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November 2004

Lessons From The Presidential Election

With the recent Presidential election only a fading memory (or nightmare), what leadership insights could we glean from it?  Let’s focus right now on something that touches on my two most recent columns. 

You might remember that in September I wrote about the importance of public speaking, and that last month I wrote about trust.  One lesson from the election is that trust frequently will trump public speaking.

(Keep in mind, folks, that I’m not going “political” on you.  No, I’m not even going to get into issues, or who was the better candidate.  The airwaves and other publications are overflowing with that kind of commentary.  Instead, I’m speaking strictly from a Leadership Unlimited point of view.)

Concerning public speaking, let’s take the debates.  I’m not talking issues here, just public speaking.  Kerry certainly won the first debate in an overwhelming way, and I feel he won the last two as well, although not quite as decisively as the first two. 

So, I believe that Kerry won all three debates.    He seemed forceful, decisive, and in better command of his answers.  Even most Bush supporters, when being totally objective, would probably agree that Kerry won the debates on style. 

If, as I believe, public speaking is so important, how could Kerry lose the election when he seemed to do so much better in the debates?

And the answer is trust.  Trust can be the deciding factor in an otherwise close race, whether the race is a Presidential election, or the hiring of an employee.  And let’s face it, the Presidential election IS the hiring of an employee, albeit a very important employee. 

You could look at the election campaign, running almost as long as The Apprentice, as a job interview, where the entire electorate is the panel evaluating the candidates. 

In such situations, people often go with their “gut” impression, and that usually comes down to trust.

If you look at the statistical vote breakdown on any of the popular websites that tracked the vote, you’ll find that more people seemed to trust Bush to handle the job.  Fewer people felt that way about Kerry. 

Now, I’m not disputing that a large part of the electorate didn’t trust Bush.  I’m just saying that more people did trust him.  And the polling analysis I saw indicated that people felt Bush had the edge when it came to having strong principles that guide him. 

And that is all about trust.

Another lesson from the election is that perception is reality.  It doesn’t matter whether YOU trust Bush, or whether Bush is worthy of trust.  What’s important is that there were more people who thought Bush was trustworthy, than there were people who felt Kerry was trustworthy.

A final lesson also relates to perception.  Each candidate tried to influence the electorate’s perception of his opponent.  Bush tried to paint Kerry as a flip-flopper who wouldn’t fight the war on terror as vigorously as Bush would. 

Kerry tried to paint Bush as an incompetent who was doing a poor job of fighting the war on terror, and of reviving the economy. 

Their efforts influenced the way people voted.  The important point here is not about election politics, but office politics.  We can’t let others define who we are.  If we do, we lose the war of perception. 

We must define ourselves, and always keep in mind that as leaders, or people who aspire to leadership roles (and remember, Leadership Is Everyone’s Business), we are always under a microscope, with every move being scrutinized by people who are trying to decide one question:  Are you worthy of trust? 

If we leave perceptions to our enemies, or to those who have their own interests at heart, we run the risk of losing the election.

So, public speaking skills, and trust, are both important to the leadership equation, but trust will usually trump speaking skills in a close contest.

What are you doing to influence others’ perceptions of you?  Are you projecting, by everything you do, that you are deserving of other people’s trust?

Until next edition, keep leading the way!  (This is Terry Wall, and I approve this message!)

Copyright (C) 2004 by Terry Wall

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