Regardless of whether or not you are pleased with the outcome of the election, it should prove useful to reflect on some of the more memorable moments of the campaign. There are things we can remember to do when we’re in the spotlight.

1. Guard Against Nervous Tics and Twitches: After the second debate, Jay Leno did a “bit” on his late night TV show making fun of both candidates. What he picked on with President Bush was something I had noticed myself. He’d obviously been coached after the first debate to guard against smirking and grimacing while Kerry spoke. But when Senator Kerry was speaking – attacking his opponent’s record – President Bush blinked his eyes frequently. Super frequently. While the video clip was running, Leno counted each blink accompanied by a ringing bell and got up to 28! To the audience of Leno’s show, it looked comical. To the audience watching the debate – whether they picked up on it overtly or it came through subliminally – it made him look nervous and insecure.

You, too, probably have some nervous gestures or tics (either physical or verbal). Either get your colleagues to give you honest feedback or have yourself videotaped so you can see and hear it yourself. The only way to stop doing something like this is to become highly aware of your tendency to do it and remain alert about it.

2. Demonstrate Your Humanness: Perhaps because we saw mostly news clips at 6 or 11 o’clock and not the whole visit to a campaign stop, our views of the candidates were mainly limited to that day’s attack on his opponent. Each seemed to spend more time being strident, trying to convince the electorate that the other guy was a bad choice instead of making a case for why he was a good choice. Intellectually, we know that we cannot vote for someone just because we like them, but realistically a lot of people are not going to vote for someone they don’t like. A word used to describe Senator Kerry was “aloof.” He was the most likeable as he was giving his concession speech when he said, with obvious feeling, he would like to put his arms around everyone in the room.

3. Hold Your Temper: It certainly gave the reporters on the campaign trail their story for the night when Teresa Heinz Kerry lost her cool and told off the reporters who were hounding her. Media stories are made out of confrontation and conflict. She fell into the trap. It was not a good reflection on her husband, and it may have raised a question in some people’s minds about how well she would be able to control herself if she were to find herself in the fish bowl and pressure cooker as the nation’s First Lady.

4. When a skeleton is brought out of the closet, get all of it out quick and clean:
With regard to the issue of the National Guard service of George W. Bush, there seems to be little doubt that some strings were pulled in order to keep him from going to Vietnam. Apparently President Bush’s political advisors felt it would be damaging to admit this, especially when it became apparent that his opponent was going to be able to point to a war record that included several medals. So they went to great lengths to try to rationalize the actions that were taken. What was said looked evasive and raised more questions than it answered. Consequently an incredible number of column inches were devoted to the topic. I couldn’t help wondering, a few days into the brouhaha, why he didn’t step to the microphone and say something to the effect of "Years ago, when I was a young man looking at the situation facing the military, I allowed myself to be persuaded to take this option that was presented to me. I take full responsibility for that decision.”

There is no way of knowing if any of these things would have been enough to persuade large numbers of votes to change their vote. Few of you will ever be called upon to step in front of a national audience with every news media channel trained on you to capture every word of your message and your answer to every question. What you look like won’t be beamed into every citizen’s home.

But you may well encounter pressure-filled situations in your professional life where you can benefit by learning from the mistakes of others.

Until next time...KEEP COOL!

Copyright (C) 2004 JCH Enterprises

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