Three Important Leadership Communication Lessons

Monday 17th, I saw a morning news report that included a commercial for Dale Peterson running fro Commissioner of Agriculture in Alabama.  After seeing it, I went online to find it.  On YouTube I found it with about 3000 views.

Here is the video:

As of this writing, 8 days later, this video has over 1,200,000 views, and about 250,000 views on other versions of the same commercial.  I have also learned that Mr. Peterson didn’t have enough money to put the commercial on Birmingham TV stations (his original goal), so he placed it on YouTube.  I’m betting he had no idea this would happen.

Clearly Dale Peterson has struck a nerve.

This post isn’t about his views (you may agree or be appalled).  This post isn’t about video itself either.  Rather, this post is about how we communicate.

Mr. Peterson has given us a valuable leadership lesson here.  When we communicate with passion, conviction and a clear message, people will be attracted to us.

Too many of us are timid in our approach, water down our message so as not to offend anyone (and at the same times arising passion in NO one).

If we want to be leaders we must communicate like Mr. Peterson.  Not in a combative way, but in a clear way.  Not in a pussy-footing way, but a passionate way.  Not cautiously, but with conviction.

Put these three ideas – clear, passionate and with conviction – into your communication and you will see your results soar.

Here are your leadership questions for the day:

What do I care enough about to share my passion?

How can I unleash my conviction in my communication?

Who am I trying to attract to my message?

Those three should get you started. 

Your final leadership activity for today is to watch the video again, whether you agree with Mr. Peterson or not.  Watch this time from a leadership communication perspective and see what you can learn.