The Davos address by Mark Carney was widely praised not because it was stylistically ornate, but because it was rhetorically controlled. The speech was calibrated for a skeptical, high-status, multilingual audience fluent in geopolitical risk and impatient with empty idealism.
For advanced professionals working in international environments, this is precisely the context that matters. Senior stakeholders do not reward passion alone; they reward structure, intellectual credibility, and disciplined framing. Mastering these elements is essential for any executive looking to command a room.
What follows is a structured analysis of the rhetorical devices for business speaking that Carney deploys. We provide direct references to the speech and clear explanations of each device’s function, illustrating how these sophisticated techniques can be applied to elevate your own formal business communication and presentations.
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Source: Václav Havel, The Power of the Powerless
“Every morning, this shopkeeper places a sign in his window: ‘Workers of the world unite’… Havel called this ‘living within a lie’.”
“Friends, it is time for companies and countries to take their signs down.”
Device: Extended metaphor / framing metaphor
/ɪkˈstɛndɪd ˈmɛtəfɔːr/
Definition:
A comparison between two unlike things that continues throughout a series of sentences in a paragraph or lines in a discourse.
Why it works:
Carney anchors an abstract geopolitical argument in a concrete, repeatable image. The “sign in the window” becomes shorthand for ritual compliance, performative sovereignty, and moral avoidance disguised as pragmatism.
Once introduced, the metaphor recurs throughout the speech (“keeping the sign in the window”, “taking the sign out of the window”), allowing the audience to follow complex arguments without cognitive overload. This is not decoration; it is structural framing.
Application for advanced presenters:
In high-level presentations, complexity is unavoidable. A well-chosen controlling metaphor can function as cognitive infrastructure. Rather than repeating technical detail, you can return to the image. The metaphor becomes the architecture through which the audience processes complexity.
“The end of a pleasant fiction and the beginning of a harsh reality.”
“We are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition.”
Device: Antithesis
/ænˈtɪθəsɪs/
Definition:
The juxtaposition of contrasting ideas in balanced or parallel phrases or clauses to emphasize a conflict or choice.
Why it works:
Carney repeatedly forces binary choices: fiction versus reality, transition versus rupture, performance versus sovereignty. Antithesis sharpens stakes and removes the option of gradual drift—an option elite audiences often prefer.
Application:
In boardrooms, ambiguity often survives because it is linguistically convenient. Antithesis removes that comfort. When you articulate two mutually exclusive frames, you clarify strategic choice. This is especially powerful when alignment or decisive action is required.
“The strong can do what they can, and the weak must suffer what they must.”
Device: Classical allusion
/ˈklæsɪkəl əˈluːʒən/
Definition:
An implicit reference to a historical, literary, or biblical figure or event, used to ground an argument in shared cultural knowledge.
What an allusion is:
An allusion is an indirect reference to a well-known person, text, event, or historical idea, made without explanation, relying on the audience’s prior knowledge to recognize and interpret its meaning.
Who Thucydides was:
Thucydides was a 5th-century BCE Greek historian and General, best known for The History of the Peloponnesian War. He is widely regarded as the founder of political realism for his unsentimental analysis of power, fear, and self-interest in international relations.
The line Carney invokes comes from the Melian Dialogue, where Thucydides presents a stark claim: in a world without enforceable rules, power determines outcomes. The passage is often cited to justify geopolitical fatalism.
Why the allusion works here:
By referencing Thucydides, Carney signals historical literacy and intellectual seriousness. Crucially, he does not endorse Thucydidean fatalism. He frames it as a worldview being reasserted — and then challenges its inevitability. The allusion establishes credibility first, then opens space for rebuttal.
Application:
Used carefully, allusion signals intellectual depth without extended exposition. In senior contexts, referencing a shared intellectual framework can elevate a discussion and position the speaker within a tradition of serious thought. The key is restraint: credibility first, argument second.
“First, it means naming reality.”
“It means acting consistently…”
“It means building what we claim to believe in…”
Device: Anaphora
/əˈnæfərə/
Definition:
The deliberate repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses to build rhythmic momentum and emphasis.
Why it works:
This marks a shift from diagnosis to prescription. Repetition at the beginning of clauses creates rhythm, authority, and clarity. It presents the path forward as structured and finite, not aspirational or vague.
Application:
When transitioning from analysis to action in a presentation, controlled repetition signals decisiveness. It prevents the conclusion from dissolving into abstraction. Anaphora turns strategy into a sequence.
Examples appear throughout:
“Finance, health, energy and geopolitics.”
“Energy, food, critical minerals.”
“Capital, talent… and a government with immense fiscal capacity.”
Device: Tricolon
/ˈtraɪkoʊlən/
Definition:
A rhetorical term for a series of three parallel words, phrases, or clauses that provide a sense of completeness and structural stability.
Why it works:
Triads are cognitively satisfying and rhetorically stabilizing. Carney uses them to make lists feel complete and decisions appear grounded. These triads blend material power with normative commitments, reinforcing his theme of “value-based realism.”
Application:
In executive settings, long lists weaken impact. Condensing complexity into disciplined triads conveys control. It suggests that the speaker has already filtered the noise and identified the structural components of the issue.
“This is not sovereignty. It’s the performance of sovereignty while accepting subordination.”
Device: Redefinition / antanagoge
/ˌæntænəˈɡoʊdʒi/
Definition:
A figure of speech where a point is clarified by first stating what it is not, thereby stripping away false assumptions or criticisms.
Why it works:
Rather than defending a contested concept, Carney strips away its false versions. The audience is forced to reassess assumptions they may be invested in. This is rhetorically high-risk, offset by concrete examples that follow.
Application:
When terminology is politically or strategically loaded, redefining by negation can reset the frame. However, it must be supported by evidence. Without follow-through, it sounds provocative; with structure, it sounds clarifying.
“We are building that strength at home.”
“And we are rapidly diversifying abroad.”
“We’re doing something else.”
Device: Parallelism
/ˈpærəlɛlɪzəm/
Definition:
The use of successive verbal constructions that correspond in grammatical structure, sound, or meaning to convey order and inevitability.
Why it works:
Parallel sentence structures convey coherence and inevitability. The speech feels less like persuasion and more like briefing — a deliberate choice for an audience of policymakers and executives.
Application:
Parallelism gives strategic updates the tone of operational control. It creates the impression that the plan is already in motion, not merely proposed.
“Nostalgia is not a strategy.”
“If we’re not at the table, we’re on the menu.”
Device: Aphorism
/ˈæfərɪzəm/
Definition:
A concise, memorable statement that expresses a general truth or astute observation in a compressed, authoritative form.
Why it works:
These lines are designed for recall and repetition. Aphorisms travel well across media, survive translation, and reduce complex positions to portable truths.
Application:
Senior professionals benefit from developing disciplined, memorable formulations of their core messages. A well-constructed aphorism extends the life of a presentation beyond the room.
“This is not naive multilateralism.”
Device: Prolepsis
/proʊˈlɛpsɪs/
Definition:
A figure of speech in which the speaker raises and answers an anticipated objection before the opponent or audience can voice it.
Why it works:
Carney names the criticism before it can be made. By anticipating objections, he neutralizes them and reassures skeptical listeners that the strategy is grounded in realism rather than wishful thinking.
Application:
In high-stakes presentations, resistance is predictable. Addressing counterarguments proactively demonstrates strategic awareness and strengthens authority.
“We are taking the sign out of the window.”
Device: Ring Composition
/rɪŋ ˌkɒmpəˈzɪʃən/
Definition:
A structural technique where the narrative or argument returns to its opening image or theme, creating a sense of closure and cohesion.
Why it works:
The speech ends where its central metaphor began. This creates narrative closure and thematic coherence. The audience leaves with an image rather than a policy table.
Application:
Returning to an opening frame signals structural discipline. It leaves audiences with intellectual cohesion rather than informational residue.
Carney’s rhetoric succeeds because language, structure, and audience psychology are aligned. There is no ornamental excess. Each device serves a strategic function: to make candour sound responsible rather than reckless.
For advanced international professionals, the lesson is not to imitate style, but to study architecture. Authority in formal speaking does not arise from volume or charisma. It arises from control, of structure, of framing, of anticipated resistance.
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"10 Rhetorical Devices for High-Stakes Business Speaking" was written by Brenda de Jong-Pauley, MA, Director, The English Center and Alexandra Roberts, BA, English trainer.
Image Credits
Header image: "Address by Mark Carney at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2026" by World Economic Forum is licensed under CC BY 4.0.
