The Russian invasion of Ukraine has triggered haunting memories for many people around the world.
For some more senior citizens its tended to revive their personal World War Two recollections following Nazi Germany’s invasion of Poland in 1939 – and other subsequent invasions of so many other countries.
For me, the Ukraine invasion has rekindled memories of watching black and white television at home in Sydney in August 1968.
This was when news came through that a very big country called the Soviet Union ruled from Moscow was sending tanks into a much smaller country called Czechoslovakia to try to subdue its people’s desire for freedom and control over their own destiny.
Sound familiar to 2022 TV news watchers???
I remember images of lines of tanks rolling scarily into this far-off city called Prague – amidst street protests by some brave Czechoslovaks.
My parents lamented that Moscow’s decision to invade Czechoslovakia was a very very bad thing.
I also heard how the then-leader of Czechoslavakia, Alexander Dubcek, had started something known as ‘The Prague Spring’ reforms aimed at making living conditions better while giving his people more freedom.
Seeking to explaining it, my father said he had learned that countries controlled by people called “communists” were grim places where the very limited products in the shops were shoddy and badly packaged and people had to do what the government dictated.
Admittedly he’d never been to a communist-run country as they didn’t exactly welcome most western visitors and he didn’t want to go there.
But Dad had done a pretty good research job because, much later as a foreign correspondent, I got to visit Eastern European countries run by the communists – including Czechoslovakia – and the shops, the shortages and the packaging were every bit as bad as he’d warned, as were the restrictions on people’s lives.
I later witnessed on the streets of Prague how the pro-democracy campaigners of Czechoslovakia – urged on by the inspirational speeches of the revolutionary playwright, Vaclav Havel, who I got to question at a press conference – were every bit as courageous as the current heroic defenders of Ukraine.
Here’s Vaclav Havel addressing supporters in Prague’s Wenceslas Square. If you look closely you should be able to spot me, my interpreter and my Australian Broadcasting Corporation reel-to-reel tape-recorder somewhere near the back on the right!
The campaigners in Prague shook off the constraints of Czechslovakia’s communist police – and the potential threat of a Soviet re-invasion – to achieve their aspirations for democracy though the “Velvet Revolution” of 1989.
There were, of course, long hard Czechoslovakian times between 1968 and 1989 – but the embattled citizens of Ukraine can take some comfort from the fact that tanks sent into Prague from Moscow did not stop the pro-democracy campaigners winning in the end!
REACHING THE YOUNGSTERS THROUGH KIDS TV
Back in 1968 in Australia there wasn’t a current affairs TV show for kids where a Prime Minister – then John Gorton – could pop by and explain to young people what was going on.
And even if there had been such TV shows in 1968, I’m guessing that John Gorton – or a more impressive communicator like the UK’s Prime Minister Harold Wilson at the time – might have struggled to tell the kids exactly what was happening in Eastern Europe at the time.
Explaining horrendous current events to children is a difficult but important challenge – one which usually falls to parents rather than political leaders.
From a communications-enhancing perspective, it’s an excellent challenge to tackle as it forces you to present things as simply and clearly as possible.
When I’m running communications-boosting training sessions, and participants in the early stages sometimes struggle to make themselves easily understood, I ask them to explain whatever they’re talking about as if seeking to get an intelligent twelve-year-old to grasp it.
This typically helps them organise their thoughts more logically and to use simpler, easier-to-understand words.
To his credit, British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, has taken up the TV challenge to try to explain to British youngsters what’s happening in Ukraine.
He made his attempt in the ‘news for kids’ programme on Sky called FYI where he faced some searching questions from talented young interviewers, Braydon and Scarlett.
If you watch the video that follows, you can see that the Prime Minister is trying hard to make the situation as clear for young people as he can.
SHINE OUT BY KEEPING IT SIMPLE
Commendably Boris Johnson does appear to (mostly) keep his target audience in mind during the interview, as he seeks to explain things in a way that younger folk will readily understand.
However, he does use too many big words – like “genocide”, “evacuees”, “encircle” etc.
To his credit the Prime Minister sometimes realises this – and then makes a second attempt to simplify things.
For example, he uses the word “subjugate” to describe what Russia’s Vladimir Putin is trying to do to the Ukrainian people.
He then quickly replaces it with “crush”.
He describes President Putin’s background as “a KGB man” – and then improves on this by using the alternative term “Russian spy”.
Many communication efforts become far more effective when you use less complex, more familiar terms.
It’s better still if you can choose the shorter, easier words in the first place – rather than stumbling into using more complex terms and then seeking other words to explain them.
At times in the FYI interview Boris Johnson struggles against the fearsome interviewing talents of his young interrogators – so much so that, if you look very carefully, one of his legs starts shaking noticeably at one point.
The Prime Minister particularly struggles with a question from Scarlett about whether some of the Ukrainian refugees should be housed inside 10 Downing Street.
Scarlett’s inquiry is what one-time Australian journalists like myself know as a “blowtorch-on-the-belly” question and it somewhat scorches the prime ministerial abdomen.
When faced with this flaming question, Boris Johnson lapses into muttering about the complexities of British tenancy law – describing himself as being a mere “temporary occupant” in Downing Street.
This answer here isn’t particularly effective, but it does lead on to a more productive discussion about how political power tends to be rather fluid within a democratic system.
The Prime Minister does a more inspiring job of seeking to explain the virtues of democracies – like the UK and Ukraine – in contrast to dictatorships like Putin’s Russia.
In Moscow, he declares with frightening accuracy, if you stand against President Putin “you’re probably going to be shot or poisoned”.
This is something to which the heroic imprisoned pro-democracy and anti-corruption campaigner, Alexei Navalny, could attest from his prison cell after what he and his supporters claim, with much evidence, to be a Kremlin attempt to poison him with a nerve agent in 2020 – something which Russian authorities unconvincingly deny.
Alexai Navalny’s existing prison sentence was this week extended after the Russian court system found him guilty of fraud and contempt of court – something disputed by Navalny supporters.
Meanwhile you can check out Boris Johnson’s encounter with the kids on FYI here:
BOOSTING COMPANY COMMUNICATIONS AT YOUR CONFERENCE
Now it may be that you, personally, are not invited onto a children’s TV programme any time soon.
However trying to explain things to kids is an excellent exercise which can help you take your communication skills with younger and older target audiences to new heights.
My communications efforts benefited from the experience when I had to run a media training session at an English school where some young teens were being questioned on their way home by tabloid journalists desperate to know more about something they deemed to be newsworthy concerning one of the kids!
If you or your colleagues need to become more inspirational communicators, there’s a range of keynote speaking options to give them guidance at your next conference or away day at:
http://www.michaeldoddcommunications.com/speaking-at-your-event/
There’s also a new Michael Dodd Communications keynote for conferences entitled: “Communication Lessons From The Heroes Of Eastern Europe – Past & Present”.
This features some of the finest communication examples I witnessed as a foreign correspondent covering Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary and East Germany from those pushing for freedom and democracy – before, during and after that spectacular revolutionary year of 1989.
There’s also a range of communication-boosting training offerings for you and your team at:
http://www.michaeldoddcommunications.com/michael-dodd-services/
HEROIC MARINA GETS HER MESSAGE ACROSS!
Of course, one of the most difficult communication exercises facing the world today is the challenge of conveying truths to the children and adults of Russia – to let them know what’s really being done in their name in Ukraine.
This is a massive challenge as the ugly truths are being kept from them by Russia’s state-run media.
This was explained in the cardboard anti-war sign of the suddenly-famous Russian protestor, Marina Ovsyannikova, who bravely managed to get her message for ordinary Russians onto live state TV.
HIT YOUR AUDIENCE LIKE ARNIE DOES
To take on the challenge of letting the ordinary people of Russia know what’s really happening in Ukraine, you need to have great skills and determination.
It also helps to exhibit some of the resilience you might need if you were playing the role of ‘The Terminator’ in a movie.
One of the skills you’d need to persuade ordinary Russian people to be open to learning the truth about what’s happening in Ukraine, would be to quickly establish rapport with potential viewers – and then to convince them that while you may be anti-Putin, you’re not anti-Russian.
Here’s a guy who has been an on-screen Terminator – and been a real live Californian Governor – who has just taken on the challenge of enlightening Russian citizens.
There’s much we can all learn and admire from the way he undertakes the task in this video.
If you want to star in movies as Arnold Schwarzenegger has done – and follow him to become an international influencer from California – then go to Hollywood.
If you want to take steps to becoming a more persuasive and inspirational communicator – while living in the same place you’re at now – then do get in touch!