Say it Better

See the Basketball Lesson in Observation You’ll Not Forget

My favorite journalism professor in college staged an experiment in our class to teach the same lesson as this basketball “dance” provides. It changed how I view what happens around me in my work and my life. Not surprisingly a dear classmate from those days sent this link. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery - and acting things out does make one remember more. Watching this related game makes me recognize that I have not mastered the lesson. Sometimes it pays to just enjoy being startled.

Thank you Daniel J. Simons and Viscog Productions for making it available for us to view.

What Happens When People Can See You Speak

... and More Than 3.8 Million Do?

As of today, that's how many YouTube viewers have watched Barack Obama's much-discussed speech on race relations. Four million saw him give the speech live.

Images, real€ or modified, can change the power equation in a presidential campaign. They can also alter how people perceive you. Elections, career advancement, perceived choices, personal and product reputations - all can be altered faster and more widely than any time in our past.

Motion Pictures Move Us More Than "Just" Words, Research Shows.

Free, widely available and easy access to video scenes sets emotionally-charged opinions in motion more than "€œjust"€ the words we Twitter, text message, email or write for the Internet. Whether it is video clips of Rev. Jeremiah Wright's radical sermons or "misstatements" by Senator Clinton about ducking sniper shots in Bosnia, long ago or recent pasts can come back to haunt one, and not just individuals who know they are in the public eye. Hint: make sure the people you involve in acts of support do, in fact, support you.

What to Do When You A€™re Behind the Eight Ball.

There'€™s a tip in negotiations that, if you feel you are not getting your fair share of the pie, make a bigger pie. That can be done by involving more people in the negotiation and gaining their support before your opponents reach them - or even know that they are now involved. Obama has benefited from this several times in this presidential campaign as many apolitical and/or "€œundecideds" €have gone online and watched the speeches, interviews, informational interactions with crowds and the spoofs and fan and opponent-created mash-ups of real video to distort a situation or personality. Hint: inspiration, celebrities, parody, quirkiness and other humor attract crowds.

We have unavoidable transparency in more of our companies, countries and personal conduct. That'€™s not news to you, I a€™m sure. Yet I continue to be in awe of the gathering speed with which technology is enabling someone, even with no money or constituency, (but with a captivating scene or message) can race to the top of our collective minds.

Get Reputation Insurance for Yourself.

Be proactive. You can't stop people from talking about you, but you can increase the chances of discovering what they say sooner. Don't just look once but check regularly for what people are saying about you, your organization and the people who most matter to you. Check several places, using at least google and google images and clusty. Set up google alerts to automatically get news when the people and organization that affect your life are mentioned on line. Now this seems obvious to many of you, I a€™m sure, yet I spoke at two conferences this year where attendees were well-educated and the median income was at least $150,000 - yet only a small minority of people were aware of these basics in reputation protection. Where else do you check?

How What You Hear, See or Feel Affects What You Think or Do

This persusion technique probably won’t work on hormonally-hit teenagers (sorry weary parents) yet you could try it on spouses, co-workers or customers. Suppose, for example, you’re tired of the dirty cups in the office coffee nook. Try spraying the air with a lemony scent reminiscent of a cleaning agent. When those sloppy colleagues smell it they are more likely to tidy up. That’s what several psychologists have discovered, including Jonathan Haidt, Henk Aarts, Aaron Kay and John A. Bargh.

It’s called priming. We are unaware of it happening to us. It affects your attention, memories, performance and relationships. It is prompting one towards something, for example taking a certain action, such as cleaning up the nook, or holding a certain opinion. As Yale students who’d volunteered to be part of a study were sent, one-by-one, down a hallway to the study they passed a lab assistant in the hallway.

As the assistant’s hands were full, holding a clipboard, textbooks, papers and a cup of either hot or iced coffee, he asked each student for a hand with the cup. A few minutes later the students read about a fictional person then ranked that individual on a range from warm, thoughtful and social to cold, selfish and less social. You guessed it. Those who’d held the cup of hot coffee were more likely to rank that individual more positively than the students who’d held the iced java. They were “primed” to do so. Bargh and Robert Wyer relate this effect to “the automaticity of everyday life.” As you’ve anticipated, priming can prompt “good” and “bad” behavior.

Read more here.

Don’t Let That Reporter Catch You Off-Guard

When conservative radio talk show host Glenn’s Beck’s "butt surgery" was featured on You Tube, the media, bloggers and a wild assortment of pundits had a field day covering it.

Are you ready if someone does something stupid at your organization? What if a fired worker tells a reporter lies about your organization or an accident or act of violence or other kind of harm happens on your site - or your product fails badly? And that's just the short list of possibilities in our new normal world where bad news travels faster, farther and in more directions than ever before.

Here’s my brief primer, tips from Chris Thomas for crisis planning - and Kami’s suggestions to get vital messages out quickly, using social media. Such planning may have saved lives at Virginia Tech.

Consider reading these short articles BEFORE a crisis hits. Don’t wait to be caught like a deer in headlights when people turn to you for guidance – or you pick up the phone to hear that reporter bluntly ask for your response.

Keep your people as safe as you can - and your organization’s reputation protected. Who knows? You may be the hero who gets a career boost.

Snarky Battle Up to This Showdown Day

“When you throw mud you get dirty”, Adlai Stevenson once said. See some of the most-discussed recent political video vignettes plus Jon Stewart’s commentary on Hillary’s increasingly sharp attacks and Barack’s “passive aggressive” responses. Stewart suggests that they get in the same room and shout it out – yet the battle is for votes today, this Super Tuesday, so a private battle won’t happen. And how have the vicious spoofs and gushy and celebrity-laced tributes affected our perceptions of candidates - and their backers? Stick to the points of difference, not the personalities when people are more drawn to the personal battle? Do you think negative campaigning works?

How do you behave when criticized and where does it get you with others who are watching?

P.S. Attacks appear to be working, at least in one state.