Speak to Lead

Humor Trivializes Evil - NPR Treats ACORN Child Prostitution as a Joke

First of all, now that I have your attention, I want to make clear this is not an attack on National Public Radio.

But it was an NPR broadcast that sparked my thoughts about the power humor has to trivialize evil. How comedy can move the focus from the heinous to the humorous, and in the process blunt the evil at the core of the issue.

These ideas came about on Saturday as I was listening to Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! WWDTM), NPR's "oddly informative news quiz." (Which, BTW, I generally find very entertaining.)

The topic: the ACORN sting, which documented the willingness of ACORN staff members to give advice on running a child prostitution brothel and other illegal activities. One staffer even volunteered to help smuggle the under-age girls into the U.S. from Mexico.

What I find particularly appalling is that none of the ACORN workers in the videos seemed the least bit bothered by helping enslave a dozen 12 to 15 year old girls as prostitutes. 

Unfortunately, the host and panel of WWDTM don't seem too appalled either. Here is the opening to the topic. (To hear this portion of the broadcast CLICK HERE and select "Panel II: ACORN And Fashion Week" in the right column.)

Public Speaking: Mnemonic Devices-Barfing Your Way to Success

Mnemonic devices for public speaking have been used for thousands of years.

The initial application was to help speakers remember what they were going to say as they delivered the speech. (For an overview and history of mnemonic devices used by the ancients--remember, the great Greek orators didn't have teleprompters--CLICK HERE.) 

Some mnemonic devices, however, are also useful to help the listener retain and recall your message.

The acronym is one of those. 

Many Americans learned the names of the Great Lakes with the acronym H-O-M-E-S (Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior). K-I-S-S (Keep It Simple Stupid) and A-I-D-A (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action) are well-known acronyms applying to persuasive speaking.

Which brings us to barfing your way to success.

Recently I heard William H. Nixon, Chairman and CEO of Policy Impact Communications, speak to a management group about his formula for business success, organized as

Persuasive Messages: Story Power, Greek Tragedies & Post Traumatic Stress Treatment

As those of you who read this regularly know, I'm a strong advocate of the power of stories, the use of narrative, to engage audiences and open them to your messages. 

Today's edition of USA Today contains an interesting article on the use of dramatic narrative, in this case ancient Greek tragedies, to treat post-traumatic stress disorder. It's a creative use of narrative to get troops to recognize the issue and be willing to talk about it.

Read it at "Stressed troops  take cues from ancient plays." 

Presidential oratory, discourse & disagreement - A look back at a kinder time?

Congress has gone home. The president and his family are vacationing in Martha's Vineyard. And most of the political structure (except the ones who can't afford private schools; public schools are already back in session) including the news media, are out of town. 

In short, it's pleasant in DC. 

The contests over health care, economic stimulus, and even acting-president Eric Holder's appointment of a special prosecutor are mild. The vitriol of commentary is muted.

So what a great time to reach back to those days when politicians used kinder, gentler discourse to discuss their opponents. For example:

John Quincy Adams on James K. Polk: Polk is just qualified for an eminent County Court lawyer....He has no wit, no literature, no point of argument, no gracefulness of delivery, no eloquence of language, no philosophy, no pathos, no felicitous impromptus.

Thaddeus Stevens on Andrew Johnson: In Eqypt, the Lord sent frogs, locusts, murrain, lice, and finally demanded the blood of the first-born of all the oppressors....We have been oppressed by taxes and debts, and He has sent us worse than lice, and has afflicted us with Andrew Johnson.

Walter Wellman on Benjamin Harrison: [Harrison] is narrow, unresponsive and , oh, so cold. As one Senator says, "It's like talking to a hitching post."

Well, maybe looking for a biting sound bite has long been a part of presidential disagreement.

Source of quotes: 1,001 Things Everyone Should Know about American History by John A. Garraty. ISBN: 0-385-24432-0

Persuasion: Dangerous Message - Joe Friday vs Clarence Darrow at Political Bloggers Conventions

"Just the facts, ma'am."* The phrase made famous by Dragnet's Sgt. Joe Friday, raised its deceptive head last week at the Netroots Nation (liberal) and RightOn (conservative) political bloggers annual conventions in Pittsburgh.

Toward the end of a Q&A session a woman stood up, thanked the presenters and said, "The facts are on our side. I realize now if we just get them out there, we will win."

In the non-partisan tradition of this blog, I won't be specific as to which of the conventions I attended. I did, however, expect the dangerous thinking exemplified above to be unique to us. I was therefore gratified to see an attendee of the other convention quoted in the newspaper professing the same misguided thinking.

Facts do not produce converts.

Facts are too susceptible to fabrication, half-truths, intentional and accidental misrepresentation, interpretation, skepticism, disinterest, rationalization, and denial. 

Facts can be useful in conversion, but only when used as part of a process, never as a stand alone.

If we want converts, we need to meet them where they are. We need to deal with their concerns, their perceptions, their assumptions, and their experiences. We need to build a relationship of genuine concern and trust.

And we need to offer, in the words of Bush 41, "that vision thing" so people find a better way.

Clarence Darrow, one of the most prominent American defense attorneys in the late 18- and early 1900s, summed it up well: "Don't give the jury reasons to acquit your client. Make them want to acquit him and they will provide the reasons." 

* Joe Friday actually never said the phrase he made famous. But he came close. What he did say was "All we need are the facts."

Message Development: Making Numbers Come Alive - How much is a trillion?

The great challenge of using numbers in presentations and interviews is breathing life into them so listeners take note, comprehend, and remember.

Since the currency here in Washington DC these days is expressed in trillions, I wanted to pass along this visual of what a trillion is.

The file was sent to me without attribution, so I apologize to its creator for not giving him or her credit. If any of you know its origin, I'd appreciate your letting me know.

Note: I have omitted the final 3 slides because they make a partisan political statement. Although I may agree with their viewpoint, political commentary is not the purpose of this blog.

And now, to demonstrate the escalation from million to billion to trillion, click on the file link below.

Download WhatsaTrillion-

Create a Marketing Habit in 21 Days: A Guide for Professionals

This is for those of you who lead small or solo practitioner professional services firms, and suffer the frustration of not having time to market when you're busy.The solution lies in Paula Black's new book, The Little Black Book - A Lawyer's Guide to Creating a Marketing Habit in 21 Days.

Don't get distracted by the lawyer focus; the process applies to all professional services. Paula kindly sent me a pre-launch copy and I think it's terrific. (In the interest of Washington DC's new love of transparency, I should be clear that I do not derive any income from recommending, nor from purchases of, the book.)

Here are 3 reasons I like TLBBALGTCAMHITOD (just try pronouncing that acronym!)

1. The 21-day plan breaks marketing into easy to do steps, short enough that you can fit them into a tight schedule. 
2. Because the steps are short and clearly defined, they do become habit forming. 
3. The formatting, typography and page design are worthy of an award. Key meaning jumps out at you; the look of the pages energizes you.  

For further information, and to see the bonuses Paula is offering for purchases today and tomorrow, follow this link http://tinyurl.com/nb8z3j

Media training/Reputation Protection: Reporter's Words You Don't Want to Read

Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference 2009 (WWDC 2009) opened today in San Francisco. It's described by Apple as "the premier technical event for developers and IT professionals innovating with Apple platforms."

One thousand Apple engineers; 5,000 developers. A new iPhone expected to be announced.

And here is the first tweet from the Wall Street Journal's legendary dean of technology, Walt Mossberg (shown here with Steve Jobs):

waltmossbergAt Apple #WWDC where it's all about iPhones and AT&T service is overwhelmed. You'd think they'd have prepared better.

OUCH! "You'd think they'd have prepared better."! What a great first impression.

I don't have any inside info from AT&T as to what went wrong. Maybe they thought they had done everything possible. Coverage would be, it seems to me, an obvious concern. 

Still, having observed how often the obvious gets overlooked, I wonder if coverage was on anybody's checklist.

Where were the reputation czars for AT&T and it's iPhone partner, Apple?

Media Messages: Sound Bites Gone Wild - Over 30 Sound Bites in 1 Statement

One form of sound bite is the use of vivid words - words that evoke the five senses and emotions or are different (often made up). 

This is one of the most frequently used sound bite forms and generally involves using one, two or at most three vivid words. 

So it was with great delight that I read in The Washington Times the following statement by Congressman Ron Paul (R-Texas). It contains nearly 40 clauses or phrases, any one of which could be lifted out and used as a sound bite or quote. Most of these sound bites are vivid words, but a couple of cliches, absolute statements and a prediction also appear. 

To make it easier for you to keep score, I've numbered the sound bites.

1) Could it be a bad dream or a nightmare? 2) Is it my imagination, or have we lost our minds? 3) It's surreal; it's just not believable. 4) A grand absurdity; 5) a great deception; 6) a delusion of  momentous proportions, 7) based on preposterous notions and on ideas whose time should never have come; 8) simplicity grossly distorted and complicated; 9) insanity passed off as logic; 10) grandiose schemes built on falsehoods with the morality of Ponzi and Madoff; 11) evil described as virtue; 12) ignorance pawned off as wisdom; 13) destruction and 

impoverishment in the name of humanitarianism; 14) violence, the tool of change; 15) preventive wars used as the road to peace; 16) tolerance delivered by government guns; 17) reactionary views in the guise of progress; 18) an empire replacing the republic; 19) slavery sold as liberty; 20) excellence and virtue traded for mediocrity; 21) socialism to save capitalism; 22) a government out of control, unrestrained by the Constitution, the rule of law, or morality; 23) bickering over petty politics as we collapse into chaos; 24) the philosophy that destroys us is not even defined. 

25) We have broken from reality; 26) a psychotic nation. 27) Ignorance with a pretense of knowledge replacing wisdom. 28) Money does not grow on trees, 29) nor does prosperity come from a government printing press or escalating deficits. 30) We're now in the midst of unlimited spending of the people's money, 31) exorbitant taxation, 32) deficits of trillions of dollars spent on a failed welfare/warfare state; 33) an epidemic of cronyism; 34) unlimited supplies of paper money equated with wealth...

Of course, 35) it could all be a bad dream, a nightmare, and that 36) I'm seriously mistaken, overreacting, and that my worries are unfounded. I hope so, 37) but just in case, we ought to prepare ourselves for revolutionary changes in the not-too-far-distant future.

Phew! What a bonanza for a reporter!

Persuasive Sound Bites: Word Pictures that Change Behavior

Steve Farnsworth (twitter user TheRealPRMan) has written a super blog entry titled Let's Shoot the CEO: Is Pay for Placement PR a Brilliant Idea or Acutely Ignorant.

Steve makes a powerful case against pay for placement. But that's not the focus of this blog. 

What excited me, and why you should read it, is Steve's use of a word picture to change behavior. 

Rather than attempt to convince with industry statistics, a long monologue comparing pay for placement vs traditional, or even testimonials, he cuts to the chase with a simple, but vivid word picture to shift the potential client's mindset.

Steve's experience also provides one other lesson on persuasion. You have to believe in what you offer. I can think of numerous service providers who would have immediately acquiesced to what the client thought they wanted. In Steve's case it's clear he knew the value of what he was offering and wanted the client to get the full benefit of his service. That's the power of the confidence that comes from firm belief ... and a determination to see that the client gets full value. 

Oh, and make sure you read all the way to the end to see the extent of the change.