Dahle Communication

Have we lost our ability to communicate

Over the years we've seen dramatic changes in how we communicate with each other. We've gone from face to face conversations just 20 years ago (even 15 or 10) to texts, tweets and facebook posts. While these tools have given us a great ability to reach more people and do it more effectively it makes me wonder if we've truly lost the ability to talk to one another.

The perfect example of this is the current situation in Washington D.C. Both sides seem to be set in their positions and are refusing to even compromise. I understand the argument on both sides, but from my perspective as an outsider, it just looks like they can't communicate with each other.

During the shutdown in the 1990's, Bill Clinton and then Speaker of the House Newt Gingrinch actually talked almost every day. They enjoyed discussing policy and wanted to try and figure out how to resolve the issue. Sadly, it doesn't look like either side even wants to talk to each other.

Is this a problem with our society and how interpersonal connections seem to be lost because we're so used to looking at a screen and just typing out what we feel? Or is it just a problem with politics?

As a communicator, either way its a problem.

Note: picture courtesy of The Points Guy

A Good Story Helps Propel Supreme Court Nominee Sotomayor

There are many people in the communication field that have talked about the importance of telling a compelling story when giving a speech. Duarte Design, Bert Decker, Garr Reynolds, Guy Kawasaki, and Dr. Simon Raybould of Presentation Skills have all talked about the importance of telling a good story when giving a presentation or a speech.

Beyond that, if you had any doubts as to the importance of having a good story, then all of us were given a great example with President Barack Obama's nomination of Justice Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. Right away there were various newspaper accounts discussing her story and not her judicial record. A New York Times article summed it up well by starting a major article on Sotomayor with the following:

She was “a child with dreams,” as she once said, the little girl who learned at 8 that she had diabetes, who lost her father when she was 9, who devoured Nancy Drew books and spent Saturday nights playing bingo, marking the cards with chickpeas, in the squat red brick housing projects of the East Bronx. She was the history major and Puerto Rican student activist at Princeton who spent her first year at that bastion of the Ivy League “too intimidated to ask questions.” She was the tough-minded New York City prosecutor, and later the corporate lawyer with the dazzling international clients. She was the federal judge who “saved baseball” by siding with the players’ union during a strike. Now Sonia Sotomayor — a self-described “Nuyorican” whose mother, a nurse, and father, a factory worker, left Puerto Rico during World War II — is President Obama’s choice for the Supreme Court, with a chance to make history as only the third woman and first Hispanic to sit on the highest court in the land. Her up-by-the-bootstraps tale, an only-in-America story that in many ways mirrors Mr. Obama’s own, is one reason for her selection, and it is the animating characteristic of her approach to both life and the law.

Notice how there wasn't anything that dealt with her decisions on certain cases or her stance on certain issues. This was not a coincidence. The Obama administration is using a good story to help them ensure that their candidate gets through the senate confirmation hearings and placed on the Supreme Court.

Don't get me wrong - I am not claiming that Sonia Sotomayor is not qualified for the position or that the Obama administration is trying to fool anyone. I have not researched her qualifications nor have I delved into the debate about if she should be appointed to the Supreme Court or not. My point is simply this: the Obama administration is doing what all great speakers and presenters do. They are using a compelling story to get people on their side. 

In the same way, this can help your speeches and presentations. Knowing how to tell a good story gets people interested in what you have to say. Regardless if you agree with Obama's choice or disagree with it - you should recognize how effective their story is.

Travis

Timothy Geithner Needs a Speech Coach

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

How Communication can solve problems - Iran looks to talks with America

In my post titled "Solving Problems With Communication" I discussed how President Obama's  interview with Al-Arabiya and his overtures to countries like Iran was a great move in regards to communication.  Too many times we let our problems grow bigger and bigger because we just don't communicate with each other: in our personal lives and/or our professional lives.  It now looks like Obama's communication is starting to pay off.  Over the past few years, we have listened to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran call America "the great devil" among other names and watch as their nuclear capabilities have grown and grown and our influence in the middle-east drop and drop.  According to an article from the International Herald Tribune, Ahmadinejad has stated that Iran is open to having some dialog with the United States now, mostly because of the way that President Obama has approached the situation.  

Regardless of your political affiliation, I think this shows how opening up and being willing to put aside your differences can lead to good things.  Will this lead to better relations with Iran?  Who knows, but if you are able to open up your communication with your boss, your colleagues or anyone you are around, at least you will know where you stand.  From there you can figure out if you need to do something else, but at least you will know...and that alone is worth it.

Travis

Pay Attention To Detail

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Elephant in the Room

Daily Show Full Episodes
Funny Political Videos

Important Things With Demetri Martin
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Being a fan of The Daily Show and have met former Sen. Tom Daschle on several occasions, I had to include this video.  If you haven't heard, Sen. Daschle had to pay well over $100,000 dollars in back taxes when the Obama team was vetting him for the position of Secretary of Health and Human Services.  I think Jon Stewart sums it up perfectly when he says "Pay you **** taxes!"  

So I ask this of you in regards to presentations, your business and your brand: Are you paying attention to the details?  Sometimes small things that you don't think are that big of an issue can become a big issue in a hurry.  This can create serious issues for you in a variety of ways.  If you are not paying attention to the details in your presentations, you can make some critical mistakes that might cost you some business.  Also, make sure you are paying attention to details in other aspects of your business...it might be a simple mistake that you had no intention of creating...but it is still a mistake that you will be held accountable for.  I don't think Tom Daschle was trying to avoid paying his taxes and create a problem for the Obama administration...but he did.

Travis

Solving Problems With Communication - President Obama Interviews With Al Arabiya

President Obama's first interview after he was sworn into office was with the Al Arabiya channel with people have been calling "Muslim TV" (which personally I think is in bad taste, we don't call CBS 'Christian TV' or anything like that).  This was a bold move for President Obama.  This is not a political blog and I don't want to get into the politics of should he or shouldn't he and what impact it will have.  From a communication aspect however it was a great move.  Too many times the problems we have in our workplace, our home lives and between nations is that we just don't communicate effectively with each other.  What President Obama did was reach out to the Arab community by granting them the first interview of his presidency.  Doing this is going to give him some good will and will hopefully bring in more dialouge with countries that have not been too keen on listening to us.

Do you do that in your business?  If you have had problems with a worker, a co-worker, a client or anyone else, do you reach out to them to try and solve the problem or do you let it simmer?  This is why effectively communicating with people from the start is so important.  We waste so much of our time trying to fix things that could have been prevented had we communicated our expectations from the beginning.  Take a look in the mirror this week and see if you are communicating effectively in your job.  If you are not, then think about what you need to do to improve it.  Believe me, it can only help you.

Travis

White House Press Briefing -- The Voice of the President

Robert Gibbs has a job that has to be one of the hardest jobs in America: he is addressing a group of around 300 people who are constantly trying to get him to give them something to write about.  The White House Press Core is not out to get him, however, they do want information and know that he does not want to give out all of the information -- so there is a lot of dancing around questions and avoiding the questions.

What skill does this require?  Obviously you have to be able to think on your feet at a moments notice.  You have to know what the audience is trying to get and what you want to give them.  While Gibbs did a fairly good job, he stumbled a lot and you could tell he was surprised by some of the questions and had to manuver around them.  He still has some work to do to become a better speaker, especially since he is the voice of the President.

How about you?  Can you think on your feet?  If you had to answer to a group of people (maybe some board members or investors) that had some tough questions would you be able to answer them in a coherent and intelligent manner?  If you are presenting to a group of people and there is time for questioning afterward (which you should allow) you need to be preparred to answer some tough questions.  In order to do that, make sure you prepare yourself to answer those questions.  There are some easy things you can do to work on this:

1. Prepare a set of questions that you would ask if you were in the audience. 
2. Present in front of someone before your presentation and have them put together some questions that would be asked. 
3. Do a drill where there is no time limit and all they are doing is asking you questions (almost like a cross-examination period in a courtroom).   

Doing those steps can help you when it is time for your presentation.  If you come off as polished during your presentations, but then sound like you don't know what you are talking about when they question you, you will lose that business or possible investor.  Being over-prepared is better than under-prepared.

Travis