Create Your Communications Experience

Obama, Teleprompters and Authenticity

President Obama is no longer the premier communicator - which is remarkable as he was elected largely because of his speaking ability. I even named him as #1 in my Top Ten Communicators of 2006. It's not about the words - he does have very good speech writers - it's about the authenticity. 

He has slipped for several reasons.
First of all he is over exposed - speaking somewhere almost daily:

• 9 health care speeches in 9 days
• 4 Press Conferences in his first 6 months, more than President Bush did in 8 years
• more interviews than any recent President in recent times

In this over exposure in the media it is also now apparent that he is too scripted and aloof in formal situations, and halting in the informal situations. Not the great communicator.

See it now
Let me show you what I mean. First, there's the teleprompter. It astonishes me that most people don't consciously know when a person is reading from the teleprompter - but I think they DO know it unconsciously. And authenticity suffers. When someone is using the teleprompter, someone is READING A SPEECH - not coming from the heart (or at least appearing to do so.) I do not understand why Obama does not have good teleprompter coaching so that he properly uses focal points to at least APPEAR to be talking to an audience.

Teleprompter 1
Here is Obama in his teleprompter mode at his Egypt speech. He appears to be observing a ping-pong game - 4 seconds to one side (left teleprompter paddle) and 4 seconds to the other side (right teleprompter paddle.) Throughout the campaign and up until last week he had this rigid habit - 4 seconds left, 4 seconds right - and here recently in a Health Care speech.

Teleprompter 2
It's very interesting that last week, in his press conference on health care (that turned into his ObamaGates speech that spawned the Beer Summit), he used the teleprompter (finally) like a newscaster - looking straight at the camera as he reads his speech on a transparent mirror. You'll see he's better - but still cadenced, stiff and academic.

Teleprompter 3
Now here's a funny but revealing take from the TODAY Show on Obama's reliance on the teleprompter. It's written and talked about, and has become so apparent that there is actually a teleprompter on Twitter that is very funny reading: @BOTeleprompter. (As BO says, no POTUS without TOTUS.) So Obama's use of the teleprompter is unprecedented. No President, nor perhaps any public figure in history, has relied on continuous scripting of what he says as has this President. 

Extemporaneously speaking...
The sad fact is President Obama got elected because he was a supposed 'great speaker.' Actually he was, and is, a great orator - but I think the teleprompter is now getting in his way. He has to go to another level. Martin Luther King, JFK, Roosevelt, Clinton and Reagan rarely read from teleprompters - except on formal and State occasions. And their greatest moments were not when they were reading - it was when they were speaking. From the heart. Authentically.

Every leader has to be able to speak well extemporaneously - they are always in the limelight and have to communicate well in all situations. You can't take your speech writers and teleprompters everywhere. Sometimes President Obama is OK in extemporaneous mode, but more often he is halting and pedantic - his speech laced with ums and ahs, as in this press conference with Prime Minister Brown, and here in an informal press response that I posted on earlier.

Why it's important
President Obama is our President. No matter what your political bent you want the country to succeed. It is leadership that makes that happen. And we have a President who is now over exposed and, purely from a communications standpoint, going in the wrong direction .

Reading speeches is not leading - where inspiring is critical. I posted about President Bush losing the Bully Pulpit a while back, and most would agree on that. I don't think most will agree with me that President Obama is about to lose the Bully Pulpit as well, but it's happening.

And that would be a tragedy for a country that is already on a slippery slope.

Trust and Walter Cronkite

Why was Walter Cronkite the epitome of trust? Trust is an essential quality to have in any communicating experience, particularly newscasting. And every article, blog or TV clip mentions how Walter Cronkite was so trusted. What can we learn?

I think there are three primary elements (of many) that made him "the most trusted man in America", and perhaps the most successful newscaster of all time. Two of them have oft been mentioned, so I'll just mention some adjectives here because they are well sprinkled in other more weighty commentaries on his passing, and then concentrate on the third one, which I have not yet read nor seen...

1. Character

Walter Cronkite: Even temperament, tough, disciplined, hard working, news leader, values, accurate, thorough researcher, thought leader.

As Lyndon Johnson said when Cronkite came back from Vietnam and reported that we were NOT going to win that war, "If we've lost Cronkite we've lost mid-America."

2. Behavior

Walked the talk, did his homework, loved his work, authentic, consistent, highly skilled. 

Although he could read script and teleprompters with skill, he excelled (and preferred) to be extemporaneous and real, as when he told the nation of JFK's assassination.

3. Physical

This is an area that is not often mentioned, but in my view is critical to the trust that Walter Cronkite engendered.

First, a question on trust. If you didn't know their names, of these two public figures whom would you tend to trust more?

Now I don't mean to disparage Michael Chertoff, and he may even have the character and behavior of a Walter Cronkite for all I know, but looking at his face alone he is at a disadvantage in the trust sweepstakes. There are other examples of course, but here it's like night and day, black and white, closed and open.

Face: Walter Cronkite was called Uncle Walter because he was open and approachable - largely because he looked open and approachable. Walter Cronkite had the face and the voice to be "the most trusted man in America." This is not  talked of much - perhaps it seems superficial - but it is not. Our facial expression 'speaks' volumes without saying a word.

Yet many people have a trustworthy face, but most don't have qualities #1 and #2 above. Of course there are a lot of people who have character and who walk the talk, but they don't 'look' that trustworthy. For the former, work on #1 and #2. For the latter...

Although we can't do a lot with changing our face, we can change our expression and our attitude. Particularly if we tend to appear closed, and not friendly or open. It's critical to our communications, and worth working on. In Walter Cronkite's case, he was unique in having one of the most welcoming faces in America to go with his skill and credentials.

Voice: And what a deep, resonant and ear pleasing voice Cronkite had. All of us who have heard him often can recall today that voice like no other. It IS the voice of trust. Always calm, never strident. Conversational but not casual.

We are fortunate if our voice naturally gives us credibility. No matter, our voice gives our feelings away - like it or not. In the age of the cell phone we ought to take note. We can work on our vocal energy and enthusiasm. If we work hard we can affect the tone and resonance of our voice, and professionals must train at this. In the age of podcasts and YouTube replacing newscasts - the voice becomes even more important for credibility and influence. For professionals - and for us. For we are communicating daily to others, when it counts, on the phone - no matter what our occupation.

So with Walter Cronkite, perhaps we had the 'perfect storm.' In this one man came together the blessings of his physical nature that he honed, along with the character and behavior of a man that was destined to become the foremost newscaster of the ages - and a man we can trust. He will be missed. May he inspire all of us.  

 

 

 

The Power of Story

At a recent speech the presenter before me started out with a story, followed by another, and another. All linked to points. Brilliant, and so rare in business presentations today. He warmed up the audience, and I was grateful.

"Story" is the S of our SHARP principles, Story is also the primary tool in making your message stick, as in Chip and Dan Heath's great book "Made To Stick." And in the vernacular of Malcolm Gladwell - story makes ANY idea stick, and if you haven't read his great book get ("Blink") 

The Top Ten Reasons stories are useful and powerful:

• They are real
• They are short
• They are interesting
• They are human
• They give third party credibility
• They are easy to tell
• They are memorable
• They are emotionally connecting
• They move people
• They are the principle communication tool since Man began talking

What Others Say

To be a person is to have a story to tell.
  -Isak Dinesen

The story is more important to me than the part.
   -Catherine Deneuve

Of course it's the same old story. Truth usually is the same old story.
   -Margaret Thatcher

A compelling story, even if factually inaccurate, can be more emotionally compelling than a dry recitation of the truth.
  - Frank Luntz (Communication Specialist in language – also a political consultant)

Eighty percent of our life is emotion, and only 20 percent is intellect. I am much more interested in how you feel than how you think. I can change how you think, but how you feel is something deeper and stronger, and it's something that's inside you.
   - Frank Luntz

From Todd Paulsen, here is some of the power of story, and the reason behind it (see the complete article here):

"THE USE OF STORIES IS A POWERFUL TOOL that aids in material retention, but methodologies of inclusion are rarely discussed. The desire to share emotions and effect the emotional states of others drives us to tell and retell stories. A story is a vector that spreads the information and emotion that is contained within it. No classroom or teacher is needed past the initial storytelling. We have been doing this for years in the form of childrens stories.  It has been widely speculated that the story of Hantzel and Gretel (sic) is a cautionary tale used by elders to prevent children from wandering off into the dangers of the European forests alone."

Jesus told stories and parables. He didn’t talk in concepts – he only needed stories, and he riveted peoples attention. Sowing seeds along the path, the rich young ruler, a house built on sand, faith growing like a mustard seed, and dozens more.

Remember, people buy on emotion and justify with fact.

A great resource for getting great at telling stories is Doug Stevenson's Story Theatre - after our "Communicate To Influence" program this is one to take - it pays as a communicator to get serious about storytelling.

Create YOUR communication experience - stories will add mightily.