On Sunday the Obama team fanned out to deliver their talking points - and you have to wonder whether they’d had their coffee- or even glanced at the weekend ”talking points.”  On the topic of jobs “saved or created” (which in and of itself is a ludicrous concept, impossible to prove or substantiate) they simply didn’t have their stories straight.  The Keystone cops look like a well-oiled tactical team by comparison.

By mid day Sunday, the three White House advisers had appeared on the Sunday news programs with three vastly different estimates of how many jobs could be credited to President Obama’s Recovery Act.

Valerie Jarrett: “The Recovery Act saved thousands and thousands of jobs.” (playing it safe)

Robert Gibbs: It…“saved or created 1.5 million jobs.” (the middle guy)

David Axelrod:  It has…”created more than – or saved more than 2 million jobs.” (swinging for the fences)

Read the full scripts of their comments on Politico by clicking here. 

What Went Wrong?

Not only did the three amigos fail to sync up their fairytales and agree on a manufactured number, they further eroded their credibility with the spin.  Is there an American not in a coma who isn’t aware that the “real” unemployment rate is about 15% right now?   Even Obama’s ardent base of supporters must be wondering which planet these folks are living on.  I took this statement off of the Bureau of Labor statistics web site:

“In December, both the number of unemployed persons, at 15.3 million, and the unemployment rate, at 10.0 percent, were unchanged. At the start of the re-cession in December 2007, the number of unemployed persons was 7.7 million, and the unemployment rate was 5.0 percent.”  

The Obama gang is also losing ground trying to persuade Americans that jobs are suddenly ”job one” for the administration.  Two weeks earlier, prior to the seismic shift in politics called Scott Brown, was there any question that health care was “job one.”   Confused?  Or just seeing right through the rhetoric?

Business Leaders Are Also Acting Stupidly

If you read my blog regularly you know that I don’t often comment on politics.  However, there are so many lessons for business that I simply cannot ignore what’s happening now. 

A good friend recently suggested I should actually write a book called “How Stupid Can You Be.”  The more I think about it, the more I like it.  This book could write itself. 

Who can forget the image of the CEOs of the major automakers flying in on private jets, and then putting their hands out for a taxpayer bail out?  

And, what about the four most powerful bankers telling a congressional committee that they were “victims of circumstance”  unable to anticipate the near collapse of our financial system and therefore should not be held responsible for their role in upending the global economy.  I’m not saying there isn’t plenty of blame to go around but these types of answers make your brain hurt.

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So the Obama administration has certainly not cornered the market on stupid pet tricks.  Businesses  make the these mistakes all the time.  And I believe the root of it is that some people are just arrogant enough to think people aren’t paying attention, or don’t care.

 How to Avoid this Stupidity:

• Do what’s important first
• Acknowledge contradictions
• Protect your integrity
• Give an honest analysis
• Don’t make up the facts
• Don’t be tone deaf
• Stop treating people like idiots 

As always, I welcome your thoughts…

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The media have had a field day ridiculing last nights Beer Summit in the Rose Garden.  I don’t know why.  I thought the photo op was priceless.  A President in shirtsleeves who wishes he had “calibrated his remarks,” sipping on his Bud light with a nattily dressed Harvard professor who should have calibrated his actions and a police officer who has shown a superb ability to calibrate SINCE the incident (although he may still wish that he’d walked away). 

The reasons I think it was valuable, priceless really, have nothing whatsoever to do with race relations.    I really don’t think this incident will make a whit of difference on that score.  There is too much history, too much heartache, too much mistrust between blacks and police.  It will take decades to fix that.  And, I am among those who don’t even see this as a racial profiling incident.  There’s just nothing on those 911 tapes that would indicate the police went to Gates house for anything other than a burglary call.  

So back to why it was priceless.  Here are three guys coming together in a civil way and agreeing to disagree.  To me that’s what it was about.  Civility and respect.  In a country where civility is barely discussed, here was an opportunity to see it in action.  It’s hard work, to agree to disagree with anyone.  We get entrenched in our views and self-righteous about every slight, and we often never let it go.  

 So the value of a photo op - is tremendous.  I really don’t care what they said to each other.  I doubt it there was anything said that was noteworthy or important.  They showed up, they talked, and they left with their dignity fairly intact.  It ratcheted down the emotions and showed us that it is possible to have relationships without agreeing with each other all the time.

There’s a business lesson here - when you have personal, negative conflict in your organization- people tearing each other apart - not just disagreeing about what should be done — you need to address it.  You cannot let it fester.  Bring people together around a table and send a message that you won’t tolerate the infighting, backstabbing, plotting, scheming, undermining, sniping and badmouthing.  

By the way, I’m very much FOR apologies.  Read my earlier blog on that topic.  An apology is more powerful, but In the real world it doesn’t always happen.  But healing, even transformation is possible when you bring people together.  The photo op around that table says, we’re grown ups, we can live together, and we can treat each other with respect.  

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The story about President Obama’s teleprompter “snafu” was all over the morning news today.

For those of you who didn’t see it, Obama was in the middle of a press conference when suddenly one of his teleprompters crashed to the ground.  You can see the video here: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2009/07/13/obamas_teleprompter_crashes_during_speech.html

Unfortunately for the President, the snafu brought up chatter in the news circuits about how he has a reputation of relying too much on his teleprompter.  Some news sites and blogs even go as far as to credit teleprompters for his election!

However, this particular incident is a reminder to anyone who speaks - on a stage, in a meeting, in general presentations - that you can’t rely on technology.  Obama had one teleprompter still functioning, but also had printed notes in front of him, which allowed him to continue seamlessly.

Whether you’re using a teleprompter, a PowerPoint, or any other technology to assist you with a speech or presentation; having printed, old-fashioned notes is still essential.  Even better?  Knowing your topic and talking points so well that you can continue unscripted! But that’s a whole other subject…

This “snafu” is also a great example of how to deal with distractions during a speech or presentation.  When the teleprompter crashed, Obama simply said “Oh, goodness.  Sorry about that.” The audience quickly chuckled and he went right back into his speech.

Distractions are inevitable during speeches, large and small.  Whether it’s a cell phone ringing, a door opening, or a teleprompter crashing, don’t allow distractions to ruin your speech or presentation.  Like Obama did, just keep on talking as if nothing happened.  As hard as it might be to stay focused, these are the “little things” that make the difference between being a great speaker and an “OK” speaker.

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So Congress has passed a $789 billion stimulus package to confront the worst recession in decades.   We all hope that it will at least nudge the economy back to life.  However, reports are its going to provide less near-term support for the economy and make it less likely that the economy will pull itself out of recession before late this year.  The White House and Democrats in Congress have made it clear that we won’t see a quick turnaround.  

In the meantime, we have to take action to help ourselves.  We need to create our own business stimulus packages.   We can’t print new money like the government and we can’t issue bonds.  We may or may not be able to tap a line of credit. 

So what do we do?  We use brain power.  We create our own stimulus package.  The line items will include innovation, creativity, ingenuity and good old fashioned hard work.   I know, we’re all working harder than ever, and some of us with fewer resources.  But what choice do we have?  We have to stimulate our businesses right now, to survive and position ourselves for quick recovery.  

I’ve been talking with a lot of business leaders and paying attention to what they’re doing.  Some are actually in growth mode.  Some have had the rug pulled out from under them.  But one thing I’ve noticed about those who are plowing ahead - they’re getting up every morning, coming to work, and taking action. 

Here are 7 steps you can take right now to create and implement your own business stimulus package:

1.  Reach out - Get on the phone with your customers and find out what problems you can solve for them.  Even if they don’t have a budget right now, you can become a trusted advisor and consultant.  If you hit on a problem that is challenging enough to solve, they may even “find” money for the project.

2.  Tap collective wisdom- Get your team together to come up with some new offerings that are more targeted to your customers needs right now.  If you get everybody together in the same room you’re going to be able to tap into their collective wisdom and find creative approaches

3.  Reinvent - Based on what you’ve learned from your customers/clients and your own team, create a high value solution to a common problem and put it out there to your customers and prospects.  Find out what they would be willing to pay for this; it may be a lot it may be a little but if it is on the mark they will buy it and this will increase immediate cash flow.

4.  Approach a crisis with massive action - You may be feeling especially jittery or vulnerable if your business has been hit more severely than others, and when you feel that way it can paralyze you.  Get a good night’s sleep, take care of yourself, and come to work every day energized and refreshed.  Take action in the first few hours of the day that can move your business forward.   Give each activity some time to “take” and keep going.  

5.  Take advantage of down time - If the calendar is emptier than usual, use every minute of the time you have right now to enhance your brand in low cost ways.  This is the time to raise your visibility and profile in your market place.  This is the time to build relationships with customers.  It’s also time to do favors for friends and colleagues who are influential and can help you develop business.  Schedule time with them, and help them with their projects.  You can also give presentations, write articles, blog, twitter, and offer help that way.  In your downtime you can really ramp up the marketing - which is important because you need to keep your name out there.  People do business with people and companies they know and trust. 

6.  Think future opportunity- read the paper, read respected business newspapers and journals, and pay attention to trends.  Think about where the opportunities are and how  can you position yourself for these opportunities now.  These are times to break out of your rut.  Look at healthy growing industries, refocus and consider how to adapt or reinvent your product, services and marketing to get into those channels.

7.   Have faith:  Most of us are familiar with the power of positive thinking, and successful people know how effective it is.  Our thoughts become our reality.  Remember that you have to think powerful, positive thoughts, then you need to communicate those to your team and the people around you, in order to have a positive impact on your business or organization.  In my new book, Motivate Like a CEO, I define leadership as connecting people with purpose and passion toward a common goal.  Have faith and believe in the vision, and communicate it to others, every single day.  Start fresh today - lock in on that vision, walk into the next meeting and tell people about it.  Faith will carry us through.

In the spirit of helping you stimulate your business, we are offering significant early bird discounts right now on all of our popular Speak Like a CEO Boot Camps.  Our goal is to help you tell the story of your business and make a powerful impact on your important audiences. These are two-day intensives that have helped hundreds of business executives transform their speaking skills.   I’m not going to spend a lot of time explaining it here, but if you want to learn more contact Meredith O’Connor, moconnor@bates-communications.com .  She’ll give you all the details.

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The first big stumble of the Obama administration is about ethics and double standards.  The American Public still made it clear they won’t tolerate that. Former Sen. Tom Daschle was forced to withdraw from consideration for secretary of Health and Human Services after a mounting debate over his back taxes.  Nancy Killefer, earlier in the day withdrew her name from consideration as Chief Performance Officer – also over tax issues.

What’s distressing is that President Obama “got it” only after the public outcry.  “I’m here on television saying I screwed up …ultimately it’s important …to send a message that there aren’t two sets of rules. You know, one for prominent people and one for ordinary folks who have to pay their taxes.” 

It’s hard to imagine that this President didn’t anticipate how angry people would be.  Whether its arrogance or expediency Tim Geithner’s appointment as Treasury Secretary was rammed through and then the White House folks started believing they could massage these other flawed appointments, too.  Getting away with it once allowed Obama to fool himself that it didn’t matter, really. 

Harvard Business Review reports this month that when asked what they look for and admire in a leader and in a colleague, people put honesty at #1.  People can accept mistakes, poor judgment or missteps but they simply won’t consider you a good leader if you aren’t honest with them.  In the President’s case, I think there is a question here of intellectual honesty - did he really believe that it was okay to give powerful people a different set of rules to live by than every day Americans, who have to prepare their taxes, pay them on time, or suffer penalties if they don’t? 

This is a leadership lesson - not just about double standards, but about intellectual honesty.  When you are honest you have to make difficult choices - you have to walk your talk.  In Motivate Like a CEO, this is one of the eight principles of motivational leadership.  When you walk the talk, people believe in you and your organization.  Acting in a way that is consistent with your words is essential to your success as a leader.  A leader who acts with integrity generates confidence and enthusiasm, and ultimately builds a motivated workforce that gets things done.  When people see you mean what you say and that they can count on you to act in concert with your principles, they believe in you and they also behave in the same way.  You win their trust, and you can trust them.  You cannot have a motivated workforce or a successful company if there isn’t a reasonable high level of trust and integrity between management and employees.

If you would like a copy of the Eight Principles of Motivating Like a CEO, please email info@bates-communications.com 

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At noon today, President Barack Obama gave the speech of his life. History will judge which words will be etched in marble.  

Perhaps what’s most notable is how our President-Elect has been communicating with us all along.  You might say he’s decided to become not just Commander in Chief, but also ”Communicator in Chief.” 

What is impressive is not just his command of the podium.  President-Elect Obama knows his way around modern technology.  He fought with government lawyers and security agencies to keep his own BlackBerry for personal and private messages.  He already seems to be mastering the art of communicating through imagery – those awful Greek columns aside – yesterday, the President Elect was photographed with paint roller in hand –a powerful image that says how each of us must do our part.

Mr. Obama’s rhetorical flair and unflappable confidence on the platform catapulted him onto the national stage four years ago; he just kept getting better.  It isn’t all about style — it’s the way he thinks about communication.  The fact that he created an office of the President-Elect –complete with a media room and a presidential-worthy podium, demonstrates how important he thinks it is.

What can business leaders learn from Mr. Obama?  First - charisma - it does matter.  Our new President commands the room, adapts with ease, and makes his one-on one interviews hip, down home and comfortable; he also delivers a rousing, motivational speech and makes you believe the rhetoric of hope from a big platform.  While he does have some annoying vocal habits –I noticed after awhile that the phrases “as I’ve said,” or “I’ve made it clear,” frequently creep in, just prior to the answer to a tough question; still you cannot help but admire how he connects.

Having said that, there is certainly more to Obama’s effectiveness than charisma.  He carved out precious time during the transition for press conferences.  He became highly visible, gaining control of the national dialogue, filling the potential news vacuum during the Bush to Obama transition.  Had Mr. Obama chosen to stay behind the scenes, the nation would no doubt have felt restless and leaderless.  Instead, we had the distinct perception that someone was already in charge.

So ultimately for every leader, it isn’t just about his style.  No leader can emulate another.  You have to be good at being YOU –find you own honest, effective, and authentic style of communication 

What it’s really about is acknowledging that in challenging times, communication is vital.  Shepherding your organization through the turmoil requires you to take the most active role in communicating with your employees, customers and stakeholders.  You have to be standing at the center of the communication universe.  You cannot view the communication “function” as such – something that “other people” manage and execute.  You have to stand right there and make sure it happens – position yourself in the middle of the loop. 

This can be difficult on a personal level.  It’s hard to communicate when you don’t have the answers.  In times of stress we are inclined to retreat and wait.  If you don’t feel like you have something good to say, perhaps you think you should say nothing at all.  Yet what is really required of a leader– is a commitment to communication, and a message of hope.  You have to communicate more often with your organization and make sure you tell people how important they are in helping the company survive and thrive.  Speaking with purpose and passion, you create an honest, open dialogue with your employees and customers, and you talk about the future.  What Barack Obama has shown us already is how powerful it can be when you deliver a message of hope.

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