With Thursday’s British election just a day away, and opinion polls universally agreeing that no single party will gain majority, the political leaders are whizzing around the nation more frenetically than ever before.
Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg, for instance, is in the process of going from Lands Ends at the south-western extremity of Cornwall criss-crossing his way through marginal constituencies, to John O’Groats at the north-eastern tip of the Scottish mainland.
The route Nick Clegg’s following means he’ll be doing around 1,000 miles in 48 hours.
Not to be outdone, Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron is doing 1,300-mile trek in 36 hours.
Amidst such hectic schedules, it’s hardly surprising that politicians are making verbal trips.
There are lessons for us all about not overcrowding our schedules or our minds when there are important things we have to communicate clearly and persuasively.
In business when you are doing things like launching a new marketing campaign or becoming involved in a merger or acquisition a lot of communication can go with the territory.
It can be effective to spend a bigger proportion of your time getting your head and tongue in the right place with greater planning, preparation and practice.
This is something I work with on clients all the time, so they can be in greater control of what’s coming out of their mouth.
https://www.michaeldoddcommunications.com/presenting-with-confidence-impact-and-pizzazz/
Spending more time in training and rehearsal can be better than spending excessive time being out their talking – especially if you aren’t managing to say what you mean to say.
Sigmund Freud
What’s interesting about some of the latest political trips is where they appear to be what the psychologists and psychiatrists call “Freudian Slips”.
This is where, according to the founder of psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud, a speaker says something that he or she was supposedly thinking about subconsciously – and this comes out instead of what speaker actually meant to say.
Some claim it was a Freudian slip when President George Bush Senior said:
“For seven and a half years I’ve worked alongside President Ronald Reagan. I’ve been proud to have been his partner… We’ve had some sex… uh… setbacks.”
I’m not so sure that it was a genuine Freudian slip, but you can check out the footage here and draw your own conclusion.
AVOIDING THE PSYCHIATRIST’S COUCH
But there is perhaps a stronger case for saying that the two biggest slip-ups of the past week of British campaigning were indeed outbursts of honesty escaping from the subconscious.
One was from the vice-chair of the Labour Party’s election campaign, Lucy Powell.
Lucy Powell
Her gaffe – or revelation of truth – came after Labour Party Leader, Ed Milliband, sought to demonstrate over the weekend just how unbreakable his top six election promises are.
He did this by posing with a list of the promises etched in stone.
Speaking on BBC radio yesterday, Lucy Powell, was asked whether having to carve their election pledges into stone was a sign that the public didn’t trust Mr Milliband.
This is what fell from her lips:
“I don’t think anyone is suggesting that the fact that he’s carved them into stone means, you know, means that he will absolutely, you know, not going to break them or anything like that.”
Quite a remarkable Freudian confession, if that’s what it was!
You can decide by listening at:
The other contender for Freudian slip of the campaign was from David Cameron.
He had to hurriedly correct himself after describing tomorrow’s election in a stump speech as “career-defining” instead of “country defining”.
A lot of amateur Freudians sitting on their own couches at home concluded that a truth had slipped out and that, for the prime minister, it was indeed all about defining his career rather than saving the country.
Make your judgement at:
When I’m working with clients to ensure they perform their best in presentations and media interviews, I always urge them to make sure they only tell exact truths.
https://www.michaeldoddcommunications.com/media-master-classes/
But it is vital to be in full control of the truths you do utter – and the way you utter them.
It’s worth investing the time and effort to get it right – and not give the Freudians an opportunity to put you on the public psychoanalysis couch.
AIRLINE SAFETY SOUTHWESTERN STYLE
If Freudian psychology and election punditry are all getting too much, you may need some light relief.
Perhaps the topic of aviation safety will lighten you up.
Before we go there, ask yourself: How often have you ignored the safety presentation before your plane takes off – because it’s all too dully presented…or because you’ve sat through it dozens of times before?
I suspect you haven’t heard it done quite like this version by America’s budget operator Southwest:
I’ll leave it for you to decide whether the stewardess is being irresponsible here – or doing the airline industry a favour by getting everyone to take notice.
She would of course have an even bigger impact on her passengers of she slowed down her delivery by 200 per cent.
But maybe she’s going too fast so her passengers won’t remember what she’s said and report her to the aviation authorities!
Or maybe she’s speeding through it to avoid time for any Freudian analysis.
Keep smiling,
Michael