Good at what you do, but struggling with your communication skills? Igotchu! 😎
Let Reeves be Reeves...
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There's a famous scene in the first season of the West Wing. Things haven't been going well for President Bartlett and his administration, mainly because he is too cautious to really fight for what he believes. Finally exasparated, he makes the decision to forget about the politics of reelection and speak up for what he believes. His chief of staff relieved that the President has finally decided to stop holding back, writes down an edict to every member of the White House staff that reads: 'Let Bartlett be Bartlett!' Communicator of the Week Award goes to UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves, who for a very very brief moment, put aside the excessive caution that has been her and Keir Starmer's halmark, and just said what she really thought. Heckled by a Reform supporter shouting and swearing at her as she tried to speak, one of his accusations was 'You’re ruining the country'. Exasperated, Reeves finally retorted in an off-the-cuff remark 'I love our country, and one of the things about our country is good manners.... Not very British!' And then of course, she returned to her scripted, carefully crafted delivery. But for that brief moment, it felt like we got to see her real personality. For one moment, she let Reeves be Reeves, and surprise surprise... people loved it. It is ridiculous that we live in times where the slightest bit of authenticity is hailed as political courage. But with the prevalence of AI and the controlled image of the Insta life, we have all come to realise that real is far more valuable than perfect. The truth is, as human beings, we have never warmed to perfection. Quite the opposite. It alienates. We prefer authentic and imperfect things. We forgive the mistakes of those who keep it real because... well they kept it real. We are much less forgiving of those that try to be perfect because they chose to create the standard by which they want us to judge them. With your own communication, you may be tempted to rely on AI to 'perfect' your writing, photoshop to remove blemishes from your image, or virtual backgrounds to hide the messiness of your zoom backdrop. You may think you need to write and then memorise word for word an entire script for your next presentation to make it perfect. You don't. Strive for excellence, not perfection. Above all, keep it authentic. Let you be you! ​ p.s. no AI bots are harmed in the writing of my posts because I don't use them! |
Build your Communication SuperSkills
Good at what you do, but struggling with your communication skills? Igotchu! 😎
The temptation to be perfect is often based on the fear of failure, but perfection is not all it's cracked up to be, and failure is never as fatal as feared. Communicator of the Week Award goes to US broadcaster Dominique Dillon. In a clip that has now gone viral, the cameras cut back to Dillon in the news studio, but she had dozed off, and the world saw it. If you are asking yourself how and why a screw-up can possibly be an example of good communication, you are asking the right question....
Sure, it's naive to think that sports should always be a bastion of pure competition, untainted by greed, but when someone just rubs the corporatism in your face, it's always going to go down badly. MisCommunicator of the Week Award goes to FIFA President (at least for now), Gianni Infantino, for his ridiculous proposal to sell a stake in the World Cup to private investors. Let's be honest. Corruption has always been a feature of world sport. But usually it is kept below the surface, so that...
Maybe it’s just that I’m old school, but I remember a time (pre-social media) when even politicians were capable of disagreeing without being disagreeable; when the purpose of speech was to persuade, not just to go viral; and the humanity behind the politics was common, not rare. Communicator of the Week Award, goes to PMQs and the entire House of Commons for the respectful, dare I say, reverent manner in which it held Sir Keir Starmer’s final appearance at the despatch box. Starmer was...