Many years ago Australian Lawyer Michael Green came to New Zealand to promote his book.

I don’t recall the name of the book, but I do recall the speech he gave in Wellington.

The “I’m Cranky” speech.

I’m sure you will recall the speech if you were there. He repeated that statement about 20 times during the speech.

The speech left a lasting impression on me – I remember that he was cranky – nothing else, just that he was cranky.

If I could, I would read that speech again, to see how I feel now about what he said then.

I wonder if he still has it?

What I remember about this speech, was that it was a series of isolated statements that in the end remained just that. They did not paint a picture for me, that left me with an understanding as to why he was cranky, just that he was cranky about a lot of things.

Only Michael knew in his mind how these all fitted together, if they did in fact fit together, or whether they were just a bunch of things that pissed him off.

He was a lawyer, speaking to a room full of men (and maybe a woman or two) not to a court room.

Was it a well intentioned communication failure?

Was it me that was not getting his message?

If you were there that day, what are your thoughts on the “I’m Cranky” speech.