When I was on the high school debate team, my partner and I were by far the most succesful team from our school during our junior and senior years. We may not have been the smartest people on our team, but we were the best debaters. The reason for this is simple: we could communicate our ideas and arguments more persuasively than our peers on the team. The lesson we learned was a simple one: while you want to be smart and knowledgeable, you also have to be able to communicate those ideas persuasively if you want to be effective. Unfortunately, Timothy Geithner didn't learn that lesson until recently.
The Seattle Times had an interesting piece about President Obama's economic team and how most of his top advisers were selected on their expertise and NOT their abillity to communicate. The first time Geithner stepped in front of a TV audience to explain the generalities of the plan to save the economy, the Dow dropped 382 points. Last week when those generalities were made specific, Geithner didn't go in front of the TV cameras...the Dow went up 500 points. Needless to say, if Geithner needed to defend himself in an Athenian court in front of 500 people, he would have gone the fate of Socrates.
The point is simply this: it doesn't matter how good your idea is if you can't effectively communicate that message to your targeted audience. You could have a plan to save the planet, but unless you present it in a way that is engaging and interesting, the message will be lost. Look at what An Inconvenient Truth did for Al Gore and his message on global warming. No one really listened to Al him except for people who wanted to believe him already or were previously involved in the green movement. However, once the movie came out, because it was done so well, people sat up and listened.
President Obama needs someone who can communicate his economic message to the public. Until he does this, he is going to have to continue to be the person talking about it, which I don't' think he minds, but it would be nice if they could find a spokesman who understood the economic policies that they are implementing and can communicate them effectively.
So ask yourself this question when you are planning on speaking: are people going to understand what you are saying or are they going to walk away more confused then ever. If they are going to walk away more confused, its time to work on your presentation.
Travis
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