Sometimes the universe blesses us with a second chance—even a second chance to make a stronger first impression. If that chance comes, we’d better get it right.
A perfect case study in the “second chance” category, (and all politics aside), Kamala Harris was given just that opportunity Tuesday at the Democratic National Convention, as she made a second “surprise” appearance on Night 2.
Monday (night 1), she spoke for three minutes, and I deconstructed where she hit the mark and where she fell woefully short, squandering the precious opportunity she had to maximize the value of those three minutes.
True, there's always room to improve, but this is a race for the presidency of the United States. If you're going to make unscheduled cameo appearances that haven’t been scripted and coached from every angle possible, they’d better be amazing.
This time, she spoke for just 90 seconds, so let’s look at how she improved on Day 2, where she still has room to grow, and what we can all learn from it as leaders.
What She Did Well
Let’s start with the good news.
First, what Harris did well on Day 1 remained strong on Day 2. Positive energy and enthusiasm are essential ingredients in a high-stakes environment like a political convention, and they were still evident.
Fortunately, it didn’t stop there.
Verbal
One area where she showed clear improvement was in the structural clarity, focus, and intentionality of her comments. Unlike the previous day’s speech, which was essentially one long run-on sentence, Harris’s points on Day 2 were crisp, clear, distinct, and to the point. She owned those statements, and they sounded authentic and authoritative at the same time. In leadership communication, owning your statements is crucial, and Harris did just that. Problem solved.
Vocal
The improvement in sentence structure had a direct impact on her vocal delivery. Because her thoughts had clear beginnings and ends, her tonality was infinitely better. There was greater variation in her inflection; she stressed key words meaningfully, and her pitch dropped declaratively at the end of each sentence, enhancing her authority, warmth, and credibility. Again, problem solved.
Visual
Visually, Harris made significant strides as well. Gone was the “invisibility cloak” of the previous day’s lifeless tan suit. Today, she opted for a rich, vibrant, royal blue suit, which brought a glow to her face that was missing the day before.
It was definitely a power color, but not yet a “power suit.” While the color was striking, the overall outfit was still dark and heavy, weighed down by a plain black shell underneath the deep blue. There were no designs, textures, or accessories—save for the requisite American flag pin—to add any dimensionality or visual interest.
Her style is always very conservative, which is fine, but even swapping the black shell for a white one, or adding her signature string of pearls would have brightened up the look. So while there was massive improvement, she still hasn’t quite nailed the visual energy to be congruent with the rest of the messaging.
Where She Fell Short Again
Whereas she should have taken the opportunity to whip the crowd into a united frenzy with the campaign rally cry of “We Fight, We Win,” to go out with a bang, Harris once again missed the mark.
She wrapped up her brief speech with a heartfelt triple “thank you,” but then her energy dropped, and she followed it up with one last energy-sapping sentence: “And you’re going to hear from our wonderful second gentleman shortly, I’ll see you in 2 days, Chicago.”
It sounded more like a perfunctory logistical announcement along the lines of “don’t forget to have your parking passes validated” than a call to action. It was, once again, utterly anticlimactic.
When in Doubt, Model an Expert
If Harris needs a point of reference on how to end a speech with power and contagious passion, she should take a note from someone who spoke on her behalf later in the evening: Michelle Obama.
It’s no surprise that Obama killed it. She’s a fabulous orator in general, but tonight, she didn’t just build a message—she built a crescendo.
Drawing from the mantra Harris’s mother often repeated to her as a child, Obama converted it into a powerful and apropos refrain: “Do something!”
She called the audience to action again and again, challenging them to take personal responsibility, and not just passively sit on the sidelines, complaining (e.g.) that they hadn’t received a personal call to participate.
Reminiscent of Kennedy’s “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country,” Obama took the crowd to task each time, saying that if they didn’t like the status quo, to “Do something!” The crowd responded on command, shouting the refrain with passion and commitment each and every time.
If the ultimate goal of a convention is to galvanize voters into action, Michelle Obama delivered a master class.
Conclusion
There’s a saying: “When the student is ready, the master appears.”
With the momentum building each night, and the likelihood of another “unexpected” cameo on Night 3, the question is: Will the third time be the charm?
Let’s see if the student was indeed ready, and if Harris makes the most of an unprecedented second do-over opportunity tomorrow on Night 3.
