One of the gems we repeat most often to attendees of our trainings is that your personal and corporate values will always be on your sleeve, for all to observe and judge.
This is most certainly the case with Mark Zuckerberg’s recent testimony to the US Congress. Is there anyone who has watched even small snippets of the video coverage that believes that the CEO of the world’s largest and most influential social media platform was being truthful and honest in his testimony?
You would imagine that in today’s world, the phrase “I’m not familiar with that”, when being delivered in a public forum of that nature, would ring alarm bells with even the most ardent Facebook defenders.
Mark was certainly well prepared, with a glimpse of his talking points getting quite a bit of attention too.
A cornerstone of being prepared for either a media interview or a public speaking or question and answer session is having a set of talking points and being prepared for almost any kind of inquiry. The difference between doing this in an ethical and unethical manner is however a fine line. It is easy to gloss over what you don’t want to talk about or hide things in facts, figures or analogies that are either irrelevant or uninformative, but the perception of doing this is often mistrust.
In the past the role of the watchdog that keeps interviewees and spokespeople honest had been played by journalists. Through the steady decline in readership, listenership and viewership of news channel, this feels as though it is no longer the case. The culling of top-level talent and the use of greater numbers of junior staff, who are often unprepared or incapable of playing that role, feels like a death-knell for the watchdog.
The approach we favour when preparing clients to speak to media, sit in a question and answer forum, or speak at conferences is:
- Ensure that you are empowered to be able to deal with whatever may arise
- Be humble, honest and open
- Never lie
- Answer the question
- Remember your core messages, but don’t bludgeon anyone to death with them
- Be contextual with your answers because your brand does not operate in isolation
- Say interesting stuff that people will be interested in or care about
In the end, you don’t want to give a performance that resembles that of Mark Zuckerberg at these hearings. His responses were evasive, disingenuous, obfuscatious and dishonest, at best.
Instead you want to be responsive, positive, engaging and build your reputation and that of your brand.
Talk to us, we can help you do that. Drop us an email.
‘Til next time. Ciao from Ingrid Lotze (Her) and Gavin Moffat (Him).
Watch what a couple of wonderful peeps from Imperial Logistics have to say about our Presentation Skills Training.
Quoted: Heard at the Congressional hearings into Facebook from Senator Bill Nelson: “Let me just cut to the chase. If you and other social media companies do not get your act in order, none of us are going to have any privacy anymore.”
Note: Watch what a couple of wonderful peeps from Imperial Logistics have to say about our Presentation Skills Training.
