Michael Porter is a University Professor at Harvard, one of the founders of the Monitor Group, the author of several of the most significant books on competition and competitive advantage, including On Competition, Competitive Strategy and Competitive Advantage – and the guy who taught the world how to optimize a supply chain. 

He’s on anyone’s list as one of the more important business thinkers of the last couple of decades. 

But how good a speaker is he?

You can see him speaking here, http://tinyurl.com/67p94g, on his famous five competitive forces that shape strategy.  Here, he’s talking with Charlie Rose on America’s competitive strategy: http://tinyurl.com/yfw8q5l.  And here’s his speaker page: http://tinyurl.com/yecm4sr. 

Porter appears quite relaxed and conversational in his manner on first blush.  But his hands give him away.  They’re all over the place, waving, clutching themselves, coming together under his chin in a prayerful position as he decries America’s crumbling competitive advantage.  Altogether, there’s too much motion from Porter; his gestures become distracting after a few minutes.  It’s too bad, because he’s smart and articulate, and there’s no reason why he couldn’t learn to simplify his gestural conversation just a little.  Taking that step would give him much more authority and gravitas — and he’d be easier to watch. 

Then you notice his voice.  It’s nasal, and that becomes tiresome after five or ten minutes.  The research suggests that nasal voices do not wear well on listeners, and Michael Porter, with all his erudition, is a case in point.  Again, it’s simply too bad, because nasal voices are easily rendered more resonant with a little discipline and practice.  Porter needs to get to work.