McCain Delivers Gracious, Classy Speech

Obama Victory Speech - Yes, We Can!!!!

Remarks of President-Elect Barack Obama
(as prepared for delivery)
Election Night
Tuesday, November 4th, 2008
Chicago, Illinois

If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.

It’s the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen; by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the very first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different; that their voice could be that difference.

It’s the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled – Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been a collection of Red States and Blue States: we are, and always will be, the United States of America.

It’s the answer that led those who have been told for so long by so many to be cynical, and fearful, and doubtful of what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day.

It’s been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America.

I just received a very gracious call from Senator McCain. He fought long and hard in this campaign, and he’s fought even longer and harder for the country he loves. He has endured sacrifices for America that most of us cannot begin to imagine, and we are better off for the service rendered by this brave and selfless leader. I congratulate him and Governor Palin for all they have achieved, and I look forward to working with them to renew this nation’s promise in the months ahead.

I want to thank my partner in this journey, a man who campaigned from his heart and spoke for the men and women he grew up with on the streets of Scranton and rode with on that train home to Delaware, the Vice President-elect of the United States, Joe Biden.

I would not be standing here tonight without the unyielding support of my best friend for the last sixteen years, the rock of our family and the love of my life, our nation’s next First Lady, Michelle Obama. Sasha and Malia, I love you both so much, and you have earned the new puppy that’s coming with us to the White House. And while she’s no longer with us, I know my grandmother is watching, along with the family that made me who I am. I miss them tonight, and know that my debt to them is beyond measure.

To my campaign manager David Plouffe, my chief strategist David Axelrod, and the best campaign team ever assembled in the history of politics – you made this happen, and I am forever grateful for what you’ve sacrificed to get it done.

But above all, I will never forget who this victory truly belongs to – it belongs to you.

I was never the likeliest candidate for this office. We didn’t start with much money or many endorsements. Our campaign was not hatched in the halls of Washington – it began in the backyards of Des Moines and the living rooms of Concord and the front porches of Charleston.

It was built by working men and women who dug into what little savings they had to give five dollars and ten dollars and twenty dollars to this cause. It grew strength from the young people who rejected the myth of their generation’s apathy; who left their homes and their families for jobs that offered little pay and less sleep; from the not-so-young people who braved the bitter cold and scorching heat to knock on the doors of perfect strangers; from the millions of Americans who volunteered, and organized, and proved that more than two centuries later, a government of the people, by the people and for the people has not perished from this Earth. This is your victory.

I know you didn’t do this just to win an election and I know you didn’t do it for me. You did it because you understand the enormity of the task that lies ahead. For even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime – two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century. Even as we stand here tonight, we know there are brave Americans waking up in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan to risk their lives for us. There are mothers and fathers who will lie awake after their children fall asleep and wonder how they’ll make the mortgage, or pay their doctor’s bills, or save enough for college. There is new energy to harness and new jobs to be created; new schools to build and threats to meet and alliances to repair.

The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even one term, but America – I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you – we as a people will get there.

There will be setbacks and false starts. There are many who won’t agree with every decision or policy I make as President, and we know that government can’t solve every problem. But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree. And above all, I will ask you join in the work of remaking this nation the only way it’s been done in America for two-hundred and twenty-one years – block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand.

What began twenty-one months ago in the depths of winter must not end on this autumn night. This victory alone is not the change we seek – it is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were. It cannot happen without you.

So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism; of service and responsibility where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves, but each other. Let us remember that if this financial crisis taught us anything, it’s that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers – in this country, we rise or fall as one nation; as one people.

Let us resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long. Let us remember that it was a man from this state who first carried the banner of the Republican Party to the White House – a party founded on the values of self-reliance, individual liberty, and national unity. Those are values we all share, and while the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress. As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, “We are not enemies, but friends…though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection.” And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn – I may not have won your vote, but I hear your voices, I need your help, and I will be your President too.

And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of our world – our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand. To those who would tear this world down – we will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security – we support you. And to all those who have wondered if America’s beacon still burns as bright – tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from our the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity, and unyielding hope.

For that is the true genius of America – that America can change. Our union can be perfected. And what we have already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.

This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations. But one that’s on my mind tonight is about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta. She’s a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election except for one thing – Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old.

She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn’t vote for two reasons – because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin.

And tonight, I think about all that she’s seen throughout her century in America – the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can’t, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can.

At a time when women’s voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can.

When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs and a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can.

When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved. Yes we can.

She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people that “We Shall Overcome.” Yes we can.

A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination. And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change. Yes we can.

America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves – if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?

This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment. This is our time – to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American Dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth – that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those who tell us that we can’t, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people:

Yes We Can. Thank you, God bless you, and may God Bless the United States of America.

McCain Shows His True Colors in Presidential Debate

Thanks goodness that Barack Obama is so calm and imperturbable. Otherwise, he might have launched back a similar personal attack to counter this rude and petulant statement by John "I Am Losing And Therefore Desperate" McCain.

Naomi Wolf wonders - Is the US headed toward an authoritarian state?

Naomi Wolf offers a well-reasoned argument that the measures taken by the Bush Administration (and supported by McCain) put us on a dangerously slippery slope - headed towards an authoritarian state.

She tells of an older German woman who lived in Nazi Germany who kept saying, "They did this in Germany" and gave Wolf a number of books that prompted this talk.

She reveals the FRIGHTENING news that as an American citizen ("a short Jewish woman") she is on the Homeland Securities watch list, along with a constitutional scholar who is critical of the Bush Administration, two elderly women from SF, 2 staffers at the ACLU, one of the leaders of Greenpeace, and A DEDICATED WAR HERO who flew many missions for the US military.

What happened to the "inevitability" of the Clinton nomination?

This column by E. J. Dionne Jr. of the Washington Post raises the question - Why is Hillary trailing Obama when her nomination looked "inevitable" just 3 months ago?

What happened to Hillary Clinton?

Last fall, she was the "inevitable" nominee whose "machine" would raise scads of cash and push her to an early victory. She demonstrated poise and knowledge in debates, and party leaders lined up behind her, fearful of missing her fast-moving train.

But this narrative was flawed from the beginning. Her campaign has suffered from profound organizational failures, small mistakes that took on larger import and miscalculations that have put her in a position where to survive, she must defeat Barack Obama in both Texas and Ohio next month.

The major flaw in the early story line is that there never was a Clinton machine in the sense of a well-populated organization skilled at turning out votes ...

Obama, by contrast, was shaped by his early work as an organizer for the Industrial Areas Foundation and his political life in Chicago, a place where people still talk about ward committeemen and harbor memories of something that was called "The Organization" ...

Her larger problem, which she must solve if she is to best Obama in the March 4 primaries, is reflected in her struggle to find a message, a purpose and a voice suited to the disoriented mood in American politics bred by the frustration of the later Bush years.

Obama is inspirational, of course, but in a particular way: His message has been constant since his boffo Nov. 10 speech at an Iowa Democratic dinner. He is less specific about policies than he is in describing the frustrations voters feel -- with Bush, with Washington, with divisiveness, with partisanship. His consistent promise is not to pass a detailed program but to change the mood and style of politics.

Clinton has offered experience and some well-thought-out policies. That might be enough in a different year. But when it comes to a larger theme, her campaign has been all over the lot.

This one of the reasons that I have continued to support Obama, though I think Hillary would make a fine president.

This election is about something larger than just policy. This election is about leadership and inspiration. If you are anything like me, you feel disappointments, frustration and anger with the absolute lack of leadership and vision and accountability coming from the Bush administration.

Bush has never asked the American people to sacrifice anything to enjoy greater security from terrorism or to support the war in Iraq. He has never offered a vision of what America should be doing. He has squandered the good will that we as a nation enjoyed after Sept. 11. If you think his approval numbers are bad in the US (high 20s - low 30s), listen to the words of Jonathan Rauch, currently a senior writer and columnist for the National Journal, a correspondent for The Atlantic Monthly, and a writer-in-residence at the Brookings Institution , Rauch is also the author of five books. Here's what he has to say about the legacy of the Bush administration:

International opprobrium. The Iraq adventure fueled a precipitous decline in America’s image abroad, and Bush’s pugnacious style during his first term and his tin ear for foreign opinion made a bad situation worse. This is more than just a public-relations problem. National prestige is diplomatic capital; the more unpopular America becomes, the higher the price of foreign support. Mark Malloch Brown, the UN’s deputy secretary-general, recently said that suspicion of the United States has grown to the point where “many otherwise quite moderate countries” are inclined to oppose anything we favor.

Hence, any new president will need to repair the damage done by the Bush administration. This will take empathy, diplomatic skills, superb listening skills, and the ability to form cooalitions. Obama has these in abundance.

In addition, the next president must repair seriously damaged relations with Arab nations who see Bush as aggressive and arrogant.

As Lawrence Lessig (a great thinker and compelling speaker) points out in this video from a previous post, who is better equipped to do this than a dark skinned man named Barack Obama?

The next president must also inspire the American people to get off their collective lazy butts and take part in making this the greatest country in the world again. We need to invest in infrastructure (roads, bridges, fiber optics, etc), education and health care. These are not on the table for John McCain who has staked his presidency on a possible 100 year presence in Iraq. Apparently, McCain and the Republicans have so little cash as to invest in pollsters. Otherwise, they would be getting the message that most Americans think the war in Iraq was a big mistake.

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BTW, while researching this post, I came across this blog by Oliver Willis, which he subtitles "Like Kryptonite To Stupid." It's worth reading.

3 Reasons to Vote for Obama from Lawrence Lessig

This video from Lawrence Lessig lists 3 important reasons why he supports the candidacy of Barack Obama. Lessig's presentations are always thoughtful, well-reasoned and articulate.



He states: "He represents the very best of who we are ... character, integrity, ideals ... as someone who opposed the war from the start."

Vote for Barack Obama in 2008!

Yes, we can.

Yes, we can.



Vote for Barack Obama.

Excellent blog post on presentation from Jake McKee

Jake McKee is the Principal at Ant's Eye View, a Dallas-based customer collaborations strategy practice.

Clearly, this post on his blog belies the comment, “I’m just a n00b at all of this public speaking stuff.” He offers up some sophisticated tips which are very useful to the average business presenter.

His brainstorming and content creation process is quite ingenious:

Typically my presentations, whether client research findings or conference keynote, start on the white board. I start free forming a running list of ideas, thoughts, points, and issues that may be relevant. This includes everything from major points to minor factoids.

Once I come across a point that I see as “significant”, I write it down on an index card and lay it on the floor. (I may also thumb through an old stack of cards from an previous session) Pretty soon there’s a bunch of cards laid out on the floor. I take a first pass at culling them down a bit, putting them in some sort of order, and identifying anything that might be missing. I’m a very visual person, so seeing this all laid out in front of me really helps.

This idea of whiteboarding, then culling the broader points to index cards is outstanding. Too often, speakers think of their presentation as text and words. This method is a more visual, right-brained, big picture method that is likely to lead to a better organized and well-thought-out structure. It's a very effective and creative way to get started.

Jake goes on to add a great suggestion about time:

No audience likes watching the presenter hurry through the last 15 slides in 2 minutes because they ran out of time. I tend to plan content for no more than 75% of the time allotted, although typically I plan for more like 50% of the time allotted.

Throughout the planning process, I’ll develop for that 50% target (i.e. 30 minutes of content for a 1 hour time slot). This helps me to ensure that I’m focusing on the truly important issues, but it also makes it easy to deal with the “oh yeah!” content that pops in during the rest of the development.

He is SO right about ideas coming up later in the process and adding that extra 25%.

I concur completely with Jake's point about clothing: “one step above the audience.” I want to be the best-dressed person in the room but only by a little bit.

He says:

I always try to ensure I’m presenting wearing my wildly comfortable Nike AirMax 360 sneakers.

If you can get away with sneakers, more power to you. I wear either Ecco, Rockport, Cole Haan Air Nike brand dress shoes because they are as comfortable as running shoes but very stylish and acceptable in ANY environment, right up to the boardroom.

He also has some great tips on visual media - images, PowerPoint / Keynote, etc.

Terrific post, Jake!

Clinton's Strategy Backfires

A colleague emailed me a link in reply to my blog post on Barack Obama's concession speech from New Hampshire.

The link led me to Peggy Noonan's piece "Declarations" in the Wall Street Journal online.

I once thought highly of Bill Clinton. I think he made a huge mistake in lying to the American people about having sex with Monica Lewinski. His appeal has waned even further in the last couple of weeks. I found the following excerpt rang true for me.

In Dillon, S.C., according to the Associated Press, on Thursday Mr. Clinton "predicted that many voters will be guided mainly by gender and race loyalties" and suggested his wife may lose Saturday's primary because black voters will side with Mr. Obama. Who is raising race as an issue? Bill Clinton knows. It's the press, and Mr. Obama. "Shame on you," Mr. Clinton said to a CNN reporter. The same day the Web site believed to be the backdoor of the Clinton war room unveiled a new name for the senator from Illinois: "Sticky Fingers Obama."

Bill Clinton, with his trembly, red-faced rage, makes John McCain look young. His divisive and destructive daily comportment—this is a former president of the United States—is a civic embarrassment. It is also an education, and there is something heartening in this.

There are many serious and thoughtful liberals and Democrats who support Mr. Obama and John Edwards, and who are seeing Mr. Clinton in a new way and saying so. Here is William Greider in The Nation, the venerable left-liberal magazine. The Clintons are "high minded" on the surface but "smarmily duplicitous underneath, meanwhile jabbing hard at the groin area. They are a slippery pair and come as a package. The nation is at fair risk of getting them back in the White House for four years."

That, again, is from one of the premier liberal journals in the United States. It is exactly what conservatives have been saying for a decade. This may mark a certain coming together of the thoughtful on both sides. The Clintons, uniters at last.

I am reminded of a comment made by David Geffen of Dreamworks SKG (G = Geffen) who is currently supporting Barack Obama for President and raised $1.3 million for his campaign. On February 21, 2007, in an interview with Maureen Dowd of the New York Times, Geffen described Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton in unflattering terms: "Everybody in politics lies, but they do it with such ease, it's troubling." He said that Hillary Clinton was "incredibly polarizing" and described Bill Clinton as "reckless" and cast doubt on those who say he has become a different person since leaving office.

When I heard this story, I found it a disturbing reminder that Bill Clinton has a thorny relationship with the truth.

Bill's credibility has become an issue in Hillary's Campaign. I suspect her campaign sees this as a NIGHTMARE - it is the last thing they want people talking about. This speaks once again to the importance of authenticity and credibility in communication.

Bush Legacy: 935 Lies About Iraq

The Bush administration lied to the American people 935 times in the build-up to the Iraq war, according to a report released by The Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit, nonpartisan, non-advocacy, independent journalism organization based in Washington, D.C.

"President George W. Bush and seven of his administration's top officials, including Vice President Dick Cheney, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, made at least 935 false statements in the two years following September 11, 2001, about the national security threat posed by Saddam Hussein's Iraq. Nearly five years after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, an exhaustive examination of the record shows that the statements were part of an orchestrated campaign that effectively galvanized public opinion and, in the process, led the nation to war under decidedly false pretenses ...

President Bush, for example, made 232 false statements about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and another 28 false statements about Iraq's links to Al Qaeda. Secretary of State Powell had the second-highest total in the two-year period, with 244 false statements about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and 10 about Iraq's links to Al Qaeda. Rumsfeld and Fleischer each made 109 false statements, followed by Wolfowitz (with 85), Rice (with 56), Cheney (with 48), and McClellan (with 14)."

Ultimately, this will prove to be a big part of the Bush legacy along with a faltering economy, the home mortgage collapse, the disgraceful response to Katrina, a massive $250 billion deficit largely driven by astronomical costs of the Iraq war, election fraud, the scandal surrounding the firing of federal judges and the resignation of another lier Alberto Gonzales (# 1 on Bert Decker's list of Worst Communicators of 2007), and the Valerie Plame / Scooter Libby scandal.

These have all led to some of the lowest approval numbers in US history. Bush and Co. have a lot to learn about authenticity and credibility.

Man, I cannot wait until late January, 2009 when this administration is GONE! Good riddance, Dubya!

Strong communication from Shell's CEO Hofmeister

As I was driving to San Francisco Monday evening, I was listening to "It's Your World" broadcast by the World Affairs Council of Northern California on our local PBS station, KQED in San Francisco (which I recently heard has the third most popular dot-org website behind Craig's List and Wikipedia).

The speaker was John Hofmeister, CEO & President of Shell Oil Company and the event was titled, "How the US Can Ensure Energy Supply for the Future." This appearance was part of a 50 city tour that Hofmeister and other Shell executives have been conducting to start a "dialogue" with the American people.

I was impressed by Hofmeister's candor and willingness to acknowledge the poor reputation that the oil industry is suffering in the media. They are experiencing record profits while gas prices are at their highest levels in history. The public's perception of his company and industry are so poor that he reports receiving a death threat in the mail - a drawing of his body hanging from a tree.

As the event was held in San Francisco, you can imagine that Hofmeister responded to questions about the companies record profits, offshore drilling, conservation, and alternative energies. Hofmeister candid and measured responses sounded both well-informed and balanced - acknowledging the US need for new sources of energy with the long-standing 100 + year dependence on oil and a highly-developed oil-based infrastructure.

I came away thinking that Hofmeister was a very effective communicator and leader. As he speaks about in the interview, Hofmeister earned a bachelor's and master's degrees in political science from Kansas State University. He comes across as erudite. and seems to fully grasp the "big picture" of his industry and is able to articulate it's dynamics extremely well.

His candor typified the qualities of transparency and authenticity that I've written about in many posts here.

You can listen to the recording, see the video or download an MP3 file of that speech at the WAF audio and video archive here.

Obama's Concession Speech is Brilliant

Hearing Barack Obama's concession speech after the New Hampshire primary, I was deeply impressed. He is clearly echoing Martin Luther King Jr's great "I Have A Dream" speech by treating adversity as a challenge, inspiring his campaign and supporters to redouble their efforts.

His repetition of a simple phrase "Yes, we can" is a use of a recurring theme that makes his presentation memorable, 'sticky' and very effective. Note the audience picking up the chant ... in spite of the fact that he "lost" the primary, this audience doesn't seem deterred. They seem even more committed to their candidate.

Partial transcript:

For when we have faced down impossible odds, when we've been told we're not ready or that we shouldn't try or that we can't, generations of Americans have responded with a simple creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can. Yes, we can. Yes, we can.

It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation: Yes, we can.

It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail towards freedom through the darkest of nights: Yes, we can.

It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness: Yes, we can.

It was the call of workers who organized, women who reached for the ballot, a president who chose the moon as our new frontier, and a king who took us to the mountaintop and pointed the way to the promised land: Yes, we can, to justice and equality.

Yes, we can, to opportunity and prosperity. Yes, we can heal this nation. Yes, we can repair this world. Yes, we can.

This is superb communication and leadership. He uses language that makes the audience feel that they are part of something bigger than themselves, something meaningful, something important and exciting. They are cast as heroes on par with Jefferson, Washington, Louis and Clark, Lincoln, and King. It's heady company and intoxicating to think of one's self as part of a movement.

On the macro level, his themes of hope and change have given him a competitive advantage against Hillary Clinton, who many saw as the front runner in this election -- as though it was hers to lose. But I don't hear any consistent message coming from her candidacy other than experience and wonkiness. When Obama speaks about hope and change, it comes across as authentic.

When the Clinton campaign (and all the other campaigns) suddenly picked up on the theme of change after Iowa, it seemed like a lame and inauthentic attempt to hitch themselves to Obama's message, as though it was their own.


Consistently, I find myself deeply moved by his speeches. Though I would think that any of the Democratic or Republican candidates will provide an improvement over the TERRIBLE communication and leadership we suffer from the current administration, no one else inspires like Barack Obama.

Considering the deep hole we are in terms of our economy, our world leadership in science and education, the weakening of the dollar, our current lack of sophisticated understanding of the world's political dynamics, I feel that what we as a nation need right now is a leader who inspires us and who can form relationships with enemies, on the other side of the political aisle and on the other side of the globe. In my view, Barack Obama is that candidate.

It's important to acknowledge Garr Reynolds again for this post from his terrific blog, Presentation Zen. I recommend it highly to all my readers and clients and I encourage you to subscribe.

How NOT To Use Powerpoint

I just came across this very funny video on YouTube:
"How NOT To Use Powerpoint By Comedian Don McMillan"
Good advice for anyone who uses PowerPoint.

Even a child can do it

I found this video through Garr Reynolds' superb blog, Presentation Zen.

Severn Cullis-Suzuki was only 12 years old in 1992 when she raised money with members of ECO, the Environmental Childrens Organization (a group she founded) to attend the Earth Summit in Rio De Janeiro. Severn presented environmental issues from a youth perspective at the Summit, where she received a standing ovation for a speech to the delegates. This video presents that speech.

What struck me the first time I watched this deeply moving video were the reactions on the faces of the adult delegates. I imagine them as typically distracted and jaded, creatures of politics. When they listen to Severn, their faces are rapt and attentive. Their feelings and thoughts are as evident as neon signs - their protective masks are stripped away by the directness and passion of this terrific young speaker - this "child" who communicates with the wisdom and craft of a veteran speaker.

This video reminded me of one of the deeper truths that I have observed in my work as a presentation skills coach and trainer. Authenticity and passion are the most compelling qualities a presenter can have.

So, what is authenticity? Websters defines it as "true to one's own personality, spirit, or character." I like this quote from Mahatma Gandhi who said, "Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony." that is a great description of authenticity, in my estimation. Authenticity is evident when someone is speaking from the heart. David Henderson, my mentor in this work, used to say, "Speak your first truth first."

Passion ("a strong liking or desire for or devotion to some activity, object, or concept") is evident when you give full expression to your deepest desires and feelings.

Severn has both authenticity and passion in spades. She provides a superb and humbling example for all of us.

Brain exercise - talking

Today's local paper contained an article positing a thesis that warmed my heart - talking improves memory and boosts intellectual performance as much as doing crossword puzzles.

"A team led by University of Michigan psychologist Oscar Ybarra asked more than 3,500 people ages 24 to 96 about their social interactions and tested their working memories. Regardless of age, the more social contact, the higher the level of mental function. The researchers also split 76 college students into three groups. One group had a 10-minute discussion, one spent 10 solitary minutes doing intellectual exercises (such as reading comprehension) and the third, in isolation, watched 10 minutes of "Seinfeld." On follow-up cognitive tests, the social interaction and intellectual exercise groups did better than "Seinfeld" viewers. The chit-chatters did just as well as the intellectual group."

Check it out:
"Idle chatter? Hardly"
By Susan Brink, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
November 5, 2007

The next time someone gives you grief for talking too much, reply with, "Hey, I'm giving my brain a workout, baby. Chill!"

Urban Word of the Day: nano nap

This made me laugh.

Are people taking "nano naps" during your meetings or presentations?

Urban Word of the Day
www.urbandictionary.com

August 14, 2007: nano nap

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=nano+nap&defid=2345578

An unintentional, seconds-long nap that you take most often in class or a really boring meeting. So short that usually nobody but you notices.

I caught myself taking a nano nap on that conference call

Authenticity in the Face of Crisis

Jon Harmon, a PR Consultant with Force For Good Communcations, wrote a piece in the LA Times about the recent Utah mine tragedy and how CEO Robert Murray managed his role as the face of Murray Energy Corp.
Harmon makes an important point about effective communication in a time of crisis - that the good of genuine authenticity can often help counter the bad influence of mistakes. He writes:

The 67-year-old Murray was in Montana when he got word of the collapse at the mine owned by Murray Energy Corp. He hopped on a private jet and was at the scene within hours, taking command of the rescue operation, providing the media updates. All this was textbook PR in the best sense. The presence of the concerned chief executive on the scene of a disaster has been understood to be essential to successful crisis management since Exxon's CEO infamously took far too long to travel to Valdez, Alaska, in 1989, to take stock of the oil spill that caused one of history's worst environmental disasters.

But after that, Murray broke so many rules of crisis communications he had news anchors, on-air, asking what they'd just witnessed. From his first briefings, Murray angrily denounced the media (seldom a winning strategy) and blamed union organizers for suggesting that the dangerous practice of "retreat mining" had led to the collapse. He blasted environmentalists for their crusade against global warming, calling it an affront to the coal industry and to the American economy.

Crisis communications experts universally panned Murray's rantings as "callous," "damaging" and "not helpful" to the families of the trapped miners.

Murray also insisted that an earthquake had caused the mine collapse, then doggedly held to that theory despite seismologists' conclusions that the tremors were caused by the collapse.

These would appear to be disastrous mistakes, guaranteeing Murray a shot at The-Worst-PR-Gaffe-of-the-Year-Award. Indeed, the following paints a picture of miner's families who have lost faith in Murray:

After three rescuers were killed in a cave-in, Murray dropped out of sight, leaving a subordinate to conduct briefings. A representative for the miners' families said, "We feel Bob Murray has abandoned us." Without any explanation for his disappearance, one could only assume that he was made to understand that his abrasive style did not fit the increasingly grim mood.

In spite of all this, Murray is noted in at least one blog for his candor and refreshing authenticity.

"Despite [Murray's] occasional moments of near-insanity, I suspect he's better liked by the general public than he would be if he'd gone by the crisis communication book," David Murray (no relation) wrote on his public relations blog, Shades of Gray.

In times of crisis, spokespeople should trust in the redeeming power of being authentic. We empathize with the leader who bravely steps up in a time of peril. We readily forgive an unpolished and even shaky presentation -- as long as we feel in our hearts that the spokesperson is being truthful to us, a feeling Bob Murray has not always inspired.

We can recover from mistakes, especially honest ones. But once our credibility comes into question, once our authenticity is compromised, it is a steep uphill-climb to regain the trust of those who experience such a lapse.

PS: I did a web search to find the Murray Energy corporate website. My search string on Google was "Murray Energy Corporation." On the 10th page of search results, I gave up. The first 10 pages were almost ALL links to news stories or blog posts about the Crandall Canyon mine collapse. This reminded me of the story about Dell in my post about Radical Transparency and Authenticity.

To Act or Not to Act - The Climate Change Debate

I don't normally focus on such issues in this blog. But this video struck me as very important to pass along.

This video demonstrates that the risk of not acting on climate change FAR outweighs the risk of acting.

http://view.break.com/311805

Is our culture failing us?

“Fifty years ago, I suspect that along with Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, and Sandy Koufax, most Americans could have named, at the very least, Robert Frost, Carl Sandburg, Arthur Miller, Thornton Wilder, Georgia O'Keeffe, Leonard Bernstein, Leontyne Price, and Frank Lloyd Wright. Not to mention scientists and thinkers like Linus Pauling, Jonas Salk, Rachel Carson, Margaret Mead, and Dr. Alfred Kinsey.”

So said Dana Gioia, chair of the U.S. National Endowment for the Arts, when he delivered the commencement address this month at Stanford University. Click here for an excerpt of the speech.

“I don't think Americans were smarter then, but American culture was. Even the mass media placed a greater emphasis on presenting a broad range of human achievement.”

He goes on to say:

"Everything now is entertainment. And the purpose of this omnipresent commercial entertainment is to sell us something. American culture has mostly become one vast infomercial. When was the last time you have seen a featured guest on David Letterman or Jay Leno who isn't trying to sell you something? A new movie, a new TV show, a new book, or a new vote?

Don't get me wrong. I love entertainment, and I love the free market. But we must remember that the marketplace does only one thing – it puts a price on everything.

The role of culture, however, must go beyond economics. It is not focused on the price of things, but on their value. And, above all, culture should tell us what is beyond price, including what does not belong in the marketplace.

A culture should also provide some cogent view of the good life beyond mass accumulation. In this respect, our culture is failing us."

This reminded me of an article in Wired Magazine titled "Putin? Never Heard of Her."

"More than a decade after the Internet went mainstream, the world's richest information source hasn't necessarily made its users any more informed. A new study from the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press shows that Americans, on average, are less able to correctly answer questions about current events than they were in 1989. Citizens who call the Internet their primary news source know slightly less than fans of TV and radio news. Hmmm... maybe a little less Perez (sic) Hilton and a little more Jim Lehrer."

Reading this graphic, I was gratified to see that watchers of The Daily Show fared well in identifying figures in the news. It was also gratifying to see that Fox News either:

1. Delivers the lowest quality news coverage.
2. Is watched by idiots.
   

For my parent's sake, I'll assume it's the former.

In recent conversations with friends and clients, I have been saying, "Knowledge is no longer a determinant of success. Now, it's ideas."

I say this because Google, Wikipedia and other internet phenomena make your need to know information less critical than your ability to know where to find good, reliable information and come up with creative ideas - creative solutions to problems.

In reflecting on my work with presentation and communication skills with The Henderson Group, I believe that general and broader knowledge of culture is important.

Recently, I was leading a workshop with a group of sales people in the Pacific Northwest. I kept referring to my bibliography, the books that I and my colleague Chuck Kuglen, used in our research, preparing for the workshop. I would ask them, "Have you read The Tao of Sales by E. Thomas Behr ... or ... Selling With Integrity by Sharon Drew Morgen ... or ... Blink by Malcolm Gladwell?

"No."

It became a running joke.

"Would you please stop asking us if we've read any books because we don't read, apparently."

I remember thinking, "These people are sales professionals. Their livelihood depends on being able to do this skill well. I am a trainer. Yes, I do wear a sales hat but 60 - 70% of my livelihood depends on my being an effective trainer. And I've read more books about selling than they have. What's wrong with this picture?"

Perhaps this perspective grew out of my work as an actor and director. When working on a play, I was trained to read biographies of the writer and their other work, not just the play I was working on. In addition, if it was a period piece (Shakespeare, Dickens, Chekhov), I was taught to study the history and the culture of the period. This studious quality seems less prevalent to me now than when I was young.

Is our education system failing us, too? My wife's family is filled with educators that would argue that any alleged failure is certainly not due to the teachers.

Is this a sign that I am fully middle-aged - bitching about how lazy the younger generation seems? It's probably some of the latter.

I consider the stories from Blink of the art experts immediately recognizing a fake Greek sculpture. Their snap judgments prove right because they've spent decades training themselves. This level of bone-deep knowledge doesn't come from a cursory read of a Wikipedia page on Greek sculpture.

In the end, broader understanding of a culture, deep knowledge of culture has some value and perhaps ideas alone aren't enough. Or perhaps the most useful and valuable ideas only flow from minds with a broad understanding of a the culture - be it knowledge of Greek sculpture, theater, or the problems facing businesses.

In closing I think of the words of 2 visionaries:

"Television is democracy at its ugliest." Paddy Chayefsky
"The two most abundant things in the universe are Hydrogren and stupidity." Harlan Ellison

The Path to Presentation Peace - Mindfulness and Stillness

I was fascinated by Patricia Leigh Brown's story in the NY Times about mindfulness practice being used in public schools:
In the Classroom, a New Focus on Quieting the Mind

Mindfulness, while common in hospitals, corporations, professional sports and even prisons, is relatively new in the education of squirming children. But a small but growing number of schools in places like Oakland and Lancaster, Pa., are slowly embracing the concept — as they did yoga five years ago — and institutions, like the psychology department at Stanford University and the Mindfulness Awareness Research Center at the University of California, Los Angeles, are trying to measure the effects.

The techniques, among them focused breathing and concentrating on a single object, are loosely adapted from the work of Jon Kabat-Zinn, the molecular biologist who pioneered the secular use of mindfulness at the University of Massachusetts in 1979 to help medical patients cope with chronic pain, anxiety and depression. Susan Kaiser Greenland, the founder of the InnerKids Foundation, which trains schoolchildren and teachers in the Los Angeles area, calls mindfulness “the new ABC’s — learning and leading a balanced life.”

At Stanford, the psychology department is assessing the feasibility of teaching mindfulness to families. “Parents and teachers tell kids 100 times a day to pay attention,” said Philippe R. Goldin, a researcher. “But we never teach them how.”

Angela Haick, the principal of Piedmont Avenue (one of the piloting schools), said she was inspired to try it after observing a class at a local middle school.

“If we can help children slow down and think,” Dr. Haick said, “they have the answers within themselves.”

This is the very practice that I teach participants to use in our presentation skills workshops.

When the slightest thing goes awry (we forget one point in our "script", a cell phone rings, the wrong presentation slide pops up), it's easy to descend into a downward spiral of panic.

We begin to think: "Oh, sh*t! That wasn't supposed to happen. This is horrible!" This inner dialogue is often followed by a physiological manifestation of anxiety and stress: sweaty palms, physical tremors, accelerated heart rate, etc. Then we begin to focus on the feeling of anxiety and another round of self-talk begins: "OH, SH*T! I am feeling really nervous right now! How can I make this feeling go away? I hate this! Everyone must be able to see how nervous I am. This is a DISASTER!!! OH, God, give me the power to dissapear!"

We want our mind to be still and settled so that we can think clearly and communicate effectively. The metaphor than I recently found was this: It's a bit like enjoying the stillness of a beautiful pond. Suddenly, a large stone drops into the pond, ruining the stillness of the water's surface. So, in response to this, in our panic and frustration, we throw a handful of pebbles into the pond, shouting, "Hey, you stupid pond! Settle down!"

This cycle of thought sets off the stress response and the stress response sets off another round of negative self-talk, spiraling downward into lower and lower levels of Hell.

What's the solution?

Follow this process:
1. Awareness
2. Practice Stillness and Silence
3. Breathe
4. Think
5. Speak

Here it is in more detail:
1. Awareness
You become aware there is a problem - you catch yourself saying "um", you say the wrong thing, the media projector malfunctions, etc.

2. Practice Stillness and Silence
Stop moving and speaking. DON'T comment on what is happening with inane remarks such as, "I forgot my point." or "Oops - wrong slide!" No fidgeting, grimacing or nervous laughter. Just be still and silent.
This takes discipline and practice but will pay off in spades. The audience won't invest much import in whatever happened if you appear poised.

3. Breathe
In moments of stress, a typical reaction is to become tense and stop breathing deeply. The brain is the bodily organ most dependant on a fresh supply of oxygen. If you are not breathing deeply, your thinking will suffer. You will make poor decisions.

4. Think
Ask yourself, "How can I recover from this without making it seem important?" Even better, ask, "How can I turn this into an opportunity?" Often the most inspired moments in workshops and presentations were the direct result of a 'mistake'.

Once you've made a rational decision about how to proceed ...

5. Speak

Taking a moment to become still and mindful is the best antidote to the panic that many feel when presenting.

Here's the broader learning that I arrived at - this technique will help in ANY stressful situation when panic tends to take over. I've used this technique when I locked myself out of the house, on turbulent airplanes, and on difficult calls with clients. Invariably, things go better and I make better decisions when I remember to do this practice.

Mahatma Gandhi said, "The only tyrant I accept in this world is the 'still small voice' within me." We can only hear that voice when we can still the din of our own mental chatter.

To paraphrase Dr. Haick, “If we can slow down and think, we have the answers within ourselves.”