Larry D. Lauer

“Make good trouble” was John Lewis’s simple advice to his followers. In addition to all of his incredible civil rights accomplishments, Lewis was instinctively a natural communicator:

1. He established national, and eventually international, prominence by coining simple, authentic, and quotable phrases. 
2. He constantly interacted personally and through media with his followers… which no doubt caused them to feel they helped shape his story.
3. Therefore, his followers were always happy to help spread his simple messages. Even in this confusing information-saturated world, word-of-mouth remains the most powerful of all communication tools.
4. Television news coverage of the violence that was perpetrated on Lewis’s nonviolent marchers insured an emotional impact with a very large audience. But it also insured that this TV footage would also become part of the archive of American history.
5. Yes, John Lewis would become one of the most effective civil rights advocates the world has ever seen… and he would accomplish it partly because he was also a master communicator.

I spent an entire career communicating institutions, and then teaching and writing about what I learned: The most important lesson about leadership communication was that it must never be about “spinning,” or exaggerated promises. Just as John Lewis did, messaging should always be about finding what is truly authentic about the moment, and then finding the best simple way to express it.