[October 22, 2015] I’ve been a listener to many speeches in my lifetime; several hundred if I could add them up. Some were great, others poor, but one thing they had in common was that they were mostly filled with just talk. It reminded me of speeches of many politicians; they want the “face-time” with voters and they know that what they say is less important than getting people to see them. I learned quickly that talking is not communicating.
My mentors have always impressed upon me that communication – getting my message across accurately – is important. What I never realized until very late in my career was that communication is not just important, it is probably the most critical thing a leader can do. Nearly every problem we encounter as leaders can be traced to a failure of communication somewhere along the line. In combat this can mean the difference in life or death, in business it can mean success or bankruptcy, and in a familial relationship it can mean happiness or divorce.
With the U.S. presidential election season heating up and new events happening nearly every day, it affords us the chance to really listen to what some of our nation’s most senior leaders are trying to tell us. For example, just yesterday Vice President Joe Biden told us from a speech in the Rose Garden that he will not be running for President but then he added, “I will not be silent.”1 What the heck does “not be silent” mean? Talk without communicating explicit ideas, goals, or practices leaves a lot of room for misinterpretation and misrepresentation.
One of the biggest problems with President Barack Obama is that he talks without clearly articulating his message. He’s been misinterpreted so many times that it’s worked to his disadvantage. For example, his latest speech at the United Nations defied reality when he said, “Like terrorists and tyrants throughout history, ISIL will eventually lose, because it has nothing to offer but suffering and death.”2 He might be right about the first part but the sad fact is that the Islamic State (ISIL or ISIS) has a lot to offer its followers. One would think that with so many speech writers he would get them a little better by now.
I once had a boss who told me that I should be a better leader and his advice was to “do more with less.” We’ve all heard that catchphrase before. What did he mean by that? He never clarified and I frankly knew he couldn’t explain it. Some leaders talk to hear themselves talk with no expectation but to elevate their status over others. This is not good leadership.
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