“Words that Changed America”
By Alex Barnett
The Lyons, Press, 2003
“…LET us strive to finish the work we are in, to bind up the wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle … to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”
Is this paragraph part of the inaugural speech of a President who was proclaimed only a few days ago – issuing a call for healing, forgiveness and unity? No, this is the second inaugural address on March 4, 1865 by Abraham Lincoln.
“There is no longer any room for hope. If we wish to be free ... if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained – we must fight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight!
Is this a call from the opposition leaders, despite a defeat in the polls, to continue a vigorous campaign against the proclaimed winner? No, this was a call to arms by Patrick Henry on October 2, 1765 against the English Empire.
“Thus I consent, sir, to this Constitution, because I expect no better, and because I am not sure that it is not the best. The opinions I have had of its errors I sacrifice to the public good. I have never whispered a syllable of them abroad. Within these walls they were born, and here they shall die.”
Is this a Senator expressing his reservations over our Constitution? No, this was Benjamin Franklin, aged 81, endorsing the American Constitution, at the heart of which was a compromise where the smaller states retained their single vote power in the upper house of Congress, while the more populous states had proportionately more power in a lower house.
The three quotable paragraphs are lifted from the speeches of American leaders whose words have already been immortalized in the history of the United States and in the chronicles of speeches around the world.
A handy book, titled “Words that Changed America,” contains 79 speeches, official proclamations and declarations, prefaces to the Constitution and other laws, core paragraphs in debates, statements before Congress, memoirs, damaging papers, radio messages in times of war, and testimonies before the Legislature.
So, this is not only about formal, pre-written speeches. These are “words” that, according to the book, “inspired, challenged, healed and enlightened” a nation. They have changed America.
Only recently, the Philippines had less inspired words – but words anyway that challenged, exasperated and infuriated people.
“Shut up!” is one phrase in a note written by a feisty lady, expressing impatience over the habit of one Congressman whose peroration was delaying the canvassing of votes in the Philippine Congress. It was the same phrase that was echoed and reechoed by a visibly irate legislator, momentarily forgetting parliamentary decorum.
The other word is “noted,” a word attributed to the co-chairman of the Canvassing Committee – which came to mean: “You have been heard, your argument has been recorded – but we will proceed with the business at hand. It is polite – but effective – antidote to filibustering, to long-winded statements and to a legislator’s perverse desire to listen to his own voice.
Calls have been made to elevate the quality of speeches in public forums – including Congress. This book comes forward to show a collection of rhetorical pieces that capture the noble, lofty and well-reasoned thoughts of heroes, anti-heroes and ordinary people who somehow graduated into statesmen.
When leaders need to heal the wounds of a divided nation, Lincoln’s heart and mind could prove to be useful. When leaders want to preserve our adherence to democratic principles, especially with a spreading sentiment in favor of “an iron hand,” Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s concluding part in a speech, “The Four Freedoms,” would set them on the right pitch and mood:
“This nation has placed its destiny in the hands and heads and hearts of its millions of free men and women; and its faith in freedom under the guidance of God. Freedom means the supremacy of human rights everywhere. Our support goes to those who struggle to gain those rights or keep them, our strength is our unity of purpose.”
After the elections – business groups, investment analysts, foreign chambers of commerce, foreign diplomats, academicians and, yes politicians/statesmen are calling for the rebirth of hope in the Philippines.
Economists are asking our government even to challenge the fundamental premises of our economic policies. Talks of amending the constitution and reorganizing the bureaucracy abound.
And yet there us one things that must be done by our President and her officials, our economic and business leaders, and even the opposition: They must find new words for new uses to reflect a new reality. But these words must emanate from minds that have gone through transformation and hearts that have gone through a necessary renewal.
Reading this book – as well as noting a era where these epoch-making speeches or statements were delivered – would be a good beginning. Readers would be transported to a time and place where patriotism was at its best and eloquence at its finest. We need words that can inspire our people, uplift – or even ignite – the national soul.
If our leaders have nary a desire for a measure of eloquence – and there are many of them – the written advice from the feisty lady would once again acquire urgency and importance: “Shut up.”
Sunday, June 27, 2004
Sunday, June 13, 2004
PR builds a brand, advertising nurtures it
“The Fall of Advertising
& the Rise of PR”
By Al Ries and Laura Ries
Harper Business, 2003
The debate is endless. Which has the pre-eminent role: public relations or advertising?
But, this debate is fairly recent. In the not so distant past, the advertising function – here and worldwide – has had pre-eminence over public relations. The budget for advertising was usually much bigger, while public relations would settle for the crumbs.
In the organizational chart, the advertising manager draws a higher salary, rides a company car with a larger engine displacement, and is blessed with a bigger manpower complement. The subordinate role of public relations is even more pronounced in a marketing communications company itself (translated: advertising agency), where the public relations director runs a small department doing “product publicity support”.
In presenting an advertising plan, publicity (not even public relations) means putting little captions on photos, courtesy of the advertising (or hired) photographer, or writing stories that are a rehash of “great advertising copy”. The budgets say it all: PR is in the league of another item: “below-the-line advertising.”
Advertising is supposed to be well-entrenched as the undisputed king of communications that builds brands (whether products or institutions). But here comes this book with a shocking title: “The Fall of Advertising & the Rise of PR.”
You ask: Is this one of those outrageous, unfounded claims of a clearly biased PR man or a disillusioned advertising executive? No. It is written by Al Ries, co-author of the bestselling “Positioning” book, generously illustrated by great advertising visuals and copy. Authors do change their minds. In the same way, author Tom Peters changed his mind about companies whom he earlier identified as “models of excellence” only to collapse from their own bureaucratic weight.
Now, Al Ries dishes out something subversive: “Advertising is not brand building. That’s the role and function of PR.” So, what’s left for Advertising? “Advertising is brand maintenance,” he adds. Ever in the mood to argue his case, Ries asks: “Supposed you were offered a choice: You can run an advertisement in our newspaper or magazine or we’ll run your story as an article. How many companies would prefer an ad to an article?”
The 295-page book is a well-reasoned point that public relations (Ries interchanges it with publicity) “is the argument, while advertising is the reminder.” The Ries book is made up of five parts – but the tension is in the first two parts: “The Fall of Advertising” where he traced the decline of the ad function as a credibility vehicle, and “The Rise of PR,” where he underscores the “power of the third party” endorsement.
The book provides, not only contrast but perspective about the functions of PR and advertising – which should be complementary, not mutually exclusive. Using a fable by Aesop, he points out: “Advertising is the wind, PR is the sun.” Part of the fable runs thus:
The sun and the wind wanted to find out who was stronger of the two. Seeing a traveler down the road, they decided to settle the issue – Who can make the traveler take off his coat. The wind blew, and the traveler wrapped his coat around him. The harder the wind blew, the tighter the traveler held on to his coat. It was the sun’s turn. It began to shine. Soon the traveler felt the sun’s warmth – and took off his coat.
Ries’s object lesson: “You can’t force your way into the prospect’s mind … the harder the sell, the harder the wind blows, the harder the prospect resists.”
In this book, Ries recounts several sad stories of multi-million dollar advertising campaigns that did not result in increased sales for companies—in the United States mostly. He also has a list of success stories on account of good public relations – Microsoft, Starbucks, Viagra, Amazon.com, etc. It is interesting to find out some local stories in the Philippines.
Near the book’s concluding part, Ries argues a new role for advertising – maintaining the brand, keeping on course, and firing on all cylinders. There are engaging stories on products that had gone off course – including Coke’s abandonment of a winning slogan: “The Real Thing.” For these accounts alone, this book is a treasure.
Meanwhile, back to a question asked earlier: If you are given a choice between free advertisement or a full length story in a broadsheet or magazine, what’s your choice? If you go for that story, you have just affirmed the big role of PR. Does that end all debates? No. The passionate debate has just begun.
& the Rise of PR”
By Al Ries and Laura Ries
Harper Business, 2003
The debate is endless. Which has the pre-eminent role: public relations or advertising?
But, this debate is fairly recent. In the not so distant past, the advertising function – here and worldwide – has had pre-eminence over public relations. The budget for advertising was usually much bigger, while public relations would settle for the crumbs.
In the organizational chart, the advertising manager draws a higher salary, rides a company car with a larger engine displacement, and is blessed with a bigger manpower complement. The subordinate role of public relations is even more pronounced in a marketing communications company itself (translated: advertising agency), where the public relations director runs a small department doing “product publicity support”.
In presenting an advertising plan, publicity (not even public relations) means putting little captions on photos, courtesy of the advertising (or hired) photographer, or writing stories that are a rehash of “great advertising copy”. The budgets say it all: PR is in the league of another item: “below-the-line advertising.”
Advertising is supposed to be well-entrenched as the undisputed king of communications that builds brands (whether products or institutions). But here comes this book with a shocking title: “The Fall of Advertising & the Rise of PR.”
You ask: Is this one of those outrageous, unfounded claims of a clearly biased PR man or a disillusioned advertising executive? No. It is written by Al Ries, co-author of the bestselling “Positioning” book, generously illustrated by great advertising visuals and copy. Authors do change their minds. In the same way, author Tom Peters changed his mind about companies whom he earlier identified as “models of excellence” only to collapse from their own bureaucratic weight.
Now, Al Ries dishes out something subversive: “Advertising is not brand building. That’s the role and function of PR.” So, what’s left for Advertising? “Advertising is brand maintenance,” he adds. Ever in the mood to argue his case, Ries asks: “Supposed you were offered a choice: You can run an advertisement in our newspaper or magazine or we’ll run your story as an article. How many companies would prefer an ad to an article?”
The 295-page book is a well-reasoned point that public relations (Ries interchanges it with publicity) “is the argument, while advertising is the reminder.” The Ries book is made up of five parts – but the tension is in the first two parts: “The Fall of Advertising” where he traced the decline of the ad function as a credibility vehicle, and “The Rise of PR,” where he underscores the “power of the third party” endorsement.
The book provides, not only contrast but perspective about the functions of PR and advertising – which should be complementary, not mutually exclusive. Using a fable by Aesop, he points out: “Advertising is the wind, PR is the sun.” Part of the fable runs thus:
The sun and the wind wanted to find out who was stronger of the two. Seeing a traveler down the road, they decided to settle the issue – Who can make the traveler take off his coat. The wind blew, and the traveler wrapped his coat around him. The harder the wind blew, the tighter the traveler held on to his coat. It was the sun’s turn. It began to shine. Soon the traveler felt the sun’s warmth – and took off his coat.
Ries’s object lesson: “You can’t force your way into the prospect’s mind … the harder the sell, the harder the wind blows, the harder the prospect resists.”
In this book, Ries recounts several sad stories of multi-million dollar advertising campaigns that did not result in increased sales for companies—in the United States mostly. He also has a list of success stories on account of good public relations – Microsoft, Starbucks, Viagra, Amazon.com, etc. It is interesting to find out some local stories in the Philippines.
Near the book’s concluding part, Ries argues a new role for advertising – maintaining the brand, keeping on course, and firing on all cylinders. There are engaging stories on products that had gone off course – including Coke’s abandonment of a winning slogan: “The Real Thing.” For these accounts alone, this book is a treasure.
Meanwhile, back to a question asked earlier: If you are given a choice between free advertisement or a full length story in a broadsheet or magazine, what’s your choice? If you go for that story, you have just affirmed the big role of PR. Does that end all debates? No. The passionate debate has just begun.
Sunday, May 30, 2004
Manage transition well, and you’re home free
“The First 90 Days”
By Michael Watkins
Harvard Business School Press, 2003
As the dust of battle settles after bruising bouts in the just concluded national and local elections, the neophyte winners are confronted with the question: How do I deliver on my campaign premises, and thus fulfill the people’s mandate (again, that overused word)?
As for the President-to-be (is it the incumbent?), she is given 100 days – not 90 -- to prove that she was the right choice – and she really should be “hitting the ground running,” the fighting phrase of former President Fidel V. Ramos. It’s also a featured phrase in this book, “The First 90 Days,” sub-titled “Critical Success Strategies for New Leaders at All Levels.”
This book is actually addressed to a CEO – and, yes, any other leader at any significant level. He (she) has just been hired for, or promoted to, a new position – and he is expected to show results in the next three months.
“The First 90 Days” is actually a sequel to an earlier book, “Right from the Start,” featured in February 4, 2001 in Sunday Biz -- right after President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo GMA) took over as President from Joseph Estrada. It is quite uncanny that this new book came to our attention virtually on the eve of her proclamation (?) as President to serve for a full year term of six years.
Thus, the new book dwells on familiar themes of “building coalitions,” and “securing early wins.” And yet, author Michael Watkins has many new things to offer with this book. The book has been structured to deal with promoting yourself, accelerating your learning, securing early wins, negotiating success, achieving alignment – and keeping your balance.
It has a lot to say about how one should “manage the transition” between the past (when the post was held by someone else) and the present (when it is you “on the saddle”). The book offers many heartbreaking stories too --of failure and missteps – only to use such tales to draw lessons.
One executive, wrongly diagnosing the problem, brought in new machines and installed new systems – only to bring down productivity to unprecedented low levels. Another executive, eager to show success quickly, rode roughshod over others -- causing widespread demoralization.
This book is strong in table and charts – which effectively reinforce points raised in a not-so-heavy text. A good example is the chart on “Key Transition Milestones,” which can be any leader’s guide in planning his first 90-day stewardship of his new job.
Another fine model is a table on the “Challenges and Opportunities of Transition Types.” The author devoted lengthier analysis to these transition types – which are “Start-up,” “Turnaround,” Realignment,” and “Sustaining Success” (with STaRS as acronym).
He explains: “In a Start-up, you are charged with assembling the capabilities to get a new business or project off the ground.” You are starting fresh with a virgin “land,” and you have a free hand with a tabula rasa (a blank sheet). In a Turnaround transition, the author says, you take on a unit or group that is recognized to be in trouble and “work to get it back on track.” You are a turnaround artist (remember, don’t mistake this with “turnabout” – when the board members who hired you would change their minds oh so suddenly).
The third transition type is Realignment, says the author, and your immediate challenge is “to revitalize a unit, product, process or project that is drifting into trouble.” In a sustaining-success situation, you are supposed to have the responsibility for preserving the vitality of a successful organization and taking it to the next level. The last is a “tough act to follow,” if your predecessor is topnotch.
The STaRS model is any newcomer’s guide to pinpoint what he should do first in the next 90 days. And the book walks you through a mix of initiatives so that you can successfully navigate the transition. And thus keep your job.
Yes, it isn’t easy to be placed in position of great responsibility – but this book is saying that there is method in fail-safe preparation and successful tour of duty in 90 days – and beyond.
Another useful tip in this book is the chapter titled “Negotiate Success.” Does it mean that you want the board or your boss to so lower your targets that you can easily achieve them hands-down? Far from it. It is saying this: “Negotiating success means proactively engaging with your new boss to shape the game so you have a fighting chance of achieving desired goals.”
“Designing organizational architecture,” a section title in the book, is not just a fancy phrase; it is one of the key functions of a CEO or a top leader. It means that you should design a new organization that fits your strategy. You are not advised to overhaul the entire organizational bureaucracy. But you can use some “elbow room” to create “project management teams,” have access to new advice from a “pool of consultants,” and get results from highly mobile groups to introduce changes.
The book wants you not to miss this advice: Build coalitions. And it introduces the “coalition-building cycle” to make sure you don’t rush headlong into making changes in a landscape that could be full of landmines – without getting support from people of influence within your organization. The policy is simple: Manage the 90-day transition well – and you are home free.
By Michael Watkins
Harvard Business School Press, 2003
As the dust of battle settles after bruising bouts in the just concluded national and local elections, the neophyte winners are confronted with the question: How do I deliver on my campaign premises, and thus fulfill the people’s mandate (again, that overused word)?
As for the President-to-be (is it the incumbent?), she is given 100 days – not 90 -- to prove that she was the right choice – and she really should be “hitting the ground running,” the fighting phrase of former President Fidel V. Ramos. It’s also a featured phrase in this book, “The First 90 Days,” sub-titled “Critical Success Strategies for New Leaders at All Levels.”
This book is actually addressed to a CEO – and, yes, any other leader at any significant level. He (she) has just been hired for, or promoted to, a new position – and he is expected to show results in the next three months.
“The First 90 Days” is actually a sequel to an earlier book, “Right from the Start,” featured in February 4, 2001 in Sunday Biz -- right after President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo GMA) took over as President from Joseph Estrada. It is quite uncanny that this new book came to our attention virtually on the eve of her proclamation (?) as President to serve for a full year term of six years.
Thus, the new book dwells on familiar themes of “building coalitions,” and “securing early wins.” And yet, author Michael Watkins has many new things to offer with this book. The book has been structured to deal with promoting yourself, accelerating your learning, securing early wins, negotiating success, achieving alignment – and keeping your balance.
It has a lot to say about how one should “manage the transition” between the past (when the post was held by someone else) and the present (when it is you “on the saddle”). The book offers many heartbreaking stories too --of failure and missteps – only to use such tales to draw lessons.
One executive, wrongly diagnosing the problem, brought in new machines and installed new systems – only to bring down productivity to unprecedented low levels. Another executive, eager to show success quickly, rode roughshod over others -- causing widespread demoralization.
This book is strong in table and charts – which effectively reinforce points raised in a not-so-heavy text. A good example is the chart on “Key Transition Milestones,” which can be any leader’s guide in planning his first 90-day stewardship of his new job.
Another fine model is a table on the “Challenges and Opportunities of Transition Types.” The author devoted lengthier analysis to these transition types – which are “Start-up,” “Turnaround,” Realignment,” and “Sustaining Success” (with STaRS as acronym).
He explains: “In a Start-up, you are charged with assembling the capabilities to get a new business or project off the ground.” You are starting fresh with a virgin “land,” and you have a free hand with a tabula rasa (a blank sheet). In a Turnaround transition, the author says, you take on a unit or group that is recognized to be in trouble and “work to get it back on track.” You are a turnaround artist (remember, don’t mistake this with “turnabout” – when the board members who hired you would change their minds oh so suddenly).
The third transition type is Realignment, says the author, and your immediate challenge is “to revitalize a unit, product, process or project that is drifting into trouble.” In a sustaining-success situation, you are supposed to have the responsibility for preserving the vitality of a successful organization and taking it to the next level. The last is a “tough act to follow,” if your predecessor is topnotch.
The STaRS model is any newcomer’s guide to pinpoint what he should do first in the next 90 days. And the book walks you through a mix of initiatives so that you can successfully navigate the transition. And thus keep your job.
Yes, it isn’t easy to be placed in position of great responsibility – but this book is saying that there is method in fail-safe preparation and successful tour of duty in 90 days – and beyond.
Another useful tip in this book is the chapter titled “Negotiate Success.” Does it mean that you want the board or your boss to so lower your targets that you can easily achieve them hands-down? Far from it. It is saying this: “Negotiating success means proactively engaging with your new boss to shape the game so you have a fighting chance of achieving desired goals.”
“Designing organizational architecture,” a section title in the book, is not just a fancy phrase; it is one of the key functions of a CEO or a top leader. It means that you should design a new organization that fits your strategy. You are not advised to overhaul the entire organizational bureaucracy. But you can use some “elbow room” to create “project management teams,” have access to new advice from a “pool of consultants,” and get results from highly mobile groups to introduce changes.
The book wants you not to miss this advice: Build coalitions. And it introduces the “coalition-building cycle” to make sure you don’t rush headlong into making changes in a landscape that could be full of landmines – without getting support from people of influence within your organization. The policy is simple: Manage the 90-day transition well – and you are home free.
Sunday, March 14, 2004
Burned-out sales people: Learn from a garden
“Sprout!”
By Alan Vengel & Greg Wright
Berrett-Koehler Publishers Inc., 2004
I was just talking shop with someone who retired from one of the big Filipino firms. The friend said: “Back then, middle of last year, I was weary of work and I wanted to play golf everyday… Today, I badly want to go back to work.” When you work, I told him, you miss the world of “play.” And then, when all you do is play – or do nothing – you miss “work.”
The book “Sprout!” began with a story of Marsha Malloy, a topnotch medical supply sales representative who – as the first two lines of the book’s chapter one put it – is: Tired. Flat-out, bone-weary tired.” We instantly what that means: she is experiencing that phenomenon in the field of “work”: Burn-out!
This book, subtitled, “Everything I Need to Know about Sales I Learned from My Garden,” is an engaging narrative to 154 pages, in the tradition of the handy classic “The Little Prince” and the more recent “Who Moved My Cheese.”
It is actually a book on “4 Steps to Sales Success,” written as a story, with characters thrown in, chance encounters in the mythic Garden Store, and an abundance of quotes to deliver selling principles and home-grown insight and folk wisdom. The metaphor is a garden – and it is extended to cover four sales principles: Planning a Sales Garden, Persistent Seeding, Nurturing, and Harvesting & Renewing.
Using a garden as a figure speech to dish out tried and tested principles assures readers of a refreshing time, aside from giving them enough room to decide for themselves the techniques.
For example, Gardener Rawlings, the guru in the story, defines “vision” thus: “A strong vision has details that are so real you can see it, taste it, and smell it.”
So Marsha shares her vision of a garden: “I see a gorgeous panorama of color on a calm July morning. There are rows of deep green plants, tomatoes, carrots, and peppers. The soil is dark and rich. There are also fire-engine red roses. The aroma is wonderful as I stroll through my garden.” As expected, the book equates the garden with “sales territory.”
So, what does one do to grow a garden? The book says it simply: “Plant a seed.” “Seeding,” the book says, is a very important part of sales. Remember the Parable of the Sower, where seeds are thrown into fertile soil, dry ground and soil of thorns and thistles? All the same, the seeding principle is delivered beautifully.
Nurturing, the other part of gardening, is amply discussed. Brenda strides into the Garden Store and tells Marsha what she learned from the Gardener: “He taught me to make sure that the bigger plants don’t overshadow the smaller ones.” That’s true for what are initially smaller customers: someday they will be big customers. I remember a client who told me: “Dante, I’m a small firm now. So quote a modest fee. When I grow big, you grow with me.” His firm did.
Persistence is a word sacred to salesmen, so this book on sales is not complete without it. The Gardener thus enunciates a principle: “Persistence is a constant, dynamic process. Right from the start, you’re seeding in a persistent and determined way, and then when you are nurturing, you’re listening deeper to what your customers are asking for – even reading between the lines.”
There are don’ts that you could pick up from the dialogue of the characters in the narrative. Marsha shares her mistake in forgetting an original customer to pay attention to a new prospect. Alas, the old customer bought a product from a competitor, and prospective customer remained that: a prospect.
Ted, another Garden habitué confesses a grievous error: “I thought I knew everything. I didn’t listen to my customers. I told them what I had in my inventory and tried to sell them what we had, not what they needed… Some customers thought that they were just a commission check to me.” Surely, this book by renowned sales consultants is hitting home.
Warming up to the garden metaphor, Marsha speaks about “doing little extras” for the customers, as she does for her plants in the garden.
What about harvesting? Is it a simple case of getting the checks as payments for products delivered? No. The book has a happy story of Marsha who is tempted to ask a customer to pay $30,000 so she could reach her quota. But, she is due to receive only $10,000. Will she force a “harvest”? No. She decides to get the $20,000 from another customer.
Lesson? The guru explains the metaphor: “Just like in a garden, some customers may be ready before others, all things being equal…Beans, beets, and carrots are best taken sooner rather than later. They are the ones that pass their prime quickly. The same is true for some customers.” What about big accounts? “They’re like big oak trees. We must wait for them to develop and grow.”
Managers have been asked to learn Rainforests. This narrative asks you and me (aren’t we all salespersons?) to develop a “green thumb” for gardening. Rare lessons in seeding, nurturing, harvesting – and an exhilarating feeling awaits us all.
By Alan Vengel & Greg Wright
Berrett-Koehler Publishers Inc., 2004
I was just talking shop with someone who retired from one of the big Filipino firms. The friend said: “Back then, middle of last year, I was weary of work and I wanted to play golf everyday… Today, I badly want to go back to work.” When you work, I told him, you miss the world of “play.” And then, when all you do is play – or do nothing – you miss “work.”
The book “Sprout!” began with a story of Marsha Malloy, a topnotch medical supply sales representative who – as the first two lines of the book’s chapter one put it – is: Tired. Flat-out, bone-weary tired.” We instantly what that means: she is experiencing that phenomenon in the field of “work”: Burn-out!
This book, subtitled, “Everything I Need to Know about Sales I Learned from My Garden,” is an engaging narrative to 154 pages, in the tradition of the handy classic “The Little Prince” and the more recent “Who Moved My Cheese.”
It is actually a book on “4 Steps to Sales Success,” written as a story, with characters thrown in, chance encounters in the mythic Garden Store, and an abundance of quotes to deliver selling principles and home-grown insight and folk wisdom. The metaphor is a garden – and it is extended to cover four sales principles: Planning a Sales Garden, Persistent Seeding, Nurturing, and Harvesting & Renewing.
Using a garden as a figure speech to dish out tried and tested principles assures readers of a refreshing time, aside from giving them enough room to decide for themselves the techniques.
For example, Gardener Rawlings, the guru in the story, defines “vision” thus: “A strong vision has details that are so real you can see it, taste it, and smell it.”
So Marsha shares her vision of a garden: “I see a gorgeous panorama of color on a calm July morning. There are rows of deep green plants, tomatoes, carrots, and peppers. The soil is dark and rich. There are also fire-engine red roses. The aroma is wonderful as I stroll through my garden.” As expected, the book equates the garden with “sales territory.”
So, what does one do to grow a garden? The book says it simply: “Plant a seed.” “Seeding,” the book says, is a very important part of sales. Remember the Parable of the Sower, where seeds are thrown into fertile soil, dry ground and soil of thorns and thistles? All the same, the seeding principle is delivered beautifully.
Nurturing, the other part of gardening, is amply discussed. Brenda strides into the Garden Store and tells Marsha what she learned from the Gardener: “He taught me to make sure that the bigger plants don’t overshadow the smaller ones.” That’s true for what are initially smaller customers: someday they will be big customers. I remember a client who told me: “Dante, I’m a small firm now. So quote a modest fee. When I grow big, you grow with me.” His firm did.
Persistence is a word sacred to salesmen, so this book on sales is not complete without it. The Gardener thus enunciates a principle: “Persistence is a constant, dynamic process. Right from the start, you’re seeding in a persistent and determined way, and then when you are nurturing, you’re listening deeper to what your customers are asking for – even reading between the lines.”
There are don’ts that you could pick up from the dialogue of the characters in the narrative. Marsha shares her mistake in forgetting an original customer to pay attention to a new prospect. Alas, the old customer bought a product from a competitor, and prospective customer remained that: a prospect.
Ted, another Garden habitué confesses a grievous error: “I thought I knew everything. I didn’t listen to my customers. I told them what I had in my inventory and tried to sell them what we had, not what they needed… Some customers thought that they were just a commission check to me.” Surely, this book by renowned sales consultants is hitting home.
Warming up to the garden metaphor, Marsha speaks about “doing little extras” for the customers, as she does for her plants in the garden.
What about harvesting? Is it a simple case of getting the checks as payments for products delivered? No. The book has a happy story of Marsha who is tempted to ask a customer to pay $30,000 so she could reach her quota. But, she is due to receive only $10,000. Will she force a “harvest”? No. She decides to get the $20,000 from another customer.
Lesson? The guru explains the metaphor: “Just like in a garden, some customers may be ready before others, all things being equal…Beans, beets, and carrots are best taken sooner rather than later. They are the ones that pass their prime quickly. The same is true for some customers.” What about big accounts? “They’re like big oak trees. We must wait for them to develop and grow.”
Managers have been asked to learn Rainforests. This narrative asks you and me (aren’t we all salespersons?) to develop a “green thumb” for gardening. Rare lessons in seeding, nurturing, harvesting – and an exhilarating feeling awaits us all.
Sunday, February 29, 2004
Eloquence, more than skill, must come from the heart
“The Dream”
By Drew D. Hansen
Harper Colllins Publishers, 2003
Is this the autumn of discontent in our political life as nation? Or, is there a sense of a joyous spring of hope that, one day, the Philippines will see a daybreak of redemption from its never-ending bout with crisis upon crisis?
If you sense something lyrical in the first paragraph (some would insist it is prosaic poetry), it is because some lyricism has rubbed off on me after reading “The Dream” – subtitled “Martin Luther King Jr. and the Speech that Inspired a Nation.”
Yes, an entire book of 293 pages has been devoted solely to one speech that lasted for less than 30 minutes only, before a crowd of 250,000 who converged at Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. The speech, delivered in 1963, was simply titled “I Have A Dream.” The dreamer was already felled by an assassin’s bullet, but the dream energized an entire community of blacks, joined by whites – and then consequently changed forever the destiny of African Americans in the “land of the free”: America.
I had read the speech long before I got hold of an audio-cassette tape that preserved the voice of the speaker – Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. There is really no substitute for listening to – not reading – a speech. All public speaking coaches or homiletic professors agree that a speech – or a sermon – must be delivered to really capture the passion and intensity it intends to convey.
This book, unlike other books on public speaking or speech writing, has combined the illuminating study of speech content and its strategy, on one hand, and a riveting account on how the speech is delivered or subsequently altered to suit “the moment,” on the other. From an academic standpoint, this is a “case study.”
A bonus is a retelling of a heartwarming history up close: black men, women and children taking the bus from various states; and then bursting into singing stirring negro spirituals; and finally puncturing the serene sky with a 250,000-voice unison crying for freedom!
The book begins with capturing the unfolding drama, including minor speakers that preceded the “main event.” Thankfully, not killing us with suspense, the book brings Martin Luther King to speak on page 51, with this line: “King grasped the podium with both hands, waited a moment, and then opened his mouth to speak.”
And, may I add, that from the “opened mouth” came forth one of the most glorious speeches delivered in all of human history. The book adds a sidelight: Former President John F. Kennedy, watching and listening to King on television a short distance away at the White House turned to one of his aides and said: “That guy is really good.” Coming from JFK, also known for speeches that have become memorable, that compliment spoke volumes of King’s talent.
This book demonstrates in action a lot of speech making theories. A chapter, for example, is devoted to “Composition.” A personal touch is volunteered that King began working on the draft four days before delivering it – and then when the moment came, half of the draft was not used, giving way to a stirring, very eloquent speech.
An instructive portion is an analysis showing the “prepared speech” in one column and the “delivered speech” in another column. Visually, it shows that King was improvising even while speaking – changing words, skipping whole phrases and omitting whole paragraphs and replacing them with words that simply came forth like torrents from a mighty stream.
A couple of speech writers helped him with the first draft, but the book reveals that King was the “sole authority on his speech’s content and language.” When an aide insisted on a phrase, King just smiled and said: “I don’t mind your criticizing my ideas. But I don’t like your criticizing my words, because I’m better at words than you are.” Try that on your speech writers – that is, if you really are better at words.
The speech, however, is not mere words strung together magnificently. It was a penultimate speech that communicated what King felt so deeply in his heart, fighting for equal rights for the black. It was delivered with great courage, but issuing from a fear for his wife and children – and for the entire nation. There is no doubt that every word came from a heart “seared by the flames of injustice.”
The rest of the book is a series of analyses that would be useful to speech writers, language teachers and speakers – who must know some rhetorical devices for impact and “effect.” As many books on public speaking are saying, however, there is no substitute for the authentic voice in the speaker. A speech that one does not believe in will not hold.
This is a timely thought as the political season has begun. Some commercials have already parodied the empty promises of politicians. Some are recycling movie scripts and are keeping people under the spell of myths and fiction. People have also lamented that even those who benefited from the destruction of our freedoms are seeking to benefit from the restored liberties they themselves systematically destroyed.
And yet there are new voices in the political scene. A kindred soul of Martin Luther King, himself trained in the passion and cadence of the Scriptures, is sending a message of hope “hewed from the mountain of despair” (King’s words). Maybe it’s time all our Presidentiables delivered a speech entitled “I Have a Dream.” And the people will listen – and find out who, indeed, speaks from heart and soul like Martin Luther King.
Meanwhile, we continue to dream, too, that our present crop of leaders speak once again like Martin Luther King. My father talked to me about the likes of Camilo Osias, Soc Rodrigo, et al. Of course, there was a Filipino hero in 1983 (assassinated too), Benigno Ninoy Aquino, who fired the imagination and rekindled the courage of the nation. It’s 2002, however, and the question is: Who is the next hero – one who has both vision and the eloquence to speak of the nation’s wounded heart? One who can hold more than a million listeners in rapt attention to what he says.
Whoever will be our next hero, alive preferably, he must draw inspiration from the closing statement of this book: “King’s legacy is the gift of prophecy: a vision of what a redeemed America might look like … The arc of the moral universe is indeed long, but it bends toward justice. This dream can sustain us yet.”
By Drew D. Hansen
Harper Colllins Publishers, 2003
Is this the autumn of discontent in our political life as nation? Or, is there a sense of a joyous spring of hope that, one day, the Philippines will see a daybreak of redemption from its never-ending bout with crisis upon crisis?
If you sense something lyrical in the first paragraph (some would insist it is prosaic poetry), it is because some lyricism has rubbed off on me after reading “The Dream” – subtitled “Martin Luther King Jr. and the Speech that Inspired a Nation.”
Yes, an entire book of 293 pages has been devoted solely to one speech that lasted for less than 30 minutes only, before a crowd of 250,000 who converged at Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. The speech, delivered in 1963, was simply titled “I Have A Dream.” The dreamer was already felled by an assassin’s bullet, but the dream energized an entire community of blacks, joined by whites – and then consequently changed forever the destiny of African Americans in the “land of the free”: America.
I had read the speech long before I got hold of an audio-cassette tape that preserved the voice of the speaker – Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. There is really no substitute for listening to – not reading – a speech. All public speaking coaches or homiletic professors agree that a speech – or a sermon – must be delivered to really capture the passion and intensity it intends to convey.
This book, unlike other books on public speaking or speech writing, has combined the illuminating study of speech content and its strategy, on one hand, and a riveting account on how the speech is delivered or subsequently altered to suit “the moment,” on the other. From an academic standpoint, this is a “case study.”
A bonus is a retelling of a heartwarming history up close: black men, women and children taking the bus from various states; and then bursting into singing stirring negro spirituals; and finally puncturing the serene sky with a 250,000-voice unison crying for freedom!
The book begins with capturing the unfolding drama, including minor speakers that preceded the “main event.” Thankfully, not killing us with suspense, the book brings Martin Luther King to speak on page 51, with this line: “King grasped the podium with both hands, waited a moment, and then opened his mouth to speak.”
And, may I add, that from the “opened mouth” came forth one of the most glorious speeches delivered in all of human history. The book adds a sidelight: Former President John F. Kennedy, watching and listening to King on television a short distance away at the White House turned to one of his aides and said: “That guy is really good.” Coming from JFK, also known for speeches that have become memorable, that compliment spoke volumes of King’s talent.
This book demonstrates in action a lot of speech making theories. A chapter, for example, is devoted to “Composition.” A personal touch is volunteered that King began working on the draft four days before delivering it – and then when the moment came, half of the draft was not used, giving way to a stirring, very eloquent speech.
An instructive portion is an analysis showing the “prepared speech” in one column and the “delivered speech” in another column. Visually, it shows that King was improvising even while speaking – changing words, skipping whole phrases and omitting whole paragraphs and replacing them with words that simply came forth like torrents from a mighty stream.
A couple of speech writers helped him with the first draft, but the book reveals that King was the “sole authority on his speech’s content and language.” When an aide insisted on a phrase, King just smiled and said: “I don’t mind your criticizing my ideas. But I don’t like your criticizing my words, because I’m better at words than you are.” Try that on your speech writers – that is, if you really are better at words.
The speech, however, is not mere words strung together magnificently. It was a penultimate speech that communicated what King felt so deeply in his heart, fighting for equal rights for the black. It was delivered with great courage, but issuing from a fear for his wife and children – and for the entire nation. There is no doubt that every word came from a heart “seared by the flames of injustice.”
The rest of the book is a series of analyses that would be useful to speech writers, language teachers and speakers – who must know some rhetorical devices for impact and “effect.” As many books on public speaking are saying, however, there is no substitute for the authentic voice in the speaker. A speech that one does not believe in will not hold.
This is a timely thought as the political season has begun. Some commercials have already parodied the empty promises of politicians. Some are recycling movie scripts and are keeping people under the spell of myths and fiction. People have also lamented that even those who benefited from the destruction of our freedoms are seeking to benefit from the restored liberties they themselves systematically destroyed.
And yet there are new voices in the political scene. A kindred soul of Martin Luther King, himself trained in the passion and cadence of the Scriptures, is sending a message of hope “hewed from the mountain of despair” (King’s words). Maybe it’s time all our Presidentiables delivered a speech entitled “I Have a Dream.” And the people will listen – and find out who, indeed, speaks from heart and soul like Martin Luther King.
Meanwhile, we continue to dream, too, that our present crop of leaders speak once again like Martin Luther King. My father talked to me about the likes of Camilo Osias, Soc Rodrigo, et al. Of course, there was a Filipino hero in 1983 (assassinated too), Benigno Ninoy Aquino, who fired the imagination and rekindled the courage of the nation. It’s 2002, however, and the question is: Who is the next hero – one who has both vision and the eloquence to speak of the nation’s wounded heart? One who can hold more than a million listeners in rapt attention to what he says.
Whoever will be our next hero, alive preferably, he must draw inspiration from the closing statement of this book: “King’s legacy is the gift of prophecy: a vision of what a redeemed America might look like … The arc of the moral universe is indeed long, but it bends toward justice. This dream can sustain us yet.”
Sunday, February 01, 2004
Speakers: Appeal to loftier goals beyond self-interest
“Working the Room”
By Nick Morgan
Harvard Busienss School Press, 2004
The political season has begun. The May elections are only three months away. On television, you listen to previously low profile executives, administrators and even police chiefs being transformed from sedate characters to high profile firebrand speakers, trying the tricks of orators and introducing “fire and brimstone” in their speeches. That’s one side of the world we live in.
At the other side is the world of business, government bureaucracy and civil society. You attend a conference, a seminar or symposia – and what do you see and hear? You are ushered into a dark room, heads (hopefully, eyes too) transfixed on a giant screen, while the speaker intones a speech or what passes for it. You look around, and many eyes in the audience are heavy. Is there interaction between speaker and audience? Hardly. You sit down, and – soon enough – you join most of the audience in dreamland.
We have lost the art of great speech! “Our speaking styles have indeed become more conversational, but speakers in public spaces haven’t learned to deliver the physical closeness that mirrors the linguistic closeness on television.” Thus observed Nick Morgan, author of “Working the Room.”
He added that even in the relatively intimate setting of a small conference room, the typical speaker is disconnected. The author asks: “How can we change this sorry dynamic? His answer: “By developing the audience-centered rhetoric needed for the twenty first century.” At first glance, there seems to be nothing new with that statement.
When you read the book, you will understand why the author uses “rhetoric” (something absent in many business and other speeches) that goes all the way back to Greek and Macedonian orators, and “21st century” (which makes us instantly aware of combining rhetoric with “soundbites” on television).
Something got lost along the way, the book says. Speeches that moved great crowds of people in a face-to-face encounter between speaker and audience have given way to the television phenomenon where the speaker uses the “hot medium” (according to Marshall McLuhan) with a conversational style. On TV, the speaker “connects” to an audience, not in the same space where he is, but in some distant place.
Then, the same speaker is featured in a conference room, he brings the “tv style” -- which somehow “disconnects” him from an audience that expects more than sound bites. They expect to actively participate, to be looked in the eye, to be told that this speaker cares about them as listeners, their need to be moved to action.
The author shocks us with a speaker’s'; return true;" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;">speaker’s ambitious goal. He declares: “The only reason to give a speech is to change the world. If you are going to take all the trouble to prepare and deliver a speech, make it worthwhile.”
“Give your speech to members of the audience,” he points out, keeping us wondering – until he adds, “by allowing them, to be active.” He explains that many speakers refuse to “give” the speech.
The book has an understandable bias for a speech that “moves people.” So, the author stresses this central truth: “Ultimately, great public speaking comes from passion. Communicate enthusiasm… even if the topic is serious, underneath that emotion lies a real enthusiasm.”
This public speaking proverb is unforgettable – and useful: “If you are having a good time, the audience will, too.”
And how do you get listeners interested? The author devotes a section to the “elevator speech.” He actually means this. You meet someone at the elevator on your way to your public speaking event. He asks you: “I am supposed to enjoy a game of golf, but I have to listen to you. Tell me, what can I gain from your speech?” You are in the same elevator. You need to give the gist of your speech in one sentence. That “elevator speech” is a test whether you can get – then hold – your audience.
This book is one that gives insights, enumerates how to’s, and gives at least three great speeches to illustrate the finer points of public speaking. You will listen once again to John F. Kennedy’s speech at Berlin (which I heard on tape, where Kennedy’s pauses were filled by deafening applause and shouts), Abraham Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address” (the world’s best), and Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” (that used powerful Biblical phrases and moving national hymns).
The book also brings listeners to the loftier goals of speaking. The author advises: “Appeal to something larger than self-interest.” Thankfully, he elaborates: “The tendency to pander is what makes most political speeches today so forgettable. You have to show them how self-interest and larger principles coincide – so personal sacrifice is worth it if it becomes necessary!”
“If you develop the content around your heartfelt passion, rehearse the presentation to find the moments of connection with your audience, and then deliver it with energy and a respect and concern for the audience, you will bring the audience to its feet and to action. Yes, you will change the world.
By Nick Morgan
Harvard Busienss School Press, 2004
The political season has begun. The May elections are only three months away. On television, you listen to previously low profile executives, administrators and even police chiefs being transformed from sedate characters to high profile firebrand speakers, trying the tricks of orators and introducing “fire and brimstone” in their speeches. That’s one side of the world we live in.
At the other side is the world of business, government bureaucracy and civil society. You attend a conference, a seminar or symposia – and what do you see and hear? You are ushered into a dark room, heads (hopefully, eyes too) transfixed on a giant screen, while the speaker intones a speech or what passes for it. You look around, and many eyes in the audience are heavy. Is there interaction between speaker and audience? Hardly. You sit down, and – soon enough – you join most of the audience in dreamland.
We have lost the art of great speech! “Our speaking styles have indeed become more conversational, but speakers in public spaces haven’t learned to deliver the physical closeness that mirrors the linguistic closeness on television.” Thus observed Nick Morgan, author of “Working the Room.”
He added that even in the relatively intimate setting of a small conference room, the typical speaker is disconnected. The author asks: “How can we change this sorry dynamic? His answer: “By developing the audience-centered rhetoric needed for the twenty first century.” At first glance, there seems to be nothing new with that statement.
When you read the book, you will understand why the author uses “rhetoric” (something absent in many business and other speeches) that goes all the way back to Greek and Macedonian orators, and “21st century” (which makes us instantly aware of combining rhetoric with “soundbites” on television).
Something got lost along the way, the book says. Speeches that moved great crowds of people in a face-to-face encounter between speaker and audience have given way to the television phenomenon where the speaker uses the “hot medium” (according to Marshall McLuhan) with a conversational style. On TV, the speaker “connects” to an audience, not in the same space where he is, but in some distant place.
Then, the same speaker is featured in a conference room, he brings the “tv style” -- which somehow “disconnects” him from an audience that expects more than sound bites. They expect to actively participate, to be looked in the eye, to be told that this speaker cares about them as listeners, their need to be moved to action.
The author shocks us with a speaker’s'; return true;" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;">speaker’s ambitious goal. He declares: “The only reason to give a speech is to change the world. If you are going to take all the trouble to prepare and deliver a speech, make it worthwhile.”
“Give your speech to members of the audience,” he points out, keeping us wondering – until he adds, “by allowing them, to be active.” He explains that many speakers refuse to “give” the speech.
The book has an understandable bias for a speech that “moves people.” So, the author stresses this central truth: “Ultimately, great public speaking comes from passion. Communicate enthusiasm… even if the topic is serious, underneath that emotion lies a real enthusiasm.”
This public speaking proverb is unforgettable – and useful: “If you are having a good time, the audience will, too.”
And how do you get listeners interested? The author devotes a section to the “elevator speech.” He actually means this. You meet someone at the elevator on your way to your public speaking event. He asks you: “I am supposed to enjoy a game of golf, but I have to listen to you. Tell me, what can I gain from your speech?” You are in the same elevator. You need to give the gist of your speech in one sentence. That “elevator speech” is a test whether you can get – then hold – your audience.
This book is one that gives insights, enumerates how to’s, and gives at least three great speeches to illustrate the finer points of public speaking. You will listen once again to John F. Kennedy’s speech at Berlin (which I heard on tape, where Kennedy’s pauses were filled by deafening applause and shouts), Abraham Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address” (the world’s best), and Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” (that used powerful Biblical phrases and moving national hymns).
The book also brings listeners to the loftier goals of speaking. The author advises: “Appeal to something larger than self-interest.” Thankfully, he elaborates: “The tendency to pander is what makes most political speeches today so forgettable. You have to show them how self-interest and larger principles coincide – so personal sacrifice is worth it if it becomes necessary!”
“If you develop the content around your heartfelt passion, rehearse the presentation to find the moments of connection with your audience, and then deliver it with energy and a respect and concern for the audience, you will bring the audience to its feet and to action. Yes, you will change the world.
Sunday, January 18, 2004
Beyond good sound bites, you must be in control
“How to Make the Most of Every Media Appearance”
By George Merlis
McGraw Hill, 2004
If you think appearing before media is kid stuff, think again. When I was with one of the giant beverage companies, we went through a crisis communication workshop in Hong Kong. Participants included a handful CEOs and communication directors.
It was supposed to be a series of simulation exercises. And yet the interviewing media were real tri-media journalists. And we were “real people” too with real threats or problems in our respective home countries.
I didn’t realize how unprepared many of our CEOs were in facing media – or at least having a fruitful or successful encounter with them. The exercises were recorded on television – and the guys saw themselves squirming, making faces, drumming their tables, shifting their eyes, being coolly detached or hotly involved!
Then I knew there was truth to the oft-repeated statement that facing media is one of the worst fears of executives – whether they admit it or not.
On the other hand, some executives are worried about fellow executives who are too confident for their own good – because they go through interviews revealing facts too soon, boring their interviewers, or simply be a disaster in full view of millions of viewers or their disastrous statements all over the front pages because they are afflicted with the all-too-common ailment: FMD (for foot-in-mouth disease).
Global communication companies have come up with media training exercises equipped with videos and thick manuals – but very few can afford such programs. The good news is we have this book -- “How to Make the Most of Every Media Appearance” – which is more than you can expect from a workshop. The other good news is this is written by a veteran journalist – who, therefore, knows the tricks – and, may I add, trials -- on both sides of the fence.
The thought that is central in this book is this: When you are interviewed, you must have a clear idea of your own agenda. In other words, the author is saying that you should not be drawn into the agenda of the reporter.
Mr. Merlis introduces “The Five Commandments” – and they are so common you may think he is telling nothing new: thou shalt be prepared, thou shalt know to whom you art speaking, thou shalt be quoteworthy, thou shalt practice, practice, practice -- and thou shalt not lie, evade, nor cop an attitude.
And yet, Merlis fascinates us with his mastery of details, born of experience in many media encounters – mostly as journalist, other times as interviewee. From these, he comes up with valuable to-dos – like: “Approach media encounters with a sense of purpose, a positive – even eager – attitude, and an enthusiasm for their subject.”
He suggests preparing intentional message statements (IMS) – points you feel must be made during the interview. He cites many examples of people who went through the interviews chatting or shooting the breeze – and end up having a bad press or being exposed for what they are – all talk and no substance. Remember when a former First Lady’s statements were reprinted verbatim, including verbal slips, incredible thoughts, etc.? That mobilized an entire Presidential palace to stop its publication to no avail!
One other tip that proves this author knows whereof he speaks. He advises: “You are not only talking to but through an interviewer.” You are talking to a vast audience out there. Others mistake the talk as an intimate encounter, never knowing that the entire world was transformed into a giant society of “eavesdroppers.”
He spoke about sound bites, that staple on television that can make you “world-famous for fifteen minutes,” in the words of Andy Warhol, said 1968 when television was not as powerful.
In fact, sound bites are not only for television, the author says. “Soundbites predate television news,” he notes, and he cites memorable lines such as these: “Give me liberty or give me death”; “Here I stand; I can do no other”; “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself”; and “I shall return.” Or what about this in a country of unemployment or under-employment: “It’s a recession when your neighbor loses his job; it’s a depression when you lose yours.”
Aside from sound bites, use a metaphor or simile. And example: “This proposal is the Titanic of economic planning – big, ambitious, and doomed to sink!” Just don’t try this on the Boss.
Merlis says it’s all right to ask a reporter the following questions: What is the direction and thrust of the story? Who else are you interviewing? How much of my time will you need? How long will your article or broadcast story be? A treasure is a section on “The Interviewer’s Top Seven Dirty Tricks” -- one of which is what he calls the “pregnant pause.” It’s the pause that’s used “as an invitation for you to expand on answers you’ve already given.” When you are uneasy with silence, don’t.
Yes, he has some advice on how to look good on television, how to avoid being positioned as “a bad guy” juxtaposed with the “good guys” – and so forth. Many more principles and tips are featured in this book, spiced up with illustrations. When you read it, think of your past or forthcoming interviews. You can re-run them with newfound insights from the book. Amidst all the techniques, however, the book has delivered one point clearly: “You are in control.”
By George Merlis
McGraw Hill, 2004
If you think appearing before media is kid stuff, think again. When I was with one of the giant beverage companies, we went through a crisis communication workshop in Hong Kong. Participants included a handful CEOs and communication directors.
It was supposed to be a series of simulation exercises. And yet the interviewing media were real tri-media journalists. And we were “real people” too with real threats or problems in our respective home countries.
I didn’t realize how unprepared many of our CEOs were in facing media – or at least having a fruitful or successful encounter with them. The exercises were recorded on television – and the guys saw themselves squirming, making faces, drumming their tables, shifting their eyes, being coolly detached or hotly involved!
Then I knew there was truth to the oft-repeated statement that facing media is one of the worst fears of executives – whether they admit it or not.
On the other hand, some executives are worried about fellow executives who are too confident for their own good – because they go through interviews revealing facts too soon, boring their interviewers, or simply be a disaster in full view of millions of viewers or their disastrous statements all over the front pages because they are afflicted with the all-too-common ailment: FMD (for foot-in-mouth disease).
Global communication companies have come up with media training exercises equipped with videos and thick manuals – but very few can afford such programs. The good news is we have this book -- “How to Make the Most of Every Media Appearance” – which is more than you can expect from a workshop. The other good news is this is written by a veteran journalist – who, therefore, knows the tricks – and, may I add, trials -- on both sides of the fence.
The thought that is central in this book is this: When you are interviewed, you must have a clear idea of your own agenda. In other words, the author is saying that you should not be drawn into the agenda of the reporter.
Mr. Merlis introduces “The Five Commandments” – and they are so common you may think he is telling nothing new: thou shalt be prepared, thou shalt know to whom you art speaking, thou shalt be quoteworthy, thou shalt practice, practice, practice -- and thou shalt not lie, evade, nor cop an attitude.
And yet, Merlis fascinates us with his mastery of details, born of experience in many media encounters – mostly as journalist, other times as interviewee. From these, he comes up with valuable to-dos – like: “Approach media encounters with a sense of purpose, a positive – even eager – attitude, and an enthusiasm for their subject.”
He suggests preparing intentional message statements (IMS) – points you feel must be made during the interview. He cites many examples of people who went through the interviews chatting or shooting the breeze – and end up having a bad press or being exposed for what they are – all talk and no substance. Remember when a former First Lady’s statements were reprinted verbatim, including verbal slips, incredible thoughts, etc.? That mobilized an entire Presidential palace to stop its publication to no avail!
One other tip that proves this author knows whereof he speaks. He advises: “You are not only talking to but through an interviewer.” You are talking to a vast audience out there. Others mistake the talk as an intimate encounter, never knowing that the entire world was transformed into a giant society of “eavesdroppers.”
He spoke about sound bites, that staple on television that can make you “world-famous for fifteen minutes,” in the words of Andy Warhol, said 1968 when television was not as powerful.
In fact, sound bites are not only for television, the author says. “Soundbites predate television news,” he notes, and he cites memorable lines such as these: “Give me liberty or give me death”; “Here I stand; I can do no other”; “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself”; and “I shall return.” Or what about this in a country of unemployment or under-employment: “It’s a recession when your neighbor loses his job; it’s a depression when you lose yours.”
Aside from sound bites, use a metaphor or simile. And example: “This proposal is the Titanic of economic planning – big, ambitious, and doomed to sink!” Just don’t try this on the Boss.
Merlis says it’s all right to ask a reporter the following questions: What is the direction and thrust of the story? Who else are you interviewing? How much of my time will you need? How long will your article or broadcast story be? A treasure is a section on “The Interviewer’s Top Seven Dirty Tricks” -- one of which is what he calls the “pregnant pause.” It’s the pause that’s used “as an invitation for you to expand on answers you’ve already given.” When you are uneasy with silence, don’t.
Yes, he has some advice on how to look good on television, how to avoid being positioned as “a bad guy” juxtaposed with the “good guys” – and so forth. Many more principles and tips are featured in this book, spiced up with illustrations. When you read it, think of your past or forthcoming interviews. You can re-run them with newfound insights from the book. Amidst all the techniques, however, the book has delivered one point clearly: “You are in control.”
Sunday, January 04, 2004
Top 7 books executives loved to read in 2003
READERS of "Executive Read" have varied tastes and interests. The responses of readers-the ever increasing new and the loyal ones-have affirmed the decision of the Sunday Biz editor not to limit books to "strictly business," but to expand coverage to "books executives read."
This has virtually opened up this section to a vast array of books executives read-from the serious to the light-hearted, from the purely inspirational to those that demand analysis and reflection, from those with theoretical framework to personality profiles that flesh out theory with real-life accounts.
As a year-end treat to our readers, we have chosen the top seven books reviewed in the "Executive Read," based on reader responses mainly through e-mails and text messages (from those who know my mobile phone number).
Two more indicators of enthusiastic reader response come from publishers and bookstores - and, yes, request for copies from our growing network of friends and confirmed book lovers!
While some books received more responses than the others, it is not safe to assume that such books outsold everything else. For example, the book on dimensional leadership skills elicited several inquiries via e-mail, including a specific request from a CEO of one of the top five corporations. However, the book on "repairing a reputation" was declared out of stock by all bookstores, leaving me without a copy because I have given mine away.
So, the presentation of the top seven books executives loved to read in 2003 would be chronologica-and they are:
Reputation Marketing, Leading Quietly, Financial Shenanigans, The 21 Most Powerful Minutes in a Leader's Life, Living History: Hillary Rodham Clinton, Leadership Through People Skills, and Anyway.
1. Reputation Marketing. My review of Reputation Marketing, titled "Acquiring a deft hand in reputation repair," appeared early January, 20 days after the President of this country announced her decision not to run for President, calling such act as a "personal sacrifice."
And since the book is all about building a reputation or building a tarnished one, the review took off from the Presidential announcement, lauding such a move as "instructive to practitioners and students of corporate and marketing communication ... to create shifts among power centers and change the configuration of political forces." Almost. (Six months after such a declaration, the state leader made a turnabout.)
Of course, the book offers some hope. Author Joe Marconi observes: "The public has demonstrated an amazing capacity to forgive and, if not forget, to at least allow another chance."
John Rojo, who e-mailed me, and Bobby Manzano from Coca Cola who did not stop until I gave away the book, must have now found out useful insights in the book.
2. Leading Quietly. Subtitled the "unorthodox guide to doing the right thing," the book has received responses from young and promising leaders who found comfort in the review's statement that "there are quiet leaders who, behind the scenes, come up with substantive solutions for big and small problems.
The book brings readers up close and personal with corporate leaders who struggle over ethical issues, who finally end up doing the right thing, were shown the door-but were happy because their "morals were intact."
Readers like Lois Yasay, a pre-law student at University of the Philippines, said she was inspired by the book, perhaps by the statement of Albert Schweitzer quoted in the book. Schweitzer called these quiet leaders the "force that is content with small and obscure deeds, but whose sum is a thousand times stronger" than the "foam" (celebrity leaders) on the waves of a deep ocean."
3. Financial Shenanigans. "Be Sherlock Holmes in detecting accounting fraud" was how we titled an equally explosive title "Financial Shenanigans." The book details the many attempts to "window-dress" financial statements, conceal data, over-value some items, and other practices that auditors must know in order to catch the culprits.
Taking off from the debacle of multinationals Enron, WorldCom and other high-profile accounting crimes, the book-while a bit technical -drew responses from auditors, accountants and CEOs. A comptroller of the Securities and Exchange Commission and a trusted ally of receivers supervising ailing companies wrote to ask about this "eye-opening" book. My only copy was also given away to a senior executive for audit of a large bank-to serve the book's purpose: help detect gimmicks and fraud.
4. The 21 Most Powerful Minutes in a Leader's Day. Executives nowadays go for the "soft books" -meaning, those that don't demand too much analysis and require too much cerebral work. In a century where executives seek the "soul" of the corporation and even talk about the "spirit" of golf, we know that the hunger for books that touch the heart must be addressed.
We reviewed one such book, "The 21 Most Powerful Minutes in a Leader's Day, and titled it "Leadership is, first, an internal matter." The book by John Maxwell is packaged as a devotional material, to be taken in daily bites by executive readers- brief enough to leave some space for meditation and re-thinking.
5. Living History: Hillary Rodham Clinton. At the time when this book was reviewed, two books were bestsellers-a Harry Potter book and Hillary Rodham Clinton's "Living History." I made a wise move to reserve a copy at Powerbooks Alabang, and got mine in 10 days-which made the review possible.
The book on Hillary was attended by curiosity at first ("Is there a whole chapter on Monica Lewinsky?" many asked), and ended-after it was read-with a newfound respect and admiration for the famous First Lady of the United States. E-mails and text messages were a-plenty.
We noted that Hillary's formative years-from child to youth to youth volunteer-were consistent, and so we wrote: "Her youthful years showed a character formed by genes and her generation's burning issues."
6. Leadership Through People Skills. This book received the most e-mail and text messages from readers. It goes to show that executives and managers are ever on the lookout for new ways to deal with the most fascinating and inscrutable resource in organizations-people.
The book offers what it calls the "Dimensional Model of Behavior" and introduces a non-linear approach. That's why we titled the review "Calibrate your leadership approach" because the book guides leaders to fine tune the use of dominance and submission on one hand, and warmth and hostility on the other.
The book has its innate appeal. A chairman and CEO of one of the top energy companies expressed interest in the book. Also, I received an e-mail from Myriam Santiago, not our former Senator, but one simply interested in truly calibrating her leadership style- and perhaps gives her namesake a run for her money! The director of Holy Cross Press in the Archdiocese of Davao, Franklin Sanchez also wanted to get hold of the book. Jane David asked our help to locate a copy, since the bookstores either didn't have it or have run out of stock.
These responses give us a key message: Many of our readers continue to perfect their leadership styles and are always open to new ideas.
7. Anyway. This one book, found in Libris, a bookstore in BF Homes Para¤aque with a branch at the RCBC Plaza, has taken the book-reading public by storm. It is simply titled "Anyway." Gym enthusiasts talked about it, and wondered where to get hold of a copy. An enterprising friend made it a Christmas greeting card. My professor in my Ph.D. class in UP, known for her erudition, said the book "might be good"- based on the review.
And what does the book offer? It has introduced "Ten Paradoxical Commandments" which always ended with the word ... "anyway." For example, "Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway."
I tried these in my lectures and other public speaking engagements-and the audience unfailingly responded with a chorus: "Anyway."
And so we bade goodbye to 2003. How did I keep the energy to read and then review a book twice a month? First, a good friend Filemon T. Berba Jr. sent me a New Year's text message saying, "Don't stop reviewing books." Second, I must really be a hopeless book lover. Book reviewing interferes with my Ph.D. studies, my professorial lectures and my public relations and advocacy practice.
However, I regularly turn in my "Executive Read" manuscript. Anyway.
This has virtually opened up this section to a vast array of books executives read-from the serious to the light-hearted, from the purely inspirational to those that demand analysis and reflection, from those with theoretical framework to personality profiles that flesh out theory with real-life accounts.
As a year-end treat to our readers, we have chosen the top seven books reviewed in the "Executive Read," based on reader responses mainly through e-mails and text messages (from those who know my mobile phone number).
Two more indicators of enthusiastic reader response come from publishers and bookstores - and, yes, request for copies from our growing network of friends and confirmed book lovers!
While some books received more responses than the others, it is not safe to assume that such books outsold everything else. For example, the book on dimensional leadership skills elicited several inquiries via e-mail, including a specific request from a CEO of one of the top five corporations. However, the book on "repairing a reputation" was declared out of stock by all bookstores, leaving me without a copy because I have given mine away.
So, the presentation of the top seven books executives loved to read in 2003 would be chronologica-and they are:
Reputation Marketing, Leading Quietly, Financial Shenanigans, The 21 Most Powerful Minutes in a Leader's Life, Living History: Hillary Rodham Clinton, Leadership Through People Skills, and Anyway.
1. Reputation Marketing. My review of Reputation Marketing, titled "Acquiring a deft hand in reputation repair," appeared early January, 20 days after the President of this country announced her decision not to run for President, calling such act as a "personal sacrifice."
And since the book is all about building a reputation or building a tarnished one, the review took off from the Presidential announcement, lauding such a move as "instructive to practitioners and students of corporate and marketing communication ... to create shifts among power centers and change the configuration of political forces." Almost. (Six months after such a declaration, the state leader made a turnabout.)
Of course, the book offers some hope. Author Joe Marconi observes: "The public has demonstrated an amazing capacity to forgive and, if not forget, to at least allow another chance."
John Rojo, who e-mailed me, and Bobby Manzano from Coca Cola who did not stop until I gave away the book, must have now found out useful insights in the book.
2. Leading Quietly. Subtitled the "unorthodox guide to doing the right thing," the book has received responses from young and promising leaders who found comfort in the review's statement that "there are quiet leaders who, behind the scenes, come up with substantive solutions for big and small problems.
The book brings readers up close and personal with corporate leaders who struggle over ethical issues, who finally end up doing the right thing, were shown the door-but were happy because their "morals were intact."
Readers like Lois Yasay, a pre-law student at University of the Philippines, said she was inspired by the book, perhaps by the statement of Albert Schweitzer quoted in the book. Schweitzer called these quiet leaders the "force that is content with small and obscure deeds, but whose sum is a thousand times stronger" than the "foam" (celebrity leaders) on the waves of a deep ocean."
3. Financial Shenanigans. "Be Sherlock Holmes in detecting accounting fraud" was how we titled an equally explosive title "Financial Shenanigans." The book details the many attempts to "window-dress" financial statements, conceal data, over-value some items, and other practices that auditors must know in order to catch the culprits.
Taking off from the debacle of multinationals Enron, WorldCom and other high-profile accounting crimes, the book-while a bit technical -drew responses from auditors, accountants and CEOs. A comptroller of the Securities and Exchange Commission and a trusted ally of receivers supervising ailing companies wrote to ask about this "eye-opening" book. My only copy was also given away to a senior executive for audit of a large bank-to serve the book's purpose: help detect gimmicks and fraud.
4. The 21 Most Powerful Minutes in a Leader's Day. Executives nowadays go for the "soft books" -meaning, those that don't demand too much analysis and require too much cerebral work. In a century where executives seek the "soul" of the corporation and even talk about the "spirit" of golf, we know that the hunger for books that touch the heart must be addressed.
We reviewed one such book, "The 21 Most Powerful Minutes in a Leader's Day, and titled it "Leadership is, first, an internal matter." The book by John Maxwell is packaged as a devotional material, to be taken in daily bites by executive readers- brief enough to leave some space for meditation and re-thinking.
5. Living History: Hillary Rodham Clinton. At the time when this book was reviewed, two books were bestsellers-a Harry Potter book and Hillary Rodham Clinton's "Living History." I made a wise move to reserve a copy at Powerbooks Alabang, and got mine in 10 days-which made the review possible.
The book on Hillary was attended by curiosity at first ("Is there a whole chapter on Monica Lewinsky?" many asked), and ended-after it was read-with a newfound respect and admiration for the famous First Lady of the United States. E-mails and text messages were a-plenty.
We noted that Hillary's formative years-from child to youth to youth volunteer-were consistent, and so we wrote: "Her youthful years showed a character formed by genes and her generation's burning issues."
6. Leadership Through People Skills. This book received the most e-mail and text messages from readers. It goes to show that executives and managers are ever on the lookout for new ways to deal with the most fascinating and inscrutable resource in organizations-people.
The book offers what it calls the "Dimensional Model of Behavior" and introduces a non-linear approach. That's why we titled the review "Calibrate your leadership approach" because the book guides leaders to fine tune the use of dominance and submission on one hand, and warmth and hostility on the other.
The book has its innate appeal. A chairman and CEO of one of the top energy companies expressed interest in the book. Also, I received an e-mail from Myriam Santiago, not our former Senator, but one simply interested in truly calibrating her leadership style- and perhaps gives her namesake a run for her money! The director of Holy Cross Press in the Archdiocese of Davao, Franklin Sanchez also wanted to get hold of the book. Jane David asked our help to locate a copy, since the bookstores either didn't have it or have run out of stock.
These responses give us a key message: Many of our readers continue to perfect their leadership styles and are always open to new ideas.
7. Anyway. This one book, found in Libris, a bookstore in BF Homes Para¤aque with a branch at the RCBC Plaza, has taken the book-reading public by storm. It is simply titled "Anyway." Gym enthusiasts talked about it, and wondered where to get hold of a copy. An enterprising friend made it a Christmas greeting card. My professor in my Ph.D. class in UP, known for her erudition, said the book "might be good"- based on the review.
And what does the book offer? It has introduced "Ten Paradoxical Commandments" which always ended with the word ... "anyway." For example, "Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway."
I tried these in my lectures and other public speaking engagements-and the audience unfailingly responded with a chorus: "Anyway."
And so we bade goodbye to 2003. How did I keep the energy to read and then review a book twice a month? First, a good friend Filemon T. Berba Jr. sent me a New Year's text message saying, "Don't stop reviewing books." Second, I must really be a hopeless book lover. Book reviewing interferes with my Ph.D. studies, my professorial lectures and my public relations and advocacy practice.
However, I regularly turn in my "Executive Read" manuscript. Anyway.
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