It always pays to know your audience before you get up to speak. This applies not only to the subject matters of interest to them. You must take into consideration personal politics.
For example, if your boss is in the audience and he is incredibly petty, jealous, and worried about you outshining him, you must take this into account. In this case, keeping your job is more important than giving a good speech or even communicating any messages. There are times when you have to speak and your only goal is defensive: not getting sacked.
I hope this never happens to you, but it could. It that case, you should ignore all of the good advice I am sharing with you and then settle for giving a perfunctory speech, or worse, just reading a speech.
However, be warned. If you consistently give bad or mediocre speeches simply to avoid outshining your superiors, you will quickly develop a reputation for being a mediocrity. This can severely harm your long-term career prospects.
Good speakers always produce jealousy, even animosity, from lesser skilled people who are envious. The one thing that both Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan had in common is that their enemies accused them of being overly “slick” because of their superior speaking abilities. But both men had careers that far surpassed their critics’ careers.
If you know with absolute certainty that your boss is jealous of your speaking abilities, then, by all means, adjust your performance levels downward when you must. But then spend all of your time looking for a new boss who will actually support you doing your best in all endeavors. Unless you know that your boss is jealous and wants you to do poorly, you should always seek to give the very best presentation you possibly can. Major career advancements, promotions and being “discovered” often come down to giving one great speech in front of the right person.
