Starting or Ending a Business Year (optimistic) 1.1-A This speech is intended for someone needing to make a few remarks at the end of a year (or business cycle). Its overall tone is optimistic and inspirational. What follows is a basic framework that you can easily customize to meet your needs. Suggested areas where you can modify or add to the speech are noted in brackets. Opening Good [evening, afternoon, etc.]! The last year has been tough. I know everyone here worked hard, and I know that sometimes it seemed like all our effort was not really getting us anywhere. Despite the long hours and Herculean exertions, we ended the year in not much better shape than we began it. That sounds pretty discouraging. And it is pretty discouraging if we ignore what it really means.
Overview There is an unfortunate tendency in business to look at very shortterm results. Quarter-to-quarter, season-to-season: looking at such short intervals sometimes puts blinders on all of us. We can’t see those things that are not directly in front of us. But such a narrow focus is an almost sure path to failure over the long term. If we broaden our view, we may find that what seems like cause for concern or discouragement really isn’t. As I mentioned, we all worked our fingers to the bone over the last year. Right now, you might be wondering what all that effort got us. After all, our bottom line this year isn’t much better than last year.