The biggest star of this issue is a successful actor who has been giving robust answers to questions in media interviews to promote his new book.
He’s a man more famous for his body than his mind.
This is because he became the youngest ever Mr Universe at the age of 20 and has been known for his muscular body ever since.
Nonetheless his brain is pretty well-developed too – especially when it comes to communicating.
He’s been demonstrating this by giving some inspired responses in his book promotion interviews while visiting the United Kingdom.
He is, of course, Arnold Schwarzenegger.
As The Terminator, Arnie threatened – in his best-known movie line – that he’d be back.
And back on our TV and computer screens the 76-year-old Arnie now is!!!
But even if you agree with those movie critics who’ve alleged that his acting performances have sometimes been a touch wooden, the delivery of his latest lively, motivational and even sometimes amusing answers to media interview questions has been anything but.
As The Terminator he knew how to make a point – sometimes with very little in the way of words.
If you’d like to be reminded how he did this, check out this brief movie clip here!
All good media interviewees make sure they have the right message for every audience.
So the new Arnold Schwarzenegger motivational message is “be useful”.
This is underlined by the title of his self-help book: Be Useful: Seven Tools for Life.
But while the action hero is now giving interviews as his real-life self, you may detect an element of his acting skills within his latest performances.
He does still have a big Hollywood ego.
However, one of the compensations about his latest interviews is that they’re made more relatable to ordinary folk because he throws in a modest touch of modesty.
He’s even happy to talk about his failures on the way to his successes.
So he becomes easier to relate to when we know that, amongst other setbacks, Arnie was devastated to finish a mere second in his initial quest for the Mr Universe title.
As a motivator he’s prepared to tell us that losers stay down whereas “winners always get up!”
In his book promotion interviews, Arnie demonstrates an ability to work out his great answers to likely questions in advance.
Despite that “woodiness” mentioned by detractors, he has been dropping in his cunningly pre-practised lines with a degree of “planned spontaneity”.
It (almost) makes his responses sound as if they just pop into his head during interviews.
This is a learnable skill in media interview training sessions.
Arnold Schwarzenegger is also using his latest interviews to take the issue with claims that he’s a so-called “self-made man”.
So he’s been giving credit to others for helping inspire his successes – such as the assistance he got to be elected the Governor of California.
Because he’s not a natural-born United States citizen – having entered the world in Austria before migrating across the Atlantic – Schwarzenegger knows that, unless the U.S. Constitution is changed, he’s not eligible to become the American President.
But his ego is still large enough that he’s prepared to admit: “I would make a great president”.
His answers on this question are well-thought-out and designed so that he doesn’t come across with any bitterness about the block on this presidential ambition.
You can decide if you need to develop your inner-Arnie as you watch the following interview.
Be warned that the interview is conducted by one of the BBC’s less than muscle-bound interrogators – something of amusement to both interviewee and interviewer!
It takes a certain amount of media interview response training to ensure you give answers that are as captivating as Arnie’s.
There’s more about communications-boosting sessions to help you achieve this at:
But whatever you do, make sure you and your team are prepared to give better answers to customers and prospects than were ever given on the BBC TV show Fawlty Towers.
I’ve been reminded of the appalling answers of the tragically comic TV character Basil Fawlty because I’ve just had the joy of running Great Answers sessions near Torquay.
Basil Fawlty’s obnoxious answers – to tough questions and easy ones – are given in Torquay where he runs his comically chaotic hotel.
I was fortunate to be joined on the Torquay mission by a highly skilled camera operator, Adrian Cove, from www.higradefilms.co.uk
This meant that those on the “Give Great Answers To Tough Questions” sessions could see themselves back on screen as others see them – and improve accordingly.
Inspired by the Torquay seaside – and the Halloween ghosts of all those atrocious Basil Fawlty answers – we made this following video about helping people give great answers to tough questions around the world.
If you’d like to book a conference keynote or training programme to help your people give great answers, there’s more at:
http://www.michaeldoddcommunications.com/speaking-at-your-event/
And if you’d like a reminder of just how bad-tempered and counter-productive Basil Fawlty’s bad answers are, here’s a mix of angry, sarcastic and patronising answers to his hard-to-please hotel guest, Mrs Richards.
Basil Fawlty illustrates that if your people give annoying answers to annoying questions from annoying people it makes them annoying too!!!
If you’d like to enhance the answers given by people in your organisation, you know who to call.
With the right guidance, your team’s answers can become both less Basil and more Arnie!