply stop with painting an aspirational story…  he clearly articulates the obstacles to that story too, but he paints a picture of those obstacles being overcome, and quickly moves back from the problem to the aspiration:

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

He does this one more time;

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of “interposition” and “nullification” — one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

Any powerful speech identifies what needs to change as clearly as the vision for what change might look like, and does so in a way that captures people’s emotions. As Guber points out:

It’s not enough to get the facts right—you’ve got to get the emotional arc right as well. Every storyteller is in the expectations-management business and must take responsibility for leading listeners effectively through the story experience, incorporating both surprise and fulfillment. At the end of the story, listeners should think, “We never expected that—but somehow, it makes perfect sense.” Thus, a great story is never fully predictable through foresight—but it’s projectable through hindsight.

Martin finished the speech by reminding people what the original vision of the Nation was:

And this will be the day — this will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with new meaning:

My country ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim’s pride,    

From every mountainside, let freedom ring!
And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.

And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.
Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.
Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.
Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.

But not only that:

Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.
From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, and when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:

Free at last! Free at last!
Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!

The end of the speech is doing what Guber says is essential:

Leaders need to tap into this drive by using storytelling to place their listeners at the center of the action. As Hodge advised: ‘Encourage your people to join your journey, your quest, and reach the goal that lies at its end.’

The reason for inviting people into the story is so that the story becomes bigger than the storyteller, which is exactly what happened on that day. Guber says:

Orchestrate emotional responses effectively, and you actually transfer proprietorship of the story to the listener, making him an advocate who will power the viral marketing of your message.

If the story is true to the teller and true to the audience it will possibly get people’s attention, but that is not enough.

The dream has to be True to the Moment

It is a fascinating exercise to read through a range of Martin Luther King Jr.’s speeches and sermons. What you find is that there is a lot of “building blocks,” quotes, sentences and phrasing used over and over again. What you will also find is that no speech or sermon is exactly the same.

Much to the frustration of people who want to find a formula for the gospel, the same was true for Jesus and the Apostle Paul.

Peter Guber says:

A great storyteller never tells a story the same way twice. Instead, she sees what is unique in each storytelling experience and responds fully to what is demanded.

The ‘I Have a Dream speech’ would have been different in a different context because Martin Luther King Jr. was a great storyteller.

That doesn’t mean he didn’t prepare his sermons and speeches. He spent hours and hours in preparation… and was ready to put aside if the moment called for it. 

The ability to respond to the moment is one of the hallmarks of a great storyteller according to Guber:

There is a paradox here. Great storytellers prepare obsessively. They think about, rethink, work, and rework their stories… At the same time, the great storyteller is flexible enough to drop the script and improvise when the situation calls for it. Actually, intensive preparation and improvising are two sides of the same coin. If you know your story well, you can riff on it without losing the thread or the focus.

“I have a dream” changed the world because Martin was able to look up from his notes and share the story that was needed for the moment. 

A story that is true for the teller, true for the audience and true to the moment will be powerful, but it can also be very dangerous unless it is true to a mission.

The dream has to be true to the Mission

Peter Guber asserts that “A great storyteller is devoted to a cause beyond self.” 

A case could be put that this is where most of our leaders fall short. Too few are able to articulate a story that they would be willing to suffer for. 

Martin Luther King Jr. was motivated by a very clear mission. Prison time, beatings, fire-bombings, betrayal and ultimately assassination were all part of the price that Martin Luther King paid for his dream. The dream though, lived on.

Peter Guber says:

The job of the teller is to capture his mission in a story that evokes powerful emotions and thereby wins the assent and support of his listeners. Everything he does must serve that mission… This explains the passion that great storytellers exude. They infuse their stories with meaning because they really believe in the mission.

Over the past 20 years the term “flip-flop” has entered the public vocabulary to describe what happens when leaders suddenly change their position, usually because of political expedience. Guber asserts that powerful storytellers never change their mission, even when its not popular:

When truth to the mission conflicts with truth to the audience, truth to the mission should win out. The leader who knows his listeners is able to gain their trust and spend that currency wisely in pursuit of the mission. But this doesn’t mean telling people exactly what they want to hear.

He goes on to say something that explains why so many people still talk so wistfully about Martin Luther King Jr:

Even in today’s cynical, self-centered age, people are desperate to believe in something bigger than themselves. The storyteller plays a vital role by providing them with a mission they can believe in and devote themselves to.

It would be easy to sentimentalise the “good old days” and think that somehow the world has reached a point where leadership of this kind is no longer possible… but that simply isn’t true. 

Martin Luther King Jr. didn’t have it any easier than people who see themselves as leaders today. The depth of the challenge he faced is made clear by the response from the F.B.I., who responded to the speech by stepping up their counterintelligence operation against him after a disturbing assessment by the head of the division:

In the light of King’s powerful demagogic speech yesterday he stands head and shoulders above all other Negro leaders put together when it comes to influencing great masses of Negroes. We must mark him now, if we have not done so before, as the most dangerous Negro of the future in this Nation from the standpoint of communism, the Negro and national security.

Leaders can see the problems, but they are motivated by, and live for, a bigger reality.

For Martin Luther King Jr., the bigger reality he lived for was captured by a quote he often used from Isaiah 40:

Every valley shall be raised up,
every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
the rugged places a plain.

And the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
and all people will see it together.
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

Isaiah 40:4-5

This bigger story was how Martin transitioned his speech to its conclusion:

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; “and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.”

This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.

With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

Martin Luther King believed that there was a bigger story, and it was that bigger story that gave him his mission.

The bigger story that gives the dream

What I am unsure Peter Guber understands, but what I am sure Martin Luther King Jr. understood, is that you can’t simply make up your mission.

Four months after the famous speech he addressed a packed recreation hall at Pennsylvania State University about the future of integration and finished this speech with an explanation as to why he was convinced that he was on the right side of history:

Before the victory is won, some more may have to face physical death, but if physical death is the price that some must pay to free their children and their white brothers from an eternal psychological death and eternal death of the spirit, then nothing can be more redemptive. Yes, we shall overcome, because the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice.

We shall overcome because Carlyle is right, no lie can live forever. We shall overcome because William Cullen Bryant is right, truth crushed to earth will rise again. We shall overcome because there is something in the very structure of the cosmos that justifies James Russell Lowell in saying, “Truth forever on the scaffold, wrong forever on the throne, yet that scaffold sways the future, and behind the dim unknown standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above his own.

“With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair the stone of hope; with this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to speed up the day when all of God’s children all over this nation, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics will be able to join hands and sing in the world of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last, free at last, thank God almighty, we are free at last.”

Martin Luther King Jr. firmly believed that the earth was built on a moral foundation and that ultimately justice will prevail. It was this belief that kept him going amidst all the opposition that he and his friends faced. You can also see this belief echoed in almost all of his speeches and sermons. It was this belief that gave him his dream.

While I can’t prove it, I am fairly certain that Martin Luther King Jr. was shaped in his thinking by a British historian, James Anthony Froude who wrote:

One lesson, and only one, history may be said to repeat with distinctness; that the world is built somehow on moral foundations; that, in the long run, it is well with the good; in the long run, it is ill with the wicked.  But this is no science; it is no more than the old doctrine taught long ago by the Hebrew prophets.

The reason for my belief is not only the similarity with the idea of the arc of the moral universe bending towards justice but  a faded yellow index card that I came across with the heading: “Moral Law”.

The handwriting is Martin’s.

Martin Luther King Jr. believed wholeheartedly that no lie can live forever and that ultimately God would ensure that truth would win the day.

It is a belief based, as Froude says, on “the old doctrine taught long ago by the Hebrew prophets,” but perhaps forgotten by some who call themselves Christians today.

The old Hebrew prophets taught that God laid the foundations of our reality:

He set the earth on its foundations;
it can never be moved.

Psalms 104:5

By wisdom the Lord laid the earth’s foundations,
by understanding he set the heavens in place;

Proverbs 3:19

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his Glory.”

Isaiah 6:3

Implicit in the assumption that God laid the foundations of our reality is that his fingerprints can be seen in the basic shape and form of the universe.

The Apostle Paul picked up this point in his introductory thoughts to his readers in Rome:

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

Romans 1:20

Martin Luther King Jr. bet his life that, Paul was right and that because the creator God laid its foundations, the arc of the moral universe will ultimately bend toward justice. It was this conviction that gave him the dream.

It is this truth that will give you a dream worth fighting for.

I am unsure whether either Froude or King Jr., understood it, but they were touching on a fundamental piece of theology that seems to have gone missing from the Christian church from the beginning of the 20th Century onwards: The Glory of God.

In the coming weeks, I hope to unpack this theology and how it helps us find our bearings, and particularly the kind of dreams that change the world, in this moment of confusion.