Impromptu

INTRODUCTION

At the 2017 Oscars®, movie producer Jordan Horowitz provided viewers with a remarkable impromptu moment. He had just accepted the Best Picture award for La La Land. Suddenly there was commotion on stage, and the PricewaterhouseCoopers folks informed him that Moonlight had actually won. Others might have been speechless—or angry. But instead, Horowitz boldly announced: “There's a mistake. ‘Moonlight,’ you guys won Best Picture. This is not a joke.” Then, holding up his Oscar statuette, he said: “I'm going to be really proud to hand this to my friends from ‘Moonlight.’”¹

These brief remarks were brilliant, and were justly praised by the media. Horowitz showed grace in announcing the real winner and offering up the prize so generously. Later he explained, “It was not about me. It was about making sure that ‘Moonlight’ got the recognition it really deserves.”²

I'd like to think that everyone who reads this book will respond to off‐the‐cuff situations as eloquently as Jordan Horowitz did.

“But,” you may ask, “isn't impromptu speaking something people do without thinking much about it?” The word “impromptu” conjures up the instantaneous remark, the wedding toast done in a flash of friendship, the job interview where you decided to “wing it,” the insightful comment that just came into your head at a meeting. Yes, these are all acts of spontaneity. But as we know, they don't always go well. Who could be more aware of this than Tony Hayward, the BP executive who told a ...