One of the big traps poor communicators can fall into are situations where they’re publicly defending something that’s widely regarded as indefensible.
Alas in defending the indefensible – or the undefendable – they often resort to weak and even pathetic arguments that typically won’t impress or persuade anyone.
If you or your organisation have done something which cannot logically be defended, it’s so much more impressive to engage with the issue – and apologise where appropriate while focusing on lessons to be learned – rather than to seek to justify the unjustifiable.
This edition focuses on two high-profile public interactions where a person in the spotlight is questioned about something that – I think it’s fair to say – is not really defensible in the eyes of most reasonable people.
One chooses to openly admit to his wrong-doing and acknowledges the damage that his wrong-doing has caused.
He’s Hunter Biden, the controversial son of the most recently departing United States President, Joe Biden.
Hunter Biden was addicted to crack cocaine for a long time and was controversially granted an official pardon by his father in the final days of the Joe Biden presidency.
This was after Hunter Biden was found to be an illegal drug-user in possession of a gun in June last year – becoming the first offspring of a sitting president to be convicted of a crime.
It’s far from being an heroic background story.
Nonetheless Hunter Biden has now allowed himself to be subjected to highly challenging interview questions from the BBC’ s Newsnight programme.
What’s fascinating about the interview is that Hunter Biden openly admits to his drug-taking and the associated crimes.
He does some explaining, but he does not seek to defend his past actions.
It’s a most courageous interview challenge for him to undertake.
It is always a lot easier to be interviewed about key elements of your life story when there’s a generally positive story to tell.
Hunter Biden comes across as deeply flawed – but refreshingly honest – in the way he owns the situation that he’s gotten himself and his family into.
He doesn’t stray into the dangerous territory of making excuses for his past behaviour.
Hunter Biden gives an open account of the downsides of drug addiction – clearly indicating the dangers and damage involved to himself and others.
And he admits that – being the son of an American president who has granted him a pardon – puts him in a very privileged situation.
The fact that he signals his awareness of his privilege makes him more endearing than he might otherwise be.
It all makes for a fascinating and most unusual interview.
The questions thrown at him by the BBC’s Paddy O’Connell are very much of the “blowtorch-on-the-belly” variety.
But unlike many interviewees facing such a fierce grilling, Hunter Biden keeps calm, polite and good-humoured throughout.
This maybe a sign that he’s learned from some quality media interview response training ahead of the encounter (though not from me!).
But any training doesn’t undermine the apparent sincerity of his answers.
The whole of the Newsnight interview with Hunter Biden is below – running just under 17 minutes.
It’s better to watch some than none – in order to get the flavour of it.
Feel free to let me know how Hunter Biden comes across to you?
Meanwhile, here’s a chance to see how things can look when someone – most unlike Hunter Biden – refuses to engage with pressing questions directed at him.
This is a high-profile American who was not a direct participant in the wrong-doing about which he’s quizzed.
He’s the man who has just become the Director of United States National Intelligence, Jay Clayton.
I suspect you may conclude that he comes across looking very dodgy.
The issue in which Jay Clayton faced the toughest questioning was on something that is definitely not of his own making.
He was put forward for the position as Head of National Intelligence by President Trump.
As a result, Donald Trump’s refusal to admit that he lost the 2020 American presidential election became significant test for his nominee.
It meant that Jay Clayton ended up being vigorously questioned about the 2020 election result during his confirmation hearings before the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Mr Clayton clearly did not want to be seen to be admitting to the truthful outcome of the election result in which Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump.
It may well be that Mr Clayton feared the prospect of upsetting Donald Trump – something the president still can’t bring himself to admit, despite never producing evidence to support his contention.
So rather than admitting to the truthful result of the 2020 election, Mr Clayton refuses to openly engage with questioning from Democrat Senator Jon Ossoff.
Take a look here to decide how comfortable you think Jay Clayton looks in this video:
Amazingly, Mr Clayton has since been confirmed as the next U.S. Director of National Intelligence – after being approved by the Senate by 51 votes to 47.
But his performance during his confirmation hearings is set to haunt him for a very long time.
If you or your colleagues need to give honest credible answers to tough questions faced by your organisation, take heart that it is a learnable skill.
Information about the training that’s available is at:
https://www.michaeldoddcommunications.com/give-great-answers-to-tough-questions/
And if you need to be able to stand up to tough questions from journalists, details of specific media interview response training is at:
https://www.michaeldoddcommunications.com/media-master-classes/
The training can focus on the blowtorch-on-the-belly questions that your organisation may need to face.
It can also focus on more positive questions you are likely to face when your company offers a new product or service.
Specific training is now available on “Give Great Answers On Social Media”.
If you would like to line up a call about the kind of questions you are facing – or are likely to face – on social media, send an email to michael@michaeldoddcommunications.com to line it up.
Social media questions are typically nowhere near as tough as the questions that have been thrown at Hunter Biden or Jay Clayton.
But whether the questions are tough – or soft – it always feels good to be ready for them!