Straight Talk
As it became apparent that the Corona Virus was escalating to a world-wide pandemic level, we had the opportunity to see many different leaders from a cross section of disciplines (political, medical, law enforcement, financial, etc.) have to on a daily basis provide updates to the public via press conferences. Normally, I am actually one who does not follow media on a regular basis, particularly television based media.
However, as life circumstance would have it, a bit before the virus started reaching proportions that stopped most non-essential activity, I had begun being a caretaker on a part-time basis for my 92 year old Mom. (NOTE: Mom is fine, not impacted by the virus, but previous medical issues, for now which she needs assistance to manage around the house). One of Mom’s daily companions is the television, and watching of daily game shows, or news. As I was at her home, the daily news updates as you may expect caught my attention, given the gravity of the situation. And, I began to realize, that as I was receiving messages from various sources during the day, I was most connected to the ones who spoke to me in what I would call “straight talk.”
Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York State and Dr. Anthony Fauci, the Director of the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases were two of my particular favorites. Governor Cuomo came to his press briefings each day completely prepared. He had an outlined agenda, and talking points that were direct and brought to light the most important issues of the day. In addition, his language was of a nature that all could understand, and his personal anecdotes were ones that I know I could instantly relate (and I suspected so did many other listeners).
Dr. Fauci’s style, while also direct, was different. As he was not necessarily the lead presenter at the sessions at which I saw him, he was brought in to answer questions based on his expertise. He was careful to not make statements that were not supported by factual evidence. He was cautious with any estimates he provided, and in doing so, still based them on the trends he was seeing based on data accumulated to date. When there were thoughts that a malaria based drug might be a quick cure to the epidemic, Dr. Fauci quickly cut in, (without regard for whom he was contradicting), to ensure that while the drug might have promise, that far more in the way of analysis and study would have to be done before indicating if the drug was part of the solution to treating the disease.
Bringing this back to the everyday world in which I spend my time, job search, and preparing individuals for the job search process, “straight talk,” is a large part of the process. In building an individual’s resume’, they are counseled to identify problems they faced, the actions they took to address them, the results of those actions, and the recognized value of those actions. Additionally, they are coached that individuals who are interviewing them while impressed with what they have done in the past, are going to want to know, how does that translate to how they can meet that interviewer’s and their company’s needs. Much like Governor Cuomo or Dr. Fauci, they are to look their questioner in the eye and answer their question directly and based on as much of the knowledge that they know at the moment.
Finally, both Governor Cuomo and Dr. Fauci were concentrated on the greater good for a population bigger than themselves. In Governor Cuomo’s case it was the people of the State of New York. For Dr. Fauci, it was the population-at-large, none of whom he had direct governing responsibility over, but for which he knew he had an obligation to serve based on his profession and role. When, one gets good at “straight talk,” they make their answers less about themselves and more about helping all that they can for the greater good.
