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.

 . 

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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Reuters reports this morning (Monday January 26, 2009) that the U.S. business climate is the worst in 27 years.  The National Association of Business Economics‘ (NABE) quarterly industry poll found that the economic slump worsened in the fourth quarter and the majority of respondents expected gross domestic product to contract at a faster pace in 2009.

“The NABE’s industry survey depicts the worst business conditions since the survey began in 1982, confirming the U.S. recession deepened in the fourth quarter of 2008,” said spokeswoman Sara Johnson.

I’m not posting this to promote the gloom and doom news.  I’m want to talk about how leaders … how you…must act now - to focus your organizations, survive and position yourself for the future. 

First, remember while times are still challenging this is historical data.  There will be an economic stimulus package out of Washington.  While the details are being hammered out - we can hope it will address both the credit crisis and lending, as well as job creation and infrastructure.

Moreover, what we need right now is for business leaders to step up and lead the way.  We need to hear from America’s top business leaders and get their voices engaged in the public discourse.   Business leaders have a role in restoring public confidence.  We cannot leave it all up to Washington.

In the meantime, what we need to recognize is in our own organizations, there is a “secondary crisis” of confidence.  As we started New Year - looking ahead to the inauguration of President Obama in sight, most of us felt hopeful about a recovery, if not immediately, at least this year. 

But the drumbeat of economic news — and the fact that we still don’t have a stimulus package is now creating a pervasive, sense of malaise in many companies that is going to take over if we don’t manage our own emotions and give people hope.

Pessimism and doubt threaten to undermine the very qualities within your organization that will speed a recovery – productivity and creativity.  This is why now more than ever, business leaders need to get out front, and motivate and inspire their teams.

As a leader, you have no control over the credit crisis or the stimulus package but you can and must manage the motivation of your own team and keep people focused on what matters now.  The biggest mistake many leaders are making at this moment– they are not communicating often enough with their own teams.  You need to open up the channels of communication, even on a daily basis – by email, blog, through meetings let everyone know how they can help – and solicit their ideas.  In crisis mode, executive teams tend to become insulated – instead they need to put more time on their calendars for communication and make sure they are in the loop with employees and customers.

While writing Motivate Like a CEO, what I saw in the interviews and research was clear - a motivated workforce is the key to building a strong culture that will survive the ups and downs of the economy.   

What’s the biggest worry on the minds of your employees?  They’re hearing that 1.9 million jobs were lost in the last four months of last year. The NABE report said job losses are expected to continue in the first half of 2009. 

Even if you are still uncertain about what lies ahead:

• Get out front with a positive message
• Tell people what you know
• Ask for their ideas - get them engaged
• Focus your message on the most important things they can do
• Communicate good news immediately, even if it’s small
• Be honest about where things stand - don’t sugarcoat
• Tell them you believe in them
• Reward and recognize achievements

Today ONLY, I want to let you know that we have a 24-hour complimentary offering of gifts, if you purchase a copy of my new book, Motivate Like a CEO, Communicate Your Strategic Vision and Inspire People to Act! 

Purchase the book, copy your confirmation number and send it to moconnor@bates-communications.com and we will send you a full page of links where you can collect dozens of complimentary gifts like audio programs, white papers, tip sheets and other valuable offers from authors and experts like Keith Ferrazzi, (Never Eat Alone); Lois Frankel (Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office); Lynn Robinson (Divine Intuition and Trust your Gut); Sheryl Lindsell Roberts (Business Writing books galore) and many, many more! 

Among those who are also “buzzing” about the book today are Jeffrey Gitomer (Little Red Book of Sales) David Allen (Getting Things Done) and we have endorsements from among others, Ken Blanchard (One Minute Manager).

Remember, copy and paste your confirmation number from amazon, and email it to Meredith O’Connor: moconnor@bates-communications.com

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In times like these, this country more than ever needs visionary, courageous CEOs who can keep people focused on the future and give them reason to have faith in their companies.  Yes, it’s been an enormously challenging few weeks, but folks, this is the United States of America.  We survived the Great Depression, fought and liberated countries through two World Wars, and built the greatest economy on the face of the earth.  We just need leaders and all Americans to recognize this for what it is, a crisis of confidence.

One of the reasons I am writing my new book, Motivate Like a CEO (McGraw Hill, January 2009) is because now more than ever, we need leaders to step up and be leaders.  They need to keep people focused on the vision and strategy and and motivate and inspire them to keep moving toward their gaols. 

During this time of economic uncertainty when many people are growing fearful, anxious and depressed, CEOs and leaders need to be a beacon of hope in their companies.  Now is not the time to hide in long meetings with each other.   Leaders need to get out, show their faces, talk to people and reassure investors, the public, even the media.  Leaders need to keep people focused on the future and what they can do right now to keep the economy moving. 

A few CEOs are giving the title a bad name right now, those who caused this crisis should give back their ill-gotten earnings and spend some timein jail if they’ve committed crimes.   

At the same time, we have many great CEOs and leaders in this company who can help lead us out of this mess.  Now is not the time to stop doing business, but to move forward together as one nation, believing in each other and keeping the engines of commerce moving.  This will take courage on the part of every leader.

I was reading an interview with Warren Buffet a few weeks ago on CNBC http://www.cnbc.com/id/27116449 just as the credit crisis began to unfold.  Buffet takes the long view on the market:

“You know, five years from now, ten years from now, we’ll look back on this period and we’ll see that you could have made some extraordinary (stock market) buys. That doesn’t mean it won’t get more extraordinary a week or a month from now. I have no idea what the stock market is going to do next month or six months from now. I do know that the American economy, over a period of time, will do very well, and people who own a piece of it will do well.”

Now is the time when we all must believe in ourselves.  We are a great country, American business is innovative and resilient, and our economy, the strongest in the world.  

Tyler Mathisen of CNBC’s “The Call”  says they are receiving on their late morning program lots of questions about where all the leaders have gone: http://www.cnbc.com/id/27120332/site/14081545

Mathisen says, “When they have tried to speak up and lead, why haven’t they been heard? Maybe it’s because we’re all too rattled to listen. Maybe it’s because no single soul, in business or government, has the clarity of understanding to express fully what we face. Maybe it’s because none of our leaders, in public or private sectors, has the stature, the standing, the voice, the rhetorical power to break through the din.  Maybe it’s because the lawyers or the PR guys have gotten to them and said, “Go on CNBC? Now? Are you nuts?” Or maybe it’s because we’re four weeks from a Presidential election, with a lame duck president and two candidates who, like all candidates, would really rather score political points than speak clearly and sometimes uncomfortably to the people they say they want to lead.

“Whatever the reason, Mathisen says it’s time for America’s leading CEOs — the Fortune 500 guys — to blow past their lawyers and handlers and get their messages to shareholders, customers, employees and the broader public.

“I know they’re worried about Sarbanes Oxley. I know they’re afraid of saying something that could come back to haunt them. And I know that quite a few of them have spoken out, many on our air, and we are grateful to them. Warren Buffett, Wilbur Ross and Mike Jackson of AutoNation come to mind. But more of them need to. Many more.”

CNBC and other networks are trying to get CEOs to step up to the microphone and provide public leadership - but many are indeed avoiding the spotlight.   Companies like Fidelity, Vanguard, T Rowe Price and others  could also help calm fears in the market if they were more visible.

I can understand why CEOs don’t want to be in the hot seat publicly now, but the country needs leaders in every sector, not just financial services, to speak up and reassure the nation.  I hope they are at least meeting with their own employees letting them know we can survive and thrive if we work together.  That is real leadership — and that is what will keep this country from suffering a long, deep, painful recession.  We simply have to reject fear, and start believing in ourselves.

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This weekend at the National Speakers Association convention in New York, www.nsaspeaker.org Steve Forbes took the stage.  He had 1,800 professional speakers on the edge of their seats as he shared his insights about the future of the US economy.  Forbes, President and CEO of Forbes, and Editor-in-Chief of Forbes Magazine, www.forbes.com as well as a former Republican candidate for President, can actually be a little awkward on stage, yet people who get paid a lot of money to speak to corporate audiences were mezmerized; in a room full of people who love to talk, you could hear a pin drop.  Why?  Forbes was funny and smart –he made economics accessible to all.  And, even more important he told us things we really really didn’t know. 

What’s the real state of the US economy?  Not bad at all!  But don’t ask the media, says Forbes.  They would rather stand in front of a gas pump talking about $4 a gallon gas than actually do research on the the dry stuff that matters, like US monetary policy. And he’s right. (Full disclosure, as many of you know, I was a reporter for 20 years.  I know how it really works.)

Forbes spoke eloquently about the real drivers of our economy, and I was convinced after he spoke–we still have the largest most resilient economy in the world.  He pointed out that as voters we’d better start asking better questions of the people running for office. For example, how will they approach monetary policy?  Because according to Forbes, it wasn’t oil companies or mortgage lenders that brought this on, but by the Fed, which four years ago, and again last year, started printing money like there was no tomorrow.  In an overreaction to the credit crisis, both times, it did more harm than good.

But back to executive presence.  What makes Forbes so powerful on stage?  Wit, intelligence, and the ability to explain something that dry and dull and make it fascinating.  What else did we like about him?  Smart as he is, he didn’t swagger onto the stage or lord his fortune or his smarts over us.  He was hilarious really, as well as respectful.  He treated his audience as the intelligent citizens they want to be. 

Something else– he obviously wasn’t reading someone else’s talking points.  He walked away from the podium five minutes in, and stood center stage for the better part of an hour, speaking eloquently.  If you’ve seen him speak, you know that sometimes his gestures seem slightly out of sync with his message.  Yet he transitioned beautifully from gas prices to the mortage crisis, tax policy to monetary policy, government to politics, all without notes.  He even threw in several funny lines about the speaker who had immediately preceded him on stage.  That’s confidence.  

You also can’t argue with Forbes success, even if he did inherit the company started by his grandfather.  Forbes is still on the cutting edge.  In 1977 they entered the new media arena with the launch of Forbes.com. The site now attracts over seven million unique visitors a month and has become the leading destination site for business decision-makers and investors.

For a copy of his speech, contact the National Speakers Association at www.nsaspeaker.org - I highly recommend you watch it, and take notes.

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