Statements You May Not Realize You're Making

Think about this:

One afternoon at 4:30 p.m., a corporate CEO announces tough decisions - he lays off 3,000 employees, cuts benefits, shutters factories and takes away things like company picnics and holiday parties.

The next morning at 7:55 a.m., he drives in to the office in his $120k luxury sports car to start the day.

There's something wrong with this picture if you happen to be the ex-employee, current employee or local citizen.

There's a statement being made that no longer works. It used to be if your CEO drove that $120k car, it implied that your company was on the rise, going somewhere. Now that statement could be interpreted as: there's a CEO looking out for himself (or herself) who doesn't care about the little guy.

I think corporate business jets, if properly utilized, can help grow business. But there's no real rationale for the $120k luxury car parked in the CEO's parking space.

By the way: I'm not in any way throwing stones at the CEO. The car is probably on lease or part of the employment package. But it will be judged nonetheless.


Barry LaBov
LaBov and Beyond
www.labov.com

Don't waste time on your speech...

This isn't a message on public speaking--I'm referring the "things are going bad, we have no sales, the economy stinks, the competition is doing bad also, etc.) speech.

CEOs to salespeople to hourly workers are preparing, refining and perfecting the "everything sucks" speech. That speech is a waste of time--and it doesn't work.

Think back on the times you've seen an interview on TV from a political candidate after they lost and they cried about how unfair the competition was...Or watch ESPN and check how you feel when a losing athlete talks about how the officiating was bad or how his/her team was just happy to be in the game (meaning they never thought they had the chance to win).

These "defeat speeches" do nothing for anyone. The answer is: be honest, totally honest...succinct, with no spin. Then focus the rest of your time on how to get out of the funk and make something positive happen.