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President George Bush gave his last speech as President.
It was good – here's why:

George Bush is not a man of great communication, but he is a man of great character. Whether you agree with his faith or his decisions, you have to respect, and hopefully admire, his consistency and his integrity.

That is what was on display tonight. And it WAS President Bush at his best. Readers of this blog know that I have said that he lacked basic communication skills – and this is tragic for a person at that level of leadership. The Bully Pulpit is powerful, and should be used.

So in tonight's speech he was at his communicating best. He's not an orator, and he did not have to push or advocate or persuade. He could just be himself. Authentic. And that is what true communication is all about.

Introducing someone? Remember W-E-B!

WEB: for Warmth, Expertise and Brevity.

It’s all you need to remember when you are asked to introduce a speaker. Go heavy on the Warmth, moderate on the Expertise, tight on Brevity. Your job is to build enthusiasm and anticipations.

W – for Warmth:

If you feel good about the speaker, the audience will. What is interesting about him/her? What is incredible, amusing, surprising or inspiring about her accomplishments? If you’ve never met him, what did he say in a telephone call you might make? Your experience of the speaker, warmly expressed, is vital to building the energy of friendly anticipation in the audience.

E – for Expertise:

Enough to qualify the speaker to speak on his topic. Don’t rehash her whole resume or overstate her accomplishments – this is where most introductions fall flat. Weave her expertise into the topic of the speech, so the audience is primed to listen with interest.

B – for Brevity:

From 30 seconds to 2 minutes, tops. This means you’ll have to begin highly energized, rehearse for time, and err on the side of short vs. long.

More Tips:

• Use the speaker’s name at least twice, fully pronouncing clearly.
• Always interview him/her ahead of time so your connection is personalized.
• If the speaker is “too important” to be personally interviewed, ask others who know him/her for interesting sidelights that make him come alive.
• Smile, really smile broadly, when you ask the audience to welcome ….! You yourself then warmly welcome the speaker to the lectern or spotlight area – never desert the space before she gets there.

According to social psychologist Philip Zimbardo, author of Shyness, blushing can be a liability to people in business.(Take his shyness questionnaire here.) A salesperson with the problem told him that it hindered his “involvement in many activities that my line of work leads me toward. Public speaking is out of the realm of possibility, small group discussions are rarely handled well, and occasionally, even face-to-face communication is difficult without showing signs of embarrassment.”

Another executive told Zimbardo that “the energy diverted by the shyness/blushing syndrome has undoubtedly prevented my movement into higher responsibility.”

Frequent and habitual blushers are called erythrophobes. Although women and young people are more likely to blush, it is a problem common to people of all races and skin pigmentations. Blushing usually has nothing to do with the ability to handle a tough situation. We have seen otherwise confident people show nervousness through blushing. And in some cases psychologist say that it can also connote low self esteem, low self confidence or unacknowledged shame.

If you’re an erythrophobe, for whatever reason, there is an easy superficial solution – cover up. Women can wear high necked blouses or dresses and a bit more makeup. Men can get higher riding shirts and specially tailored suits.

Depending on the root and severity of the problem, blushing can be helped by psychoanalytic treatment or behavior modification. There’s also another method, says Thomas Scheff, psychology professor at the University of California at Santa Barbara. This technique often works when you face the dilemma in a “real life” situation: Get your audience – be it one person or one thousand to laugh. If they laugh, the blush goes away very quickly.”

Frankly, the more you speak (and get feedback) you will gain in confidence – the blushing will recede if not go away!

Some said Ronald Reagan was the Great Communicator, some say Bill Clinton. I have another candidate who is not as well known, but someday he might be. And we can learn three key points of communicating excellence from him.

Nido Qubein is remarkable. He is a businessman, entrepreneur, visionary, author, speaker, Chairman of many Boards and companies and now a university President. He could perhaps be a President joining Reagan and Clinton, if he wanted to go into politics, (and was willing to leave High Point, North Carolina.)

Last year I picked Nido as one of the Top Ten Communicators of the year, and he’ll probably have to be on it again this year. Because of his communications – and his results.

Let’s just take one area of results, and how Nido Qubein has transformed High Point University in the short 18 months that he has been President. He has raised $100 million dollars, completed the building and renovation (already) of ten buildings, increased enrollment and applications dramatically, and almost singlehandedly inspired staff and faculty to transform a large institution of over 4,000 people into a vital, exciting and amazing place. In 18 months!

I spent a day on the campus with him and 20 friends and associates who are members of Speakers Roundtable . These are all successful people in their own right, yet we were all in awe. Not just of his accomplishments but of his relationships with students, faculty and staff. More detail can be seen on Terry Paulson’s website where he describes the changes at High Point University , and Dianna Booher’s blog where she talks about the unique WOW relationships that Nido has with hundreds of people.

There are many things to learn from Nido – I hunch there will be many books written about him down the road. Let me just pick three key lessons of communicating for leaders that stand out to me:

1. Communicate large visions continuously

“You can’t make incremental change and transform a culture. You need big results or they won’t see or appreciate the changes.” 

Dr. Qubein started with a large vision – on his first day as President he announced a capital campaign to raise $20 million dollars in one month, and then after raising that in 20 days he doubled the goal. He speaks at least a dozen times a day, to large groups, small groups and individuals about the vision of High Point University:

“At HPU, every student receives an extraordinary education in a fun environment with caring people."

He uses email, banners, newsletters and just about every means available to communicate his vision. Ceaselessly. Great leaders continuously communicate their vision. Repeating good ideas is worth repeating.

2. Encourage others to speak.

Nido Qubein inspires all those around him – particularly the employees (staff and faculty) who are the ones who have to really catch the vision to make it work. And they have. Nido has mobilized his resources, and encourages all of them to speak and communicate in all ways – formally and informally, in person and in email. Every student has Nido’s email, and he responds. (Do you not think that every staff then also gives out THEIR email to the students – what does that do for accessibility and connection!)

And Nido encourages the students to talk to him, the President, continuously. What a way to build confidence in them – if they can talk to the President then they can talk to anyone. In one 90 minute tour of the campus with Nido in a golf cart (more accessibility) I counted at least 50 hellos, high fives and hugs between the President and his students. Remarkable.

3. Be excellent in all you do.

Nido is a great communicator for many reasons. He came to the US from Lebanon with $50 in his pocket and self taught english. He mastered the art, and continued to work at it, wrote books about communicating, and then did it. With excellence.

He is the perfect example of the consummate high level expert and professional (in his case in communications, leadership and business) who can talk about their craft in any format and any time period. Because they live it, they just have to know the time they have and the audience, and can quickly put a few points together that are salient, wise and powerful. I have personally seen Nido do this in dozens of different settings – always prepared because life has prepared him.

And when you see excellence, it inspires one to become excellent. I love watching Tiger Woods play golf, as he is absolutely excellent at his craft, and thrives under pressure, and inspires all of us to be better at whatever we do. In this same way Nido Qubein exudes excellence in all he does, and as a communicator always in front of people, that’s a lot of inspiration.

One final story of his attention to detail – communicating excellence on the HPU campus. I talked to one of Nido’s staff about him, a king how he was to work for. Chris said, "Great." Which of course I expected, but asked why.

"Well," said Chris, "He appreciates the people who work for him, even though he is demanding. For example, I’m in charge of campus communications, which involves a lot around here. This morning I was in early because of an important group that was going to be on campus, and Nido was here before me. He mentioned that some of the benches on the quadrant walk were out of line – that’s his attention to detail. And he complimented me on how great the new student banners looked. I love working for this man."

Guy Kawasaki has a great blog with many terrific and varied topics. And he has lots to say on speaking (see his category Pitching, Presenting and Speaking.) Naturally I’m most interested there, and I’ve just gone through them all – one that should not be missed by everyone interested in Creating A Superb Communication Experience is "How To Get A Standing Ovation."  (Not that we should be after standing ovations in most of our communicating, but they are nice with the big audiences.)

Most importantly, all the principles he talks about (and that are echoed or amplified at Decker Communications, naturally,) are ones that we can use every day. And should. Put them top of mind, particularly:

• Focus On Entertaining
• Tell Stories
• Practice And Speak All The Time

Consider this when you are creating your experience of influence:

People don’t believe what you tell them.
They rarely believe what you show them.
They often believe what their friends tell them.
They always believe what they tell themselves.

Courtesy Seth Godin originally, but I found it in another interesting post from Curt Wherley.