It takes an age to build trust and only a moment to ruin it
Whatever your business, whatever your career, you need a combination of skills, networking and timing. But above everything else, real success depends on trust. And yet...
The Washington Post reported earlier this month that US President Donald Trump has now told a whopping 3,000 documented lies since taking office. And Facebook reluctantly admitted the enormous user data breach from its business with Cambridge Analytica.
And, of course, tragically, here in Ireland, the scandal enveloping the national health service continues to unfold over its decision not to tell women the truth about their Cervical Check smear tests which terminally-ill Vicky Phelan, a former patient, poignantly described as "an appalling breach of trust".
In a world of post-truth, fake news, alternative facts, data breaches, Russian bots and trolls, we are living in a crisis of trust.
Sure, elected officials may be voted out. An unseemly company may fold, as with Cambridge Analytica. Or top leaders of organisations may step down - as in the case of HSE's now-former director Tony O'Brien.
Yet, what happens when a new leader steps in, and processes remain the same? What if the shuttered company rebrands under a different name, as reports have suggested Cambridge Analytica appears to be doing in the form of Emerdata. What reassurance do customers have?
But first, does trust really matter? Yes, according to a myriad of research and surveys. The Harvard Business Review reports that employees in high-trust companies are more productive and stay with their employees longer. Customers are more loyal. Trust is the basis of any relationship.
So, then, what does it take to establish and maintain trust?
I talked with global affairs analyst Michael Bociurkiw, who regularly guides large institutions through emergencies. Notably, he served as a spokesperson for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.
"It takes a very long time to develop a brand which people trust. Yet it only takes a moment to bring it down," he said. "If you've made a mistake, own up to it immediately. Even if you don't have all the facts, it is better to sound contrite or empathetic than unapologetic or insensitive. Just ask the CEO of United Airlines if he'd do things differently after the airline took a terrible PR blow when one of its passengers was dragged off one of its oversold flights - all recorded on smartphones and sent around the world on social media and TV screens. Adopt the mentality that the customer always comes first."
The people-first mentality or mindset is the key. This past week, I had the privilege of facilitating a three-day cyber-security conference in London. There, Jyrki Rosenberg of host company F-Secure, a Helsinki-based global privacy company, said: "Being trusted and trustworthy must become the collective mindset of your organisation from top to bottom."
Establishing and nurturing an integrated mindset of trust can be divided in three parts:
1 Ethics
People must believe in you and your organisation's motives. They must be convinced that your intentions are good. That your values are grounded and all actions are guided by a moral compass. You must share your common goals and vision purposefully and thoughtfully with your employees and customers. You walk the talk. When you work in an ethical way, you need to do it consistently, when it's difficult and when no one else is watching.
2 Excellence
It's not enough if we believe your intentions are good, we must also trust that you can deliver. Does your company have the capabilities to provide the proper service, product or solution? This is all about having the abilities to achieve what you say you can do.
3 Empathy
This is the willingness, desire and passion to truly try to understand the customers, the people you claim to serve. Whoever they are. As real human beings with hopes, dreams and fears. This is done by creating opportunities for genuine dialogues. Have conversations. Find ways to engage and ask for feedback. Listen. Then act accordingly.
Trust can only be fully demonstrated through the tests of time. And speaking of time, if you lose trust, experts agree that it can be recovered. But it takes time. How much of it depends on the level of severity of the breach and the efforts taken to address the mistake.
Bociurkiw cites the way Starbucks management handled the wave of bad PR from last month's arrest of two African-American men in one of its stores in Philadelphia.
The men had sat at a table without buying anything, saying they were waiting for friends. The manager called police and the arrests sparked protests.
"Starbucks' CEO took action immediately, saying their removal was unjustified and this is not the way they treat customers," said Bociurkiw. He paid a visit to Philadelphia and announced the very bold decision to close more than 8,000 of its US stores on May 29 for racial-bias training for all its staff, using credible, outside sources to conduct those trainings. And just last week, Starbucks' chairman Howard Schultz said all are welcome to use its store washrooms, even if they haven't bought anything. A great customer-first move!"
For trust to be built or rebuilt, actions always will speak louder than words.
Your best competitive tool may be your communications?
As I write in my Sunday Independent newspaper column this month, it’s high time for your regular check-up!
To improve your chances of living a longer life, we make periodic appointments to visit doctors, dentists and optometrists, don’t we? So, to improve your chances of advancing in your career or to better lead and guide your employees, why don’t you schedule regular appointments to examine and sharpen what may be your best competitive tool: your communications?
1. CEO’s are not exempt.
Let’s start at the top. This is a collective call. You senior execs are not too cool for school. In fact, you are probably long overdue for a check-up.
As an influential friend confided to me recently, “These types, despite telling themselves that they won’t fall for it, often end up surrounding themselves with cheerleaders and it only gets worse over time. Many leaders need cheerleaders to massage egos, mask sometimes incredible insecurities and generally keep them going. But the really smart ones will listen and learn to go onto another level and, as you know better than anyone…
it’s all about better communications – internal and external.”
Amen. But don’t just take my friend’s word for it. Take a look at what the CEO of Zoetis, the world’s largest animal health company, has to say about the importance of communications training.
Juan Ramòn Alaix was already a successful general manager with Pfizer before being tapped to head its animal spin-off business. Knowing he was going to be assuming the, er, top dog role, Alaix started an aggressive training program that lasted 18 months. He paid a former CEO of a big European company to mentor him and he paid for nearly two years of communications training.
He said, “I would have responsibility for communicating our strategy to the outside world—including the media, analysts, and investors. “ That is real dedication and commitment, isn’t it? Understand we all need ongoing training, no matter where you are in your career or how high in a corporation you’ve already risen.
2. From new hires to middle managers, don’t put off your communications check-up.
Like with physical health, prevention is better than the cure. If you are just starting out in your career, it makes perfect sense to begin developing your abilities as a strategic communicator now, as opposed to after you have picked up years of bad habits. Deploying strategic communications is not something you’re born with. It is a skill that must be developed over time in the same way that you would learn a second language or learn to play an instrument. It takes time and practice.
Most of us operate only in default mode. We say whatever comes to mind whenever it does. We don’t listen. We are simply waiting for the chance to talk next. Regular health check-ups may mean the difference between life and death, regular communications check-ups may mean the difference between career status-quo and promotion.
When would you like to schedule your communications check-up? Contact me today! As Lucy from the Peanuts comics would say, “The doctor is IN!”
Change your Communications,
Change your Life!
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Face Your Fear! My Top 3 Tips for Public Speaking!
If the thought of public speaking fills you with dread - like you're about to walk a tight wire high above - without a net - please read on for my top tips that appeared in my column this week in the Sunday Independent, "The Communicator."
If I go on The Late Late Show and ask the audience to “raise your hand if you’d like to stand in front of everyone else and give a presentation”, how many hands do you think would shoot up?
Of course, the audience might be a little loosened up from the free wine RTE provides audience members in the green room before they take their seats. So maybe more hands would go up than normal.
But, if statistics are any indicator, most of you would literally rather die than get up and speak in public.
Fear of public speaking, as you may already know, is often listed as people’s number one fear. It out paces the fear of death or the fear of flying.
This brings me to a letter I received this week from a reader. He writes:
“I love your column and three words that would describe me would be ‘curious’ and ‘confident’ in one-to-one conversations, but a very ‘nervous’ person when it comes to standing and speaking before an audience.
“As an owner of a small business, I have occasions to stand and speak about my business. But, to be honest with you, I would rather visit the dentist than give a speech.
“I know how important it is to the growth of my business but the fear I have of public speaking is just too great. I get very red, hands shake and have the dry mouth of a desert.
“Please, please how do I get over this fear?”
If you’re like some fad-dieters who keep looking for quick trick to shed pounds (or kilos or stones or whatever), I have to point out there is no magic pill to do that or to instantly shake your stage fright nerves.
But, here are three things that should help.
1 Think positively
In an old episode of The Brady Bunch Mike Brady tells daughter Jan, who is petrified of giving a speech, to imagine her audience wearing only underwear.
I won’t go that far, although you’re welcome to try it for a laugh. But I will tell you that in my experience, every audience — no matter how they are attired — wants you to succeed.
That’s a positive place from which to start. They’re looking to find meaning in why they are there. They want to connect with you. Bear that in mind. Be self-affirming. You step up on stage at 100pc.
2 Take time to write it right
Don’t wait until the day before you have to speak to write your speech. Give yourself proper time to prepare.
When you craft your speech, make sure to consider and address your audience’s interests and not simply your own. What’s in it for them?
If you operate on a “brain-dump approach”, that’s fine for your first draft. But revisit it the next day to refine and edit. Get feedback on your script from a colleague.
Remember, too, that the way you write may not be the way you speak. Are you writing words you’re comfortable with? If the words aren’t conversational to you, they won’t sound conversational to your audience.
If you want to be comfortable with your public speaking delivery, you must first be comfortable with your written material.
3 Practice out loud and on camera
That silly joke, “How do you get to Carnegie Hall?” comes to mind. Answer: “Practice. Practice. Practice.”
This is where you really can combat potential butterflies. You have to practice the same way you expect to deliver.
For instance, if you’re going to present standing up, then stand up when you practice. Don’t forget details like voice quality, energy and expression. Many people are uncomfortable hearing the sound of their voice when it’s projected, so they hold back when they practice. That’s a mistake. You should practice as performance-day-like as you possibly can. Smile. Gesture. Get into it. Try to get off-script. You’ll connect better with your audience and that’s the whole point.
“I feel like an actor,” one client told me recently. That’s okay at first. Over time, it will feel natural.
Bonus tip: Get help
Years ago, at my first job as a journalist with the Orlando Sentinel, I joined a “Toastmasters” group. With clubs all over the world, Toastmasters members deliver a wide-variety of speeches, receiving structure and encouragement along the way.
Joining wasn’t a job requirement, but I thought, “Hey, if I’m developing my skills as a written story-teller, it would be a good idea to practice telling stories aloud too.”
It was a great experience and one that helped me during my transition to on-camera reporting at CNN. I’ve since enjoyed going back as a guest speaker at Toastmasters clubs including in Lagos, Nigeria, and at the West Cork Toastmasters, one of top performing clubs here in Ireland.
With the right coaching, practice and time, public speaking comfort is a gift available to us all. Or, as you may have heard once or twice on The Late Late Show, “There’s one for everyone in the audience.” So, go on. When I ask, raise your hand.
Whether through Toastmasters or another training programme, I’d love to hear from readers who are learning to overcome their fears of public speaking. What is working? What are you still struggling with? Email me at sundaybusiness@independent.ie
Gina London is a former CNN anchor and international campaign strategist who is now a director with Fuzion Communications. She serves as media commentator, emcee and corporate consultant.
You can become a more deliberate communicator!
Today I ask this question: What three adjectives do others likely use to describe you?
I often have my clients first write down how they would like to be described and then square that up against how they imagine they currently fare.
That’s the challenge today in my “The Communicator” column in the Your Work section of the Sunday Independent.
If you’ve ever had a 360 report done on you, you know what I’m talking about. If you haven’t, reach out to me or your employer to get one. Kind of like President Trump’s 100 Days gauge, without hitting the front pages. Reality. Check!
What we think about ourselves is less important that how we’re perceived by others.
It’s helpful to identify what traits or behaviours of ours may be holding us back.
It’s also important to not get defensive, but to get determined once you identify it.
Don’t cop out with the old, “Well, that’s just how I am” excuse. Instead, to use this expression I’ve learned since moving here to Ireland, “Cop on!”
It’s a lot like when my mom used to make me sit down at the piano in our dining room and practice. Every day for an hour. She would set the clock on the stove and I wasn’t to get up from the bench until the buzzer rang. Except sometimes, like the cheeky eight-year-old I was when I first started taking lessons, I would sneak over to the stove and move the alarm forward a few minutes to hurry it along. Naturally, my mom had no idea that somehow in our home, the passage of time was magically accelerated. Ha.
But, like learning to play the piano, you also can practice taking incremental steps toward changing your behaviour as I discuss in today’s column.
Experts agree leaders are made not born. So now that you’ve been born, let’s get together to make you better!
If you have an A. B. C. (Appearance, Behaviour or Communication) question for me – please write to me here or in care of the Sunday Independent and I’ll try to answer it in an upcoming column!
Your first homework challenge, make it a great week!
Kindly,
Gina
Bill Ford's Engaging Body Language
Don’t use your body like a car to merely take your head in to the room! In today’s Sunday Independent, my weekly column, “The Communicator,” gives you three great body language tips for your next meeting or presentation.
Check it out!
And speaking of cars, on Friday I interviewed Bill Ford, the great-grandson of Henry Ford and the Executive Chairman of the company that bears his family name.
He was here in Ireland, along with his terrific wife Lisa and equally terrific sons Will and Nick, two of their four children, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Ford establishing a manufacturing plant in Cork.
In the University College Cork auditorium packed with pensioners from the factory, business students and local dignitaries, we had a “fireside chat” about the future of mobility, technology and leadership.
I’ll write more about what he said on the leadership topic, for next week’s column, which will also happen to be close to the 100 day mark for the presidency of Donald Trump, leader of my birth country, the United States. But, meantime, back to the Ford Company leader, if you weren’t in that auditorium to see him speak, you missed something critical: seeing how he delivered. To me,
Bill Ford exemplifies the skill of using body-language to enhance a presentation.
He didn’t hide behind the lectern when he gave his opening remarks like so many other CEO’s I have interviewed.
He didn’t pace around the stage. He didn’t rock or bob on his feet as he stood. He was poised and confident in the center of it, angling his body to different parts of the room as he addressed them.
He didn’t read from a fumbling set of papers.
He looked directly out into the audience.
And perhaps most of all -- he smiled.
His body language was a critical component of how he so compellingly connected with that audience.
Go online or if you’re here in Ireland, get over to your news stand and pick up a copy of The Sunday Independent and discover my top three tips how you can become more engaging in that way too.
And, of course, shameless plug, that’s one of the communications skills I train and coach here in my directorship role with Fuzion Communications. So, I’m happy to help you and your organization power-up.
Like the Ford Company says, “The Future is Unwritten.”
And much of how your future gets written is up to you!
Great relationships equals great communications.
Kindly,
Gina
Your name is the sweetest sound. . .
Early on in my professional career, I learned how important it is to get names right. In tomorrow’s Sunday Independent, I will give you my tips to help you get them right too.
* * *
My first job in Washington was on Capitol Hill in a Congressional office. The Chief of Staff’s first name was Christopher.
“It’s Christopher. Not Chris,” he corrected me after I erroneously referred to him in the more casual manner.
Christopher wasn’t being fussy. He simply preferred his name how he preferred it. We went on to have a very solid working relationship. I always respected him for reminding me. Nothing wrong with that.
Our names are possibly the most important part of our identity.
Later on, when I began working in television news in Washington at WTTG, I carefully made it a part of my job to learn and remember the names of everyone I met. I even made a little spreadsheet - listing names, positions and something cool or interesting about each person.
One day, about a couple of months in, I passed a producer in the editing hall whom I had probably met only once or twice before. “Hey, Mark,” I tossed out as I walked by. I won’t tell you his last name, but the cool thing I had listed was his ponytail. Very un-Washington-like.
“Hey,” he turned, “you’re new, right? You clearly make an effort to remember names.”
He went on to leave WTTG to become the producer for The McLaughlin Group, one of the best-known and longest-running current affairs panelist talk shows in US television.
I never forgot Mark. Or Christopher.
And to this day, I try not to forget names.
Last week, I traveled over to Shannon to work with a group of directors from an aviation company. One of the directors’ first names was “Iarlaithe.” I have learned plenty of great new names here in Ireland, but this was a new one for me.
“You probably haven’t heard my name,” Iarlaithe said to me. “It’s unusual.”
Yes, it is. It even says so when you Google it.
“An unusual Irish name that means ‘earl’ or ‘tributary lord,’” reads the citation. The name is also Irish for the St. Jarlarth, who, research shows, was noted for his piety and his teaching ability as he founded a school in County Galway.
The current Iarlaithe I met last week is known to me for his ability with numbers and that he likes his curry very hot!
I find the more I focus taking genuine interest in people and their personalities and stories that surround them, the more I will remember the names that go with them.
I’m not perfect, mind you. Last summer, when I spoke at the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Conference, I tried to show-off and go around the large ball-room and name everyone to whom I had been introduced. I got 99 percent – notoriously missing one gentlemen I had been having a wonderful talk with before I came up on stage!
Thankfully, he forgave me. And I’ll keep trying to focus more!
So if you’re one of those people who says you’re ‘just not good with names,’ don't miss my column,“The Communicator," tomorrow in the Your Work business section of the Sunday Independent to try and help you remember better.
Let me know what you think and how I may be able to help!
Also, if there’s a career communications topic you would like to me to cover in an upcoming column, or if you would like me to help you or your organization - please drop me a line at gina@Fuzion.ie
Great communications equals great relationships!
Kindly, Gina
The Number One thing I would advise my younger self
"Nice to hear from you. What an interesting and inspiring job you have. I can only imagine the young lives you touch!"
That's the opening line I wrote yesterday upon receiving an email from a youth pastor here in Ireland where I live.
He reached out to me on Linked In to ask this question:
"What was one thing life has taught you that would have saved you a lot of hassle to know when you were 17? "
It's a question for all of us to ponder, really isn't it?
As I wrote to the pastor, I really appreciated being asked the question. It made me stop and think. It was hard to think of only one thing, really! I am still such a project in development.
That said, here's what I wrote to him and what I'll share with you all now:
One of the most empowering understandings I have today is that EVERYONE - no matter what age or what station - wants to talk about themselves.
We want someone to listen to us.
About our lives. Our hobbies. Our experiences. Our feelings. We want to be relevant. We want to share.
As a 17-year-old (or 25-year-old for that matter), I think I thought of grown-ups as super mature and slick. I didn't realize the insecurities and need for rapport that we all continue to have.
So! Once you understand that - at any age -you can go into an interview, a meeting, a whatever - and if you have done your research properly - you can ask great questions.
Let the other person talk. Show that you are interested more in the OTHER person - than yourself. And that, in turn, will make them interested in you.
Becoming an active listener is not an easy characteristic to develop and while I say I understand it is important, I am still working to get better at it myself.
Here's a way to keep yourself on track: Write down questions to ask someone and bring them with you. Or simply write this on top of your notebook:
"Ask questions. Listen!"
Listening is great for interviews, negotiations, sales meetings, family discussions, parenting, everything.
We build rapport by asking caring questions FIRST!
And as I wrapped up my response to the pastor, I say finally to you:
"If I can help you in any way, I'm here to listen."
Hope that helps.
Take good care.
Kindly,
Gina
Love and Persistence - a Valentine's Story from a button store in Ireland.
Inspiring stories come from everywhere. This one comes from a button store. Yesterday, my treasured coat from my former home in Italy had come up missing one. It happens.
So where better to go, but to the “Cork Button Company”?!
Inside, as you might expect, the walls were covered with rows and rows of the useful fasteners. Small. Large. Colourful. Metallic. Round. Square. You name it.
The proprietor’s name of this eye-popping little store is Catherine Bluett.
She greeted each customer like a friend. My total purchase was about five dollars, but she paid attention to me as if I were buying a new car.
I asked her how long she had owned the button company. She told me she began working here years ago, when she was just 14. David McCormick owned it at the time. And although Catherine was close to her own mother Brenda, she also became close to David, his wife and their children too. She got a second family along with her job.
So, Catherine worked there. She grew up. She got married. She had children. Along the way, she separated from her husband. She stopped working. Or maybe she had already given up her full-time job by the time she found herself on her own. I forget the precise chronology. Years went by.
And then her mother Brenda died. Catherine, without full-time work, a partner and her mother. Felt alone. Depressed. Hopeless.
A year after her mother passed, on an April day, feeling especially down, Catherine turned to an unseasonable movie to lift her spirits. “It’s a Wonderful Life”, in which George Bailey finds meaning in his life.
Catherine told me she had come to the harrowing point in the film where George is about to throw himself into the river. She felt the same way. Ready to give up on life.
In her own desperation, she shouted out to her dead mother, “Please give me something. A sign. Anything!”
Catherine told me before the film concluded, she fell asleep. Crying in her despair.
She was awakened by someone at her door.
When she answered, it was a young woman.
“Are you the Catherine who used to work at the Button Company?” the young woman asked.
Catherine confirmed she was.
“The McCormicks asked me to come over to you to see if you would come back to work a few hours a week. They need your help.”
David McCorimick and his family needed her. Needless to say, Catherine needed them.
The young woman started to give Catherine the number to the shop. But Catherine told me she still didn't need to be given it. She still remembered it by heart.
Then, as the woman turned to go, Catherine told me she asked the young woman her name.
“My name is Brenda."
The same as Catherine’s mother.
* * *
Catherine returned to the button shop and began working for the McCormicks again.
Eventually, David was ready to retire. His grown children didn’t have any interest in taking over the button shop. But Catherine did. That’s how she came to own the Cork Button Company.
David died two years ago. Catherine showed me his framed portrait on the wall.
His wife still comes by to check in on things from time to time, telling her she has improved it a lot. Adding yarn and other notions to the inventory.
And, in addition to her new career as store owner, something else has been added to Catherine’s life. Fitting a proper Valentine’s Day story, if not for the Cork Button Company, Catherine would not have met the man whom she introduced to me as “the love of my life.”
Colin worked for a courier service and regularly delivered to the button shop after Catherine took over. For the longest time, she enjoyed his company only when he passed by, but, although he asked, she refused to go out with him for a drink after work.
One day, he announced he was taking a new job and wouldn’t be passing by any more. Suddenly, Catherine told me, she realized she cared about this person more than she had realised. She finally agreed to that drink after work. And as, she told me yesterday, she and Colin, have been inseparable from that day since.
She also proudly showed me her left ring finger. They are now engaged.
In “It’s a Wonderful Life,” George Bailey is disappointed time after time. If you don’t know how it’s going to end, the first three-quarters of the film is actually pretty painful to watch.
Then, with the heavenly help of Clarence the angel who wants to earn his wings, George ultimately prevails due to the kindness of the people he has been kind to and sacrificed himself for over the years.
The film ends with George surrounded by family and friends as he learns that life is indeed, “Wonderful.”
How do we persevere through difficulty? Through times with no bright career prospects? Through Valentine’s Days with no Valentine?
It’s not easy when you don’t know how your own movie is going to end.
But, I do know that sharing stories of other people’s triumphs over dark times – are inspiring. These stories remind us that while we don’t know if we are guaranteed to find career success, or true love, or name your dream – around the next bend—we can be certain that we won’t find it if we don’t force ourselves to get up and go around the corner in search of it.
So, no matter where you are on your professional and/or personally journey this Valentine’s Day, I am filled with hope and happiness as I share with you the story of Catherine Bluett.
If you ever need a button, come to Cork’s Button Company. Tell Catherine, Gina sent you.
With love,
Gina
Language of Leadership: A lesson from the 2016 Election
Much will be said and written in coming days and years about the biggest presidential election upset the United States has seen since 1948. Donald J. Trump, candidate is now Donald J. Trump, president elect. He even changed his famous Twitter page on Wednesday to reflect it.
How did it happen? Well, they say hindsight is 20-20 and I, as someone who thought Hillary Clinton would be America’s first female president, think I see much more clearly now.
Election 2016 will go down as the year when the Clinton Campaign discovered they were out of touch with the majority of Americans. Well, as it appears Hillary Clinton will actually win the popular vote, not the majority perhaps, but out of touch with enough Americans that it cost the party the deciding Electoral College vote.
There are a multitude of reasons, of course. But I think the difference in communications styles between the two candidates is one of the main reasons.
- Hillary Clinton campaigned by the book. Donald Trump tore up the book.
- Democrats bragged about how much Hillary Clinton studied and prepared for debates. Trump was more seat of the pants.
- She provided detailed policies that bored the average voter. Trump had short slogans that they remembered: “Make American Great Again.” “Drain the Swamp.”
- Democrats released lengthy policy papers. Trump had one pagers and more slogans, “Build the Wall.”
- Hillary Clinton appeared in photos with high-profile celebrities. Trump had Scott Baio and Stephen Baldwin and tweeted a photo of himself eating a taco bowl from Taco Bell.
- Democrats had endorsements from major newspapers. Newspapers that many voters view as full of high-brow bullshit. Trump didn’t.
- Hillary Clinton was measured, disciplined, studied, rehearsed, practiced. She gave long involved answers.
- Donald Trump used punchy sentences. Sometimes not even full-sentences. (Like that one-see what I did there?!)
From a communications stand-point, Democrats, long considered the party of unions, minorities, reproductive rights for women and the "little people" had become the party of the college-educated, the self-righteous, the deep-thinkers, the liberal lefties, the out-of-touch. The dreaded “Elite.”
Democrats messaged to the minds and intellect of the American people using facts and logic to bolster the reasons why Hillary Clinton should be elected president. But, excluding the genuine appeal of Michelle Obama, they didn’t use enough heart-felt emotion.
Research shows people make decisions based on emotion first. A-ha, you didn’t need me to tell you about the research part, though, did you? You know it’s true in your heart. And that’s a lot of what happened during this campaign.
Trump appealed to the hurting hearts and the gut of the American people. The weaker the economy, the stronger his vote.
Yes, he said offensive things. But when the Democrats or so-called “liberal,” media-folks pointed those gaffes out, they did so in logical ways – using college-level words like “misogynist” and well, "gaffe." They simply didn't connect with the lonely and marginalized rural voters or disaffected middle class or blue-collar workers whose jobs and dreams had disappeared and died.
I remember when my dad died, the neighbors in my hometown of Farmland, Indiana didn't come over and say, "Hang in there, time will heal, we've got a ten-page grieving plan you need to listen to." They cried too. They said they were sorry.
Democrats underestimated how hurting many of the people were. They were like know-it-all parents to unhappy, frustrated kids. The “eat your vegetables, they’re good for you“ kind of parent. The kind of parents that kids resent. The kind of parents that don’t get it. The kind that are out of touch.
I’m not literally saying that the electorate are children and the president is a parent, of course. America’s president should be a leader. A leader who can knows how to connect.
With his name emblazoned jets and designer family and his no-teleprompter style of speech, Trump masterfully combined the American dream of attaining prosperity with the common touch.
His communications style touched a chord. He connected. And he will be moving into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in January.
Yes, he used inflammatory language and hopefully he will move away from that to the more statesman-like tones he used during his victory speech and after his first meeting with President Obama.
The challenge and the opportunity, therefore, for Democrats and other would-be leaders, is to take a bit of one of the lessons from Election 2016. Don’t use negative language, of course, but get real. Get human. Use language your audience uses. Try to really focus on your audience’s perspective. What are their hopes, dreams and fears? Consider those first and then build your message from there. Use your gut. Your heart.
Speak from the perspective of your audience– not above them. That’s the language of leadership.
Kindly, Gina
I’m so grateful you are reading my essays. I train, consult and speak about the language of leadership. Please click ‘Follow’ (at the top of the page) and reach out to me directly to support you or your organization via LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and at GinaLondon.com and Fuzion.ie
PS. Clearly, Trump must now put his short, pithy messages into action. Workable policy DOES have to happen after January 20, 2017. That remains to be seen. But the lesson about language and connecting with people is what, I believe, largely won him the election... now, don't shoot the messenger... this one, I mean! Cheers.
It's Time to Build Bridges!
“The nation is at a critical point. At a time like this we can’t risk partisan bickering and political posturing. Our leaders have to reach across the party aisle to do the citizens’ work.”
Not the words of Donald Trump nor Hillary Clinton.
Those were the words of Republican candidate for US president, Mitt Romney, during his 2012 concession speech in Boston.
And yet, four years later, our nation is at an even more critical point.
The world has watched as The 2016 United States Campaign Season unraveled into the most insulting, accusatory, vulgar, and divisive campaign ever. It’s finally election day and the polls remain tight with Clinton clinging to a narrow lead.
The tight race reflects American voter emotions.
Disillusioned. Fed up. Frustrated. Many Americans are voting today in disgust of the Republican and Democratic candidate. I’ve even heard some are tossing both aside and going for a write-in ballot:
“Help.”
As a political reporter for CNN, I covered one of the tightest presidential races in US history – that of Al Gore and George W. Bush.
After six weeks of legal wrangling over Florida’s hanging chads, the Supreme Court stepped in and declared Florida and its electoral college votes for Bush. Despite winning the popular vote, Gore lost the presidency.
He called his opponent to congratulate him and then he addressed the nation:
“For the sake of our unity as a people and the strength of our democracy, I offer my concession. I also accept my responsibility, which I will discharge unconditionally, to honor the new President-elect and do everything possible to help him bring Americans together in fulfillment of the great vision that our Declaration of Independence defines and that our Constitution affirms and defends.”
Today, as the election results are tallied. I pray that whoever wins and loses remembers that:
“We are one people with a shared history and a shared destiny.”
I hope tonight at New York’s Javits Convention Center where Hillary Clinton will be and at nearby the Hilton Hotel Midtown where Donald J. Trump will be, there is no talk of building walls.
Only of building bridges.
Kindly, Gina