Media Training Question #83 – Do Actions Speak Louder Than Words?

March 11, 2011 - PRLog -- This is an incredibly important question and deserves some attention, to be sure.  As I often focus on the spoken or written word in this blog, it is clear that there are many forms of communication and certainly actions are a form of communication, as I will demonstrate in a moment.  One of the areas that I spend on with clients that I do television media training with is body language.  Your posture, how animated you are and how you use your hands or make faces and gestures says as much at times as words do.

But actions, those things we actually do, have great impact because if your actions don’t meet your words your credibility will be called into question.  And before I get into a recent and specific example, I will ask you to remember that one of the tricks of a great orator, or an effective communicator, is to move you with words; to gain your trust with words so that the chance that you might ignore their actions or just trust that they will do what they say they will do will be blind or automatic.  In fact, I suspect that more times than not that is true and counted on.  And, obviously, that is not a good thing.

In my own home state of Michigan our newly minted Republican Governor, Rick Snyder, ran as an independent minded, awe-shucks, successful business minded, nerd, seriously, he called himself a nerd.  His appeal was pretty simple actually, he was not a politician, not an insider, and not interested in what the past was all about; he was ready to rewrite the way we do politics in Michigan and set out a campaign strategy to accomplish just that.

As a speaker his skills are suspect.  He refused to debate his Democratic opponent because the poll numbers proved that he just needed to avoid making any mistakes to win and speaking too much would have hurt him, so he did one very controlled “debate” which wasn’t a debate at all and walked away unscathed.  He didn’t need to do anything in that non-debate but stick to his practiced script and as long as he did that the margin or error was zero.  Mission accomplished.

His body language throughout the campaign was of a regular guy.  He hates wearing ties and has even refused to live in the Governor’s Mansion preferring his own home.  By the way, he is an extremely wealthy businessman and is set for life financially, in case that matters to you.

So we have this rather simple, maybe even perceived to be altruistic businessman who wants to save the state of Michigan from eight years of Democrat policies and set the path to prosperity for a state devastated by a horrid economy that rocked the auto sector, created massive unemployment and has killed the real estate market.  It’s bad, he’s good, we like him, so Michiganders elect him overwhelmingly, along with lots of other Republicans making Michigan a Red state for the first time in decades.

OK, so what does all that have to do with today’s message?  Simple.  His actions are now starting to define him for what he really is and always was.  Not unlike the Governor of Wisconsin, Rick Snyder is looking to kill Unions in Michigan, the birth place of the Union movement, and eliminate tax incentives that have been the only successful program that has attracted new business to Michigan in the last five years, including the movie industry that has begun to take root and may now leave immediately because of these unfriendly business mandates, and if his actions speak for him, as they do for anyone, how does that answer the question we ask today:  do actions speak louder than word?  Hell yes!

Sayings like, “do as I say, not as I do” come to mind immediately, as is evident by Michigan’s new Republican Governor.  Recent proposals coming from the Governor’s office would allow elected city officials to be removed from their elected posts by him and replaced by a Board of Directors and Managers he would appoint and it could become law, and is close to doing just that.  Furthermore, as you listen to what he says you now know him to be a liar because of his actions.  

He says he supports collective bargaining, but supports and endorses proposed legislation to eliminate it.  He says he supports teachers, but is endorsing a new plan that would freeze pay raises for them.  He claims to be pro business, but wants eliminate tax incentives that attracted them to Michigan to begin with forcing industries to reconsider or go to another state.

His actions clearly speak much louder than his words and it’s all factual and provable.

To be a responsible leader your words must match your body language AND your action, to do otherwise is not only unfair it should be criminal and should immediately erase any credibility you have with whoever your constituency is.  That could be as an elected politician, a CEO of a company, or even as an author or journalist, as has happened in history.

Be careful as you look at your own goals and pursuits that you make a heroic effort to match the big three:  words, posture, and action, for in that equation great things can happen, both for the good and the bad, and as our example today clearly teaches when your actions speak louder than words not only can it anger the audience, it can and does personally harm and devastate people in disastrous ways.

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As the host of his own nationally syndicated radio programs for 15 years, Tony has interviewed over 25,000 guests and appeared as a guest on over 800 radio and national television shows. He founded of his own public relations firm and he went on to author two books and became a “go to” authority on a myriad of issues from weight loss to self empowerment; from politics to pop culture. His list of media training clients number over 2000, many of them well known celebrities and authors. He and enjoys of the challenge of helping people discover their voice.Tony is respected and well known for his honesty and willingness to do what it takes to get to a core message. He works tirelessly with his clients and advocates for his clients in finding the most passionate and profound tenets of their message and then giving them the tools to deliver that message. http://www.mediatraining.me