Over the last few days Donald Trump and Elon Musk have demonstrated the enormous damage the ego can do in public speaking and presenting.
Please keep in mind that contrary to common belief, public speaking isn’t isolated to the spoken word alone; it extends just as much to the written word.
Rather than lead by example, the most powerful man in the world and the richest man in the world are teaching every young person in the world how destructive and toxic social media can be by attacking each other publicly in the most shameful way.
In a world already divided by emotionally charged beliefs and opinion, two of the most prolific voices are showing future generations exactly how not to communicate our personal grievances.
Whatever our personal or political views may be on Donald Trump and Elon Musk most of us would agree that communication should be based on, respect, humility, compassion and honesty.
The issue
If someone offends, insults, or irritates us our job is not to complain openly and loudly to the world around us. Generations of personal and professional etiquette have taught us that the right thing to do is to sit down with that person or at least call to speak to them directly to air our grievances.
When we have two of the worlds most prolific people attacking each other on social media for the world to see and comment on, all they are doing is creating more hostility and division.
More importantly, these highly influential people are sending our young people a noticeably clear message.
– Social media is the platform to tell people how you feel.
– You can say anything you want on social media as they cannot see, hear you and respond face to face.
– I don’t have to carefully consider what I want to say, I can just tell you exactly how I feel.
– Your feelings don’t matter. I am right and you are wrong.
– It only matters if you win and the other person loses.
– Nobody matters except me.
– I’m not interested in truth, I only care about winning.
– Respect doesn’t matter.
The problem
What I’ve described above isn’t new; it’s been an increasingly significant issue for at least a decade.
The problem is that we now have Donald Trump and Elon Musk, the most powerful and richest man on earth telling us that not only is this acceptable and normal but it’s exactly the way we should be talking to each other.
The future
Please put your personal and political views to one side for a moment. Think about our children, grandchildren, and future generations.
Do you really want them growing up believing that this level of rhetoric is normal and acceptable?
I truly hope not.
We are all so much better than this and deserve better leadersip.
If this is leadership communication at it’s best we really do have a big problem.
If you’d like help communicating more mindfully:
– Book yourself onto a powerful public speaking course.
– Invest in some really good one to one public speaking coaching.
– Get yourself some excellent presentation training
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