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Archive for the ‘Lessons Learned’ Category

Lesson 194 Finding Our Narrative

Posted in Branding, Integrated Marketing, Lessons Learned, Strategic Communication on December 7, 2013| Leave a Comment »

While scanning Book TV on C-Span last weekend, one of the authors speaking about conflicts in Israel commented: “We have lost our narrative!” I immediately knew exactly what he was trying to say. And from a communication dynamics perspective he was making a very astute observation.

All those years I spent helping institutions clarify their brand identities I was really helping develop their narratives. I would ask executive leaders to identify exactly why their institutions were founded. I would then suggest that the reason probably was to meet a need that was not being met. This starting point would become their unique competitive advantage, which would also be the essence of their brand identity, and fundamentally their founding mission. Over time, they would add a compelling vision grounded in that mission, and collectively all this would make up their basic story, or narrative.

Individuals have narratives too. Most of us have a driving purpose, even if at times it’s vague and elusive. Authors of memoirs bring a timeline and specifics to the telling of their story, and thus add substance to their narrative. Some are able to add a vision to complete their narrative. Understanding narrative is what keeps our identity and life purpose in tact.

Institutions and countries also have narratives.  And just as the Israeli author observed, we in the US may have lost our national narrative. The very “idea of America” may be getting lost in confused and prolonged angry polarization. We hear angry polarizing voices loud and clear. But where are the keepers of our narrative? Without a narrative we are lost.

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Lesson 193 Thankfulness and Leadership

Posted in Branding, Leadership, Lessons Learned on November 30, 2013| Leave a Comment »

It should not be surprising that events in Washington have me thinking about leadership! As a result I am developing an outline for a new course in the TCU honor’s college. My working title is: “The Essential Communication Dimensions of Leadership.” And somehow this Thanksgiving week has me also thinking about how the concept of  “thankfulness” might actually factor into my communication-centered approach to this subject.

To be sure, leadership has many communication dimensions: Planning messages and tactics; assessing audience needs; chairing meetings; managing group process, using multimedia; dealing with journalists; handling sensitive issues; managing crises and conflict; inspiring essential support; dealing with internal politics; developing a personal leadership identity; and on and on. Indeed, communication savvy and skills are key components of a leader’s success. But it was this last topic, “a personal leadership identity,” that leaped out to me as I pondered the meaning of the Thanksgiving holiday.

If you listen carefully to a would-be leader’s rhetoric you can tell who is and who is not a phony. Some are too focused on themselves to express thanks for the system that enables their success. They never think to describe the beauty of a democracy where all ideas must be freely expressed and examined. Rather their talk is about themselves.

Self-centered rhetoric quickly becomes negative. It eventually attacks others and focuses on destroying rather than building. In the end, it’s all about personal attention and cleverness… and never pauses long enough to say thanks for a diverse world of great ideas.

Worthy leaders will always express thanks for our unique democratic process. These leaders are the ones who add value because they have a clear positive mission and goals beyond themselves. They do not attack, but rather choose to put forth well thought-out ideas and programs. They find genuine solutions rather than focus on the destruction of what exists.

And what’s more, the most worthy leaders will actually be thankful for their “loyal opposition.”  This is because they understand that it’s this incredibly diverse democratic system of ours that makes our one-of-a-kind life and culture possible. It’s precisely because we can embrace so many different ideas simultaneously that we have the abundant freedom and opportunities that we do. Self-serving phonies forget this, but the rest of us must not.

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Lesson 192 Community and Communication

Posted in Lessons Learned, Media Literacy, Strategic Communication on November 23, 2013| Leave a Comment »

This is the 50th anniversary of the assassination of JFK. Those of us alive at the time are once again recalling where we were when we heard the news.

I was sitting in a communication class at American University in Washington, DC. The door opened and a person stood there stunned, and then managed to simply say, “the president has been shot!” My classmates and I sat motionless in total silence.  No one, not even our professor, said a word. In a few minutes, one by one we stood up and passed quietly from the room. I walked solemnly out into the fall morning and wandered aimlessly around the campus bewildered about what might be the future of our country, and frightened about what unknown course my life could now take.

In an instant, the world had changed.  Internal unrest and racial divide would eventually shake up our society. The Vietnam war would continue to divide us. And admiring perceptions of this United States of America around the world would never be the same again. The now dominant  medium of television would seize the moment and literally come into its’ own during the next four days. The entire world was glued to a screen, and the power of imagery was inescapably experienced by all of us… all “live” on television in “real time!”

From the very beginning, those of us studying television were asking the question: “Will television eventually bring about a global village of common understanding, or will it magnify our differences?” The Kennedy assassination managed to muddy the waters. In some ways we were one community, and in other ways we were driven apart. In the final analysis, the lesson learned was that the age of imagery, and eventually the age of digital interactive media, was making things far more complex, bewildering, and potentially explosive, than ever before.

Television was enhancing our emotional experience of critical events. I know from trying to produce programs myself, that television “liked” conveying feelings and drama and did not like details. The more emotion, the more the public became glued to the screen. The more information and details, the more likely the public would tune away. What was happening before our very eyes, was the realization that the addictive power of television could be making the world more emotional, and the consequence of the decline of print could be the decline of logic and reason in the world.  Heightened emotions can have community formation benefits. But they also can fuel discontent and polarization.

The years since the assassination have been a time of continuous communication revolution. And what has become clear to this communication professor is that the way virtually everything works changes with each new dominant medium.  Family interactions change. Individual behaviors and beliefs change. Elections change, along with what it takes to win. Government functions and perceptions  change. And even religions and denominations change. There indeed is some truth to the “we are what we eat” theory of communication!

Today we are a global village in mourning over a great leader. Our many thoughts include what might have been. But tomorrow we still will face the complexities and contradictions of how communication media can establish communities one day… and then the next day tear them apart.

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Lesson 191 Learning on Site

Posted in Lessons Learned, Strategic Communication on November 16, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Last week we talked about how using multi platform teaching enhances both educational experiences and learning outcomes. And we therefore argued that online MOOC’s are most effective when used to enhance rather than replace that total experience.

Recently my wife and I traveled to Paris and Venice to participate in a Road Scholars program.  These programs combine facilitated discussions, individual investigations, expert lecturers, one-on-one collaborations with attendees, site tours, and cultural and other artistic experiences to produce an almost-perfect learning experience.

In my earlier days of teaching television production I remember interviewing people about their “TV vs. real life” experiences.  One example I recall was how one person reported that seeing a slum area of town and images of horrible poverty on TV in no way prepared him for knowing what to do when he was in the situation. Only when he walked through one of those depressing neighborhoods did he realize the limitations of the video only experience.

Videos cannot take the place of walking Paris’s left bank neighborhoods where Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Sartre, Picasso, and countless other writers, artists, and philosophers struggled with themselves and each other to realize their creative potential. One cannot escape absorbing what they were feeling and thinking while drinking  espresso in the same cafe, eating in the same bistro, and having drinks in the same bar where they borrowed money from each other, and doubted they would ever survive. Now add an expert scholar-guide to enrich your experience, and you have the best possible learning opportunity. I know because we prepared for this trip by watching many videos. They clearly helped with our orientation, but in no way replaced the awesome experience of being there.

In Venice we had one of the best scholar-guides I ever experienced. She was a native of the area, and displayed a love and passion for her home and its history and art that was absolutely contagious. She has a PhD, but she also was able to demonstrate a total empathy with how people lived and were governed, how artists survived and worked, and how writers and composers were forever shaped by the magic of this totally unique culture.  This natural teacher could never duplicate in a MOOC what she gave us face-to-face in the ancient streets of this incredible city.

As once again I experienced the power of learning on site, the truth of all this came rushing back to me. Online MOOCs will never replace experiencing centuries old buildings by wander the streets, seeing art of the masters up close, hearing live opera in authentic settings, and experiencing all this in dialogue and spirited discussions with local experts and fellow students.

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Lesson 190 Multi-platform Education

Posted in International, Lessons Learned, Media Literacy on November 10, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Multi-platform tactics, which include live events, significantly enhance communication effectiveness. Multi-platform education tactics which include live human interaction, similarly enrich the education experience and improve learning outcomes.

Nevertheless, the idea that Massive Open Online Courses (called MOOC’s) could take the place of traditional education is dominating the buzz in higher education today.

It is true that many MOOC’s feature the best teachers at the best schools teaching online, and are open free of charge to anyone in the world. My 47 years in higher education, however, suggest that the potential of MOOC’s will be debated for a while, and then settle in to, (1) provide a service that will address the realistic needs of nontraditional students, and (2) will then concentrate on bringing significant learning enhancements to traditional students. They will be a game-changer to be sure, but not a format replacement. 

I think the future for the traditional college student will look more like this: Class discussion, student web searches, live guests, Skype engaged experts, topic videos, on-line web connections, electronic books, and MOOC’s, will combine to vastly improve learning.

For students with work and family obligations MOOC’s will certainly meet legitimate convenience needs. And they no doubt will find new digital ways to engage students more interactively. But in the end, however, I firmly believe that multi tactics media, mixed with live face-to-face interaction, will produce the best outcomes.

In fact, spending time in the “left bank” literary, artistic and academic neighborhoods of Paris, and a study tour week in Venice, is currently providing me an incredible opportunity to reflect on why the undeniable benefits of actually “being there” must be preserved in this dramatically changing world of education. But more about all this next week!

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Lesson 189 Mean-Spirited Communication

Posted in Leadership, Lessons Learned, Strategic Communication on November 2, 2013| 1 Comment »

Watching congressional hearings this week I have been reminded of the communication consequences of mean-spirited combative communication.

This is not complicated. When we are aggressively attacked we strike back. When someone approaches us proposing a get acquainted conversation we are more likely to open up and explore common ground possibilities.

The subject of one of the hearings I observed was the administration’s response to the bloodshed in Syria. State Department officials were testifying, and legislators were attacking. It stands to reason that this kind of confrontation will accomplish nothing. In fact, it is likely to make matters worse. Polarization worsens. Colleagues become enemies.

Not only are such hearings difficult to observe, they become repulsive to thoughtful people. Active citizens get disgusted, then get angry, and then drop out. And eventually many become protestors… or even worse.  

When will we learn that not only are we destroying our democracy with such mean-spirited behavior, we are looking more and more foolish to the rest of the entire world?  And who wants to follow an example like this?

This is not political positioning. It’s simply a lesson from communication 101.  

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Lesson 188 Economic Polarization

Posted in Leadership, Lessons Learned, Strategic Communication on October 25, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Last week I talked about the communication consequences of extreme political polarization. The same consequences exist when it comes to economic polarization. And when both of these situations exist simultaneously, the consequences are doubly serious.

Former Secretary of Labor, Robert Reich, and filmmaker, Jacob Kornbluth, have recently teamed up to produce a video on the topic of economic polarization. Inequality for All explores the potentially dire consequences of the widening gap between the haves and have-nots in American society… and most especially, the dangerously weakening of a critically essential middle class.

Wall street versus Main street media stories sometimes create the illusion that they are simply separate situations. One is about stock prices and investment earnings, and the other is about a weakened local job economy. But the reality is that the wealth of corporate and Wall street executives is ultimately dependent on the skilled work and talent of those in the middle and working classes.

In the short-term, Wall street wealth can be leveraged through financial manipulation. But in the final analysis, the entire system will collapse when middle-class managers and other workers evaporate,  walk off the job, or even worse… become violent.

This situation has very much to do with communication dynamics. First, media coverage tends for a while to allow most individuals to feel distant from ultimate consequences. Second, human nature produces some period of withdrawal and denial, believing that things will eventually get better. But when the situation seriously deteriorates to the point of extreme middle-class and working class hardship, a perceived greed and lack of caring at the at the top inevitably will lead to social collapse.

Interactive communication, based on a sincere and shared desire to solve the problem, including an acknowledgement of mutual interdependence, is the only way forward. Otherwise, a polarized  economy will lead to polarized rhetoric, which will lead to a seriously destructive social class collision. And with the same situation existing at the same time in American politics, the consequences for our democracy can be frightening.

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Lesson 187 Communication Consequences

Posted in Leadership, Lessons Learned, Public Affairs, Strategic Communication on October 19, 2013| 2 Comments »

This week Congress finally was able to orchestrate a strategy to reopen the government and avoid default on American debt. But while a method was finally reached to make this happen, no significant communication lessons were learned about the long-range damage of extreme polarization… even among many moderates.

For example, the Texas Republicans all voted against the bi-partisan bill. Voting as an extremist block has communication dynamic consequences. It confuses what you really believe in the minds of your audiences, destroys your capacity to be singularly understood as a strong leader, and makes you look like you lack the courage to stand out when the situation calls for it.

I use this example because I know some of these people. I thought I knew where they stood politically, but also on matters of true statesmanship. It has nothing to do with my political preferences. I am as bi-partisan as anyone… a little left of center on a few social issues, and slightly right of center on financial ones. Rather my communication consequence concerns are about the necessary ground rules for constructive debating in a democratic society.

As a communicator I describe these ground roles like this: As a politician you argue what you honestly believe during the campaign and when bills are being developed. In the final analysis, however, you behave like a statesman. You understand that compromise is not losing and can be win-win, that changes can be made over time, and that your main job after compromise is to win the next election.

To behave otherwise, the communication consequence is chaos and confusion. Thoughtful individuals lose capacity to lead. And American “exceptionalism” declines as a positive identity and becomes a negative perception all over the world.

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Lesson 186 Strategic Misunderstanding

Posted in Lessons Learned, Public Affairs, Strategic Communication on October 12, 2013| Leave a Comment »

What I have learned from my research and professional experience over the years is that all communication initially fails. As awful as that sounds, it is fundamentally true. And what follows is always some form of misunderstanding.

But why does all communication fail? It is because of a human condition we call “selective perception.” We give our own meaning to words. For example, the word “compromise”  means a win-win conclusion to some, and a giving up to others. We always prefer ideas that reinforce what we already believe. And when we hear something we dislike, we reject it. Unfortunately, a state of  misunderstanding is the consequence. And it can only be corrected through open-minded interaction.

But beyond this “naturally resulting” misunderstanding, there are at least two forms of “strategic” misunderstanding, or ‘intentional” misunderstanding.

One form is to deny something  that you really understand as an excuse to simply continue doing what you want. “I am so sorry,” you say. “But I just could not understand what that person was saying!” It is a short-cut to avoid dealing with a situation openly.

The second form of strategic misunderstanding is all too common in today’s politics and foreign policy. For Example, something like this might be said: “No one can understand that law. It’s just stupid. We must eliminate it!” This is a mean-spirited method of openly attacking an opponent.

What is going on in Congress today is too often this form of “strategic misunderstanding.” No one is making an effort to understand the other side. Intentional misunderstanding is a strategic choice.  And it is a strategy based on the growing belief that admitting you understand the other person’s point of view will bring an inevitable political defeat.

But there is an even larger communication inevitability here: Strategic misunderstanding always becomes destructive. It totally eliminates the possibility of reasonably negotiated solutions, and eventually solidifies extreme polarization.

Such a tactic is the absolute opposite of traditional American “statesmanship.” It first produces personal and group hostility, then it advances to open conflict, and ultimately it can lead to a complete unraveling of civilized society.

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Lesson 185 Republican Strategy?

Posted in Leadership, Lessons Learned, Public Affairs, Strategic Communication on October 4, 2013| Leave a Comment »

The Republican Tea Party extremists are ignoring the lessons of how communication ultimately works. This is not any longer merely an ideological dispute within the Republican Party. The Tea Party extremists are setting up a communication dynamic that can not only destroy their party, but it also has the potential to destroy our system of democracy.

These rebels might be able to secure their own re-election in their narrowly drawn ultra-conservative congressional districts. But what good is this if they cannot win back the White House, where they will have their only real opportunity to change how government works.

In his op-ed piece in the New York Times this week Tom Friedman reinforced that this is more than party politics. He observed that “our very democracy is at stake.” He reminds us that “majority rule is still the rule,” and that Obama-care is the law. This is not merely an ideological disagreement. “Our democracy is imperiled.”

Majority rules is our system. A law is a law. Win the election first, then move to change the world.  Republican strategy now should be aimed at winning the national election.

It’s customary in American politics for the political pendulum to swing from right to left and back again. With that in mind, here is a better strategy for Republicans:

(1) Assert a belief in the American political system.

(2) Acknowledge that Obama won the election.

(3) Explain that Republicans used every acceptable legislative tactic available to them to change a law they do not like, but now the time has come to re-open government.

(4) Begin now to unite and energize the party by reminding all Republicans that only with solid unity can they win back the White House. This is the only effective way in our system to change how government works.

Our democratic system is based on solid communication dynamics: Argue your differences aggressively. Be willing to compromise when the time for argument has past. Once past, respect that a law is a law. Accept that winning an election is a legitimate opportunity to lead. And then regroup to win back the White House the next time.

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