If you haven't heard Jack Layton passed away from cancer. The CBC has a timeline of his accomplishments in politics. Jack was 61.
I think the interview he had with George Stroumboulopoulos is a good reflection of who Jack was and his 'can do' attitude.
From a PR perspective he did what very few politicians ever accomplish. He took his party from minor relevance to being a serious threat to one day becoming the majority government.
The reality is that the NDP's rise was in large part the result of Jack Layton and voters abandoning the Liberal party and Michael Ignatiff in favor of Jack. I think the reason, which is also the reason so many people like Stephen Harper (despite Layton and Harper occupying opposite ends of the political spectrum), is that he had what I always say is so essential in PR - authenticity.
Authenticity is rare, in part because of PR itself. Many politicians, once they've been put through the media training and talking points gaunlet course, lose their authenticity. They become 'talking heads' - which is to say no different than anyone else who can memorize talking points and spit them back out.
Some politicians are authentic, but never master the art of PR and as such their message never really resonates. They stand on their personality alone and as such garner only a small following.
When you successfully combine authenticity with good PR tactics though, that's when you achieve sustainable success. And that's something Jack did. He had a clear message, he stuck to salient talking points, but at the same time, his personality shined through, creating this synergy where his messaging supported his authenticity and his authenticity supported his messaging.
You can't get people to follow you just with a good message. They have to believe that you believe what you are saying, and no combination of words can achieve that. That comes from non-verbal forms of communication. It comes from your body posture, tone of voice, facial expressions etc.
Humans are naturally designed to be lie detectors. The human brain intakes so much information that, on a conscious level, we aren't even aware of everything we are processing. As such, we get this thing we call 'intuition' or 'vibe' or 'instincts', a 'gut feeling' if you will. Which is why authenticity is so critical to communicating.
Authentic communicators, those who believe 100 per cent in what they are saying (not just telling people what they want to hear to get something for themselves), don't trip any of the human mind's 'warning sensors'. As such, even if you are saying things people don't agree with, they will nonetheless be open to hearing you because they sense you are being authentic. (On a side note, while not appearing authentic, many sociopaths can also deliver a message that doesn't trip people's 'warning sensors'. They don't come off as authentic though, it's more that they simply don't have any 'tells' - meaning non-verbal queues - that set of people's warning sensors).
Likewise, you can have the best messages in the world, but if you don't actually believe what you are saying, your non-verbal signals (unless you are a sociopath that doesn't have these non-verbal signals) will trip all kinds of 'warning sensors' in the viewers mind and they will, for reasons they can't explain, feel uncomfortable or ill-at-ease with what you are saying.
Jack was an example, and we need more of them, of how being authentic is a tremendous asset when it comes to PR. I would argue this is one of the huge problems Obama is facing right now, people simply don't believe that he believes what he is saying. He is no longer viewed as being authentic. Even when he says the right things people shake their head and walk away. A lot of that is the result of non-verbal communication, they don't see the fire and passion in his non-verbal signals that suggest that his words come from a place of true belief.
Obama could learn a lot from Jack in this regard. Jack successfully took on Canada's conservative party and gained a ton of ground. He knew how to fight the good fight in the realm of public opinion and how to make your case against a well-oiled conservative machine, which is exactly the issue that Obama is facing right now. In many ways, I think Obama is what we in Canada would have ended up with had Michael Ignatiff and the Liberals been successful in the last elections.
Jack fought the good fight and to me, his legacy will be that good PR doesn't mean you have to water down your personality. In fact the opposite, your personality and sense of authenticity are what motivate people to listen to what you have to say and really think about the ideas you are proposing.
You can't change the world if you can't get people to first listen to what you have to say - and Jack definitely got people to listen.
RIP Jack.
I think the interview he had with George Stroumboulopoulos is a good reflection of who Jack was and his 'can do' attitude.
From a PR perspective he did what very few politicians ever accomplish. He took his party from minor relevance to being a serious threat to one day becoming the majority government.
The reality is that the NDP's rise was in large part the result of Jack Layton and voters abandoning the Liberal party and Michael Ignatiff in favor of Jack. I think the reason, which is also the reason so many people like Stephen Harper (despite Layton and Harper occupying opposite ends of the political spectrum), is that he had what I always say is so essential in PR - authenticity.
Authenticity is rare, in part because of PR itself. Many politicians, once they've been put through the media training and talking points gaunlet course, lose their authenticity. They become 'talking heads' - which is to say no different than anyone else who can memorize talking points and spit them back out.
Some politicians are authentic, but never master the art of PR and as such their message never really resonates. They stand on their personality alone and as such garner only a small following.
When you successfully combine authenticity with good PR tactics though, that's when you achieve sustainable success. And that's something Jack did. He had a clear message, he stuck to salient talking points, but at the same time, his personality shined through, creating this synergy where his messaging supported his authenticity and his authenticity supported his messaging.
You can't get people to follow you just with a good message. They have to believe that you believe what you are saying, and no combination of words can achieve that. That comes from non-verbal forms of communication. It comes from your body posture, tone of voice, facial expressions etc.
Humans are naturally designed to be lie detectors. The human brain intakes so much information that, on a conscious level, we aren't even aware of everything we are processing. As such, we get this thing we call 'intuition' or 'vibe' or 'instincts', a 'gut feeling' if you will. Which is why authenticity is so critical to communicating.
Authentic communicators, those who believe 100 per cent in what they are saying (not just telling people what they want to hear to get something for themselves), don't trip any of the human mind's 'warning sensors'. As such, even if you are saying things people don't agree with, they will nonetheless be open to hearing you because they sense you are being authentic. (On a side note, while not appearing authentic, many sociopaths can also deliver a message that doesn't trip people's 'warning sensors'. They don't come off as authentic though, it's more that they simply don't have any 'tells' - meaning non-verbal queues - that set of people's warning sensors).
Likewise, you can have the best messages in the world, but if you don't actually believe what you are saying, your non-verbal signals (unless you are a sociopath that doesn't have these non-verbal signals) will trip all kinds of 'warning sensors' in the viewers mind and they will, for reasons they can't explain, feel uncomfortable or ill-at-ease with what you are saying.
Jack was an example, and we need more of them, of how being authentic is a tremendous asset when it comes to PR. I would argue this is one of the huge problems Obama is facing right now, people simply don't believe that he believes what he is saying. He is no longer viewed as being authentic. Even when he says the right things people shake their head and walk away. A lot of that is the result of non-verbal communication, they don't see the fire and passion in his non-verbal signals that suggest that his words come from a place of true belief.
Obama could learn a lot from Jack in this regard. Jack successfully took on Canada's conservative party and gained a ton of ground. He knew how to fight the good fight in the realm of public opinion and how to make your case against a well-oiled conservative machine, which is exactly the issue that Obama is facing right now. In many ways, I think Obama is what we in Canada would have ended up with had Michael Ignatiff and the Liberals been successful in the last elections.
Jack fought the good fight and to me, his legacy will be that good PR doesn't mean you have to water down your personality. In fact the opposite, your personality and sense of authenticity are what motivate people to listen to what you have to say and really think about the ideas you are proposing.
You can't change the world if you can't get people to first listen to what you have to say - and Jack definitely got people to listen.
RIP Jack.
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