Mediocre Wanna-be Experts Can Do Damage

This question showed up on one of the networking boards from a "professional" speaker: "I've been asked to write an article on Cultural Competency as it relates to one's speaking skills. Can anyone help me define this term more clearly?"

Did someone just admit that they have no clue about the subject matter on which they are writing a contracted article? Will this article appear in a publication in which the writer will be seen as an authority on the subject? Will there be a disclaimer at the top of the page which reads: The author of this article is not an authority on the subject of Cultural Competency and, in fact, had no prior knowledge of the subject prior to this article. Please read this article for your amusement only as the author writes it from neither a depth of knowledge or a depth of experience on the subject? No it won't.


Some unsuspecting reader will probably ask the author to facilitate a workshop on the subject - a subject the author has neither knowledge nor experience in - just because they wrote an article. Asking a (un)professional speaker to speak on a subject not within his or her realm of expertise is like asking a car salesman to sell yellow-cake uranium to a foreign country. But sales is sales right? How about selling a photocopier to a person who wants to buy a postage machine? Both make imprints on paper - close enough.

Unfortunately, many (un)professional speakers will take the work and the money and they will be, at the very best, incredibly mediocre. At the very worst, they may actually do damage to your organization.

You may think that speaking is speaking right? Change that attitude. Think of it as professional training where people's minds, hearts and livelihood depend on the person at the front of the room speaking from either a depth of knowledge or a depth of experience.

Change your attitude on professional speakers being experts in everything. They are not. Do not allow these amateurs to mess with your people's minds. If the speaker you're looking at has more than 3 different areas they claim to be an "expert" in, keep searching. If you're expecting to make your organization better, get a real expert. Pay the money and do it right. Don't "cheap out" when it comes to your people. You can't afford it.

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Attitude w/ ATTITUDE

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Car Wrecks, Grieving Mothers And The Economy

You’ve seen it happen when a tragedy befalls a family. You see the media clamoring and jockeying for position to try to get an exclusive interview with the affected family members. Family members are in tears trying desperately to remain coherent and composed while facing the barrage of cameras and microphones shoved in their faces.

I get no pleasure from watching events like this. I don’t understand how the media can be so calloused as to think that someone who is suffering a personal tragedy would make for good TV. But they do it anyway because in order to boost ratings, the media feels compelled to put the most sensational, gut-wrenching and over-the-top footage on their newscasts. We, the public, love to watch a car-wreck. Events like this are sadly, just like that.

Shoving a camera in the face of a grieving mother is not factual – it’s sensational. Interviewing the investigating police officers of a crime is factual.

At the same time, we look to that same media for the facts of what is happening to our economy. If they will go through great lengths to make a personal tragedy sensational, wouldn’t it figure that they would do the same with every story – including the state of our economy.

There are many experts who believe that we are turning the corner in the economy right now. There are just as many who believe that we’re headed for more trouble. Those who think more trouble is ahead seem to get more than their fair share of the headlines. Those who think that our economy is on the upswing usually get buried in the story (for balance so they tell us). If you read only the headline and the first few paragraphs of a newspaper story, you get the idea that things are going to get worse.

In no less than twenty stories in various newspapers across the country in the past few weeks, I have found buried inside the dastardly-headlined stories, some hope, some optimism and some good news. But the headline rarely suggests that. My friend and business growth expert, Marty Park, made an interesting suggestion: start telling your friends that the recession is over and claim you heard it on the news. Watch how people react.

ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT: Let’s not forget that the media is a business. After being a member of the media for eighteen years, I can tell you with no reservation that the media’s job is to sell advertising. Ads are easier to sell for those with a bigger share of the market. In other words, a bigger audience means bigger dollars. Make the headline sensational. Make it loud. Make it brash. And make it appeal to the inherent “car-wreck watching” parts of us.

The awards for best photo don’t go to photojournalists who shoot beautiful sunsets. They go to those who shoot tragedy. Journalism awards don’t go to reporters who write good news stories. They go to investigative reporters who uncover a major plot. Documentary awards don’t normally go news crews who tell happy stories of companies succeeding during tough times. Those awards go to crews who bring down the big multi-nationals.

Before you think that what you read in newspapers, see on television and listen to on radio is gospel truth, think about what the individual reporters are trying to do (win awards) and what the media companies are trying to do (win awards and raise advertising revenues). Journalism is “supposed” to be fair and balanced – but that doesn’t mean that the headlines have to be.

It’s your own personal economy that’s really most important to you anyway. Your own personal economy is turning the corner if you whatever is necessary to make it turn the corner. For the most part, what’s happening in the rest of the country or the world won’t have much effect on you personally if you look after your own personal economy (household, personal finances, revenue streams, etc.). Let’s keep our eyes on the ball and stop getting so spooked by organizations trying to profit from our difficulty.

Globe And Mail Feature

Sarah Boesveld, a reporter with Canada's largest daily newspaper The Globe and Mail, asked me a few questions this week on whether or not I think it's OK to be laughing during the economic downturn. My answers appear in her story in Monday's edition of the Globe And Mail.

I will endeavour to post the full story here on Monday.

UPDATE MONDAY MARCH 9: OK, so the story went in a different direction than what I was commenting on so my comments don't appear. Sorry for the false alarm. (KB)