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While hard to believe, there is still a feeling among many in the corporate and political worlds that believe that “soft skills” are not nearly as important as other skills when determining profitability and business success. Communicating verbally, you know, falls in this category.

The “Big 3 Bailout” was all but a done deal with no effort until the leaders of Chrysler, GM and Ford showed up on Capitol Hill armed with plenty of aides and plenty of facts but precious little when it came to communication ability. The Big 3 may have gotten some form of bailout, but it wasn’t the $25 billion with very little oversight they were being given initially, and it wasn’t without tremendous collateral and brand damage.

Bernie Madoff made $50 billion disappear, shocking everyone. What is shocking is that Warren Buffett, widely considered one of the greatest investing minds of all times, holds Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meetings in Omaha where people are turned away, and information is plentiful, and at the same time billions of dollars were invested with Mr. Madoff with little more than occasional written communications with minimal information, and NO verbal communication.

Caroline Kennedy has declared her interest in the soon-to-be vacant New York Senate Seat,and has had what can only be described as a tumultuous early campaign. Caroline Kennedy may very well prove to be the next Senator from the great state of New York. While her campaign has been extremely rocky, to say the least, I do not believe she has been given a fair opportunity to make her case.

That being said, when the opportunity finally presented itself in the form of a very brief New York Times interview, Caroline proceeded to say “you know” over 140 times. Over 140 times. Over 140 times.

Her platform and number one issue is education. Her background and qualifications center greatly on what she has accomplished with the New York City public schools. What message does 140 “you knows” send? How would a NYC student be graded if he or she said “you know” over 100 times during an oral presentation?

What would happen if you, as a business owner, interviewed a potential CEO who said “you know” over 140 times in his or her interview? Would a banker (if there are any left) lend a few hundred thousand dollars to a small business owner who came in and, you know, said he needed, you know, $150k for, you know, new equipment? What would, you know, happen to, you know, a valedictorian, who, you know, said you know over 100 times in a graduation speech?

Caroline Kennedy is a very educated, very talented woman — she needs communications training, and it is a shame her handlers did not recognize that before she was put in this position. Poor communications cost businesses billions, yes billions, of dollars a year, and routinely costs candidates elections (for both political and corporate office). A lot of this is not quantifiable because it comes in lost sales, lost production, and customers (and voters) who simply turn their backs and walk away.

Of course, none of this matters because, you know, communication skills do not matter!

The average player in the NFL made $770,000 in 2007. That is the average player. There are 32 teams, with each team carrying 53 players on the roster. 

The average NFL franchise is worth north of $1 billion. The average price of a ticket to an NFL game is $72.20.

The point of this is not to hammer anyone for making too much money — far from it. 

The point is that, once again, National Football League, everything you do sends a message.

We are going through one of the toughest economic crisis’ since the inception of the National Football League. Thousands of people are losing their jobs daily.  Many will have to tell sons and daughters that the much desired jersey or ticket won’t be coming this year due to financial constraints.

The NFL has done an admirable job of competing to become the "new" National past time. People live and die for their teams.  Teams are often not viewed as corporations but rather fabric of the community.

Eliminating jobs, blaming financial constraints, sends a conflicting message when the average player makes more in a year than many people will make in a lifetime.  The league’s estimated gross income is projected to be $7 billion, off $50 million from earlier projections. 

The estimated savings to the league through the reductions - $50 million.

The Commissioner made a good move earlier in the week by lowering the cost of playoff tickets by 10% — a positive message. In this economic climate, people need something to cheer for, and often that something is a team or player on Sunday afternoon.

The NFL broadcasts on Fox Network. The President of Fox Network is Roger Ailes, an expert on public speaking and messaging. Roger Ailes coined the phrase "You are the message."

The NFL should review the message they are sending through this announcement. 

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After endless articles and commentary about the Big 3 bailout, Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy has been able to boil everything down to one statement/lesson.

When not one representative of the Big 3 could articulately explain what the bailout would mean financially, the Congresswoman made a profound statement. Addressing the Big 3 at today’s Congressional hearing, Congresswoman McCarthy stated:

“You have to learn how to speak to the public.”

Amen.

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This clip speaks for itself.

The scene is the NBC program Hardball. The host is Chris Matthews. The guests are Congressman Gregory Meeks (D-NY) and Congressman Dan Lundgren (R-CA). The topic is the Big 3 Auto Bailout. The lesson is….

Always be aware you send a message. Congressman Meeks advocated for a public bailout of the Big 3 - essentially investing taxpayer money in the Big 3. Matthews asked him a very basic question — “What car do you own sir?” The next minute is difficult to watch as Congressman Meeks answers that he in fact owns a Honda, then stumbles a number of times trying to get his footing back.

Everywhere you go, everything you do, whether you want to or not, sends a message - period. What you say, how you say it, your body language, your clothing, your facial expressions, your posture…each of these sends a message to everyone you interact with, either directly or indirectly.

This is not limited to speaking or appearing on television or in the media. This occurs when you enter a meeting, open the front door to your office, sit at a table at a restaurant, and every other interaction imaginable.

One of the first questions I have always asked salesmen is whether or not they use the product that they are trying to sell. To me, this is the most basic question, and sends a dramatic message, especially if the answer is no.

We have heard for weeks that the future of an industry, thousands of jobs are at stake and billions of dollars are at stake.  Everyone has an opinion.  The major question at this juncture seems to be what happens if nothing happens?  What if it does? What happens to the workforce? This begs even more important questions…

Where are the leaders of Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, and the other automakers who may or may not fill the market void?  Why is no one asking them what will happen?  Why are they not testifying? Have they even been asked?

What message does this send? Stay tuned…

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The dominating news story today is the plight of the "Big 3" U.S. automakers and whether or not Congress will pass a $25 billion dollar bailout package to "rescue" the industry. After watching yesterday’s testimony on C-SPAN for over two hours, I have come to one definitive conclusion based on what I have seen.

Don’t do this! Don’t do this! Don’t do this!

Believe it or not, I am not talking about the bailout itself. This forum is about communications and messaging, and I watched executives supposedly fighting for their lives and the lives of their respective companies make severe communications and messaging errors that EVERY person can learn from.

Lesson #1 - I apologize for being repetitive, but ALWAYS remember, YOU are the message. I am still amazed that as all 3 Chairmen came to Washington, hat in hand, pleading poverty and renewed fiscal austerity, each independently decided it was a good idea to take a PRIVATE CORPORATE PLANE for the trip for Detroit to D.C.

Let me put this in context for a small business owner — do you think it would be a good idea, if you were nearly bankrupt, to drive over to your neighborhood bank in a Rolls Royce to plead for a loan? It is astounding that not one of the three Chairmen thought that maybe, just maybe, taking a commercial flight might be a better move. Scary.

Lesson #2 - If you are presenting on a subject, any subject, you MUST be able to answer basic questions. That means at the minimum a practice session with your staff where you are asked questions that are likely to come up.

Senator Menendez (D-NJ) asked the witnesses a very basic question. Where did the $25 billion dollar figure come from? No real answers. He asked again. Again, no real answers. This happened time and again with basic questions. The Senate Democrats are on record as being fairly supportive of a bailout concept. It is unbelievable that the executives present could not answer basic questions justifying their request. One day of preparation would have at least allowed answering basic questions.

Lesson #3 - If you say a lot of different things, you say nothing. If you are making a request, you must have a central message. There was no central message at this hearing, other than "we need money or people will lose their jobs." Even that might have been able to be transformed into a message if the very basic question - If we give you the money, to what (exact) degree does this ensure against layoffs?

Lesson #4 - If you are debating in a situation where you have a team of four like-minded individuals, it is a good idea to prepare together so that you are sending the same message. The testimony given in opposition to the bailout was from a University of Maryland economist, and he seemed to flummox the other witnesses on a regular basis.

Lesson #5 - Get professional communications training. When you are on an international stage, everything you say and do, whether verbal or non verbal, sends a message. There will be a future post analyzing the verbal and non verbal signals and messages sent, both positive and negative, in the near future. One word to the wise — directly reading testimony, especially when asking for something, is not a good idea. Only two things make it worse — not having written the testimony yourself, and not practicing.

My message to the Big 3 over the coming weeks: A lot of damage has been done to your cause, much self-inflicted. Get on the same page, define a singular message, practice articulating that message, practice answering any and all questions (you now have the benefit of knowing what the majority of them will be going forward) and most importantly, be able to clearly, articulately define what the $25 billion will buy — and fly commercial!

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A cardinal rule of proper etiquette is “If you have nothing nice to say, say nothing.” While this is also a cardinal rule of communications, it can be taken one step further — “If you have nothing to say, say nothing!”

With the absence of a contested election, there appears to be a temporary void in subject matter for Cable TV hosts. Last evening, virtually every cable outlet had a “body language expert” on to analyze the photo-op (reporters were not allowed it the actual meeting) between the President-elect and the soon-to-be former President.

This was not in and of itself an issue. The issue is the fact that there were no “hidden signs” or “hidden messages” being delivered, and the time would have been better utilized doing anything else, including describing what really occurred non-verbally, and that was an act of leadership.

What everyone witnessed was two very proud men, both members of an exclusive club (only 44 in history!), one whose political career to drawing to a close, and one whose political career is on the serious upswing. The race was bitter, there were harsh words, and the President-elect spent a great deal of time campaigning against the current President.

Did all of these “experts” expect a, “aww shucks, no hard feelings” routine? Or maybe a fist-fight?

From a communications standpoint, what we all witnessed were two men making lemonade out of lemons. It was obviously not an overly comfortable situation for either man, and they both put on their best face and did a fine job putting personal differences aside to prevent further polarizing the country.

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After repeatedly denying having an affair, former Senator, Vice Presidential candidate and Presidential candidate John Edwards owned up to cheating on his wife in 2006. Edwards always made his wife a very public part of all of his campaign. He had denied the allegations for 10 months, calling them “tabloid trash.”

There are a number of lessons here that one can take away having to do with public speaking and messaging. Here is a short list:

1. Lying is never the answer — if you are a public figure, the truth will come out. Guaranteed.
2. The cover up is always more damaging, publicly, than the initial offense.
3. Hiding from the press for two weeks and allowing your message to be developed without your input is never a good idea.
4. One of the worst labels you can ever have thrown at you is that of a hypocrite. Edwards was very critical of President Clinton in 1999 following the Lewinsky scandal. Edwards campaigned on family. Between the $400 haircuts and the 12,000 s.f. home, Edwards had a credibility problem to begin with.
5. Call this the Spitzer lesson. Do as you say AND as you do, or be ready to face the fallout.
6. If you don’t define the issue yourself, rest assured others will do it for you — this issue was raised 10 months ago

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In this clip, South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, when pressed by Wolf Blitzer on CNN to describe differences between the economic policies of Senator McCain and Senator Obama, stumbles, painfully. To make matters worse, he actually puts his train of thought into words, which sounds awkward and uniformed. To make matters worse, when he finally raised an issue, Wolf was able to swiftly counter the issue.

The real shame of this is that Governor Sanford is an intelligent and articulate elected official, and due to the instant access to everything that runs on television, this is the clip that will appear for a while you "Google" (or "Yahoo" or "Ask") his name. This did not have to be the case. The lesson here is to always implement the 3 P’s of public speaking — Prepare, Practice and Proceed. The reality is that we all freeze or draw a blank on occasion, and that is ok — with preparation and practice you will ALWAYS be able to maneuver your way out of a "mind blank."

Whether you are running for President or local school board, whether you are the CEO or a front line employee, every time you speak you are representing your organization, your personal brand and yourself. It is critical to prepare and practice EVERY time prior to speaking. Ultimately, the entire package of "you" - what you say, how you say it, where you say it, when you say it, what your body says, and the list goes on and on, — is the message, each and every time your mouth opens.

In this age, when YouTube allows for the instant posting of each and everything someone says, you owe it to yourself to prepare and practice, even if only for a few minutes (my advice would be substantially more time due to the fact that the ability to communicate effectively is not given nearly enough attention). Failure to follow the 3 P’s usually results in failure to deliver your message.