Choosing Your Words Wisley - Part 2

In conjunction with Part 1, we have a few examples of speeches for you.
First, we go back to our beloved Rex Ryan. Rex has sort of become a figure head in our class. I wish we could've had him in as a guest speaker. Following up with choosing certain words to propel your campaign or your speech, we also looked into speech-making styles.
An interviewer gave me this article from the New York Times after talking about Strategies of Leadership to him. Rex transformed the Jets through words just as much as his actions.

• The article notes that a good speech starts with a purpose.
• A good speech inspires, explains, and persuades.
• To achieve that purpose there must be an issue or something to overcome.
• Delivery, structure, and all the elements of a great speech mean nothing without a purpose. 
• The words need to be believable and consistent with who the words are coming from.

Rex doesn't script his speeches. He uses profanity, anger, humor, and self-deprecation. General Patton also used curse words, which people say is a technique to help better connect with troops. (This is the opposite of John Wooden who never used profanity)
After a loss, Rex looked to history and used Cortez's "Burn the Boats" slogan to tell the Jets that there was no going back unless we beat the enemy. If we beat the enemy we could take their boats and go home. It was do or die.
Most importantly, Rex's speeches are great because they are authentic and from the heart. People can read into fakeness. One of his players stated:

"All you need is to hear a coach once and know he's a fraud, to know he's never been in a fistfight in his life. I heard Rex once and I knew he would fight for me, that day."

With the help of student Jon Sheehan's father, Michael Sheehan, we moved on to evaluate three speeches. Mr. Sheehan is a professional speech coach who works with the likes of CEOs and politicians. His bio reads that he has worked with more "Presidents, Vice Presidents, First Ladies, Cabinet Secretaries, Governors, Mayors and Members of Congress than anyone else in the country." He led us to study President Obama's 2004 Democratic Convention speech, Bobby Kennedy's speech in Indianapolis the day Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed, and Shakespeare's Henry V Feast of St. Crispin speech.

This speech put Obama on the map. We talk about being a great performer, well he is one here. He articulates so many great key phrases that a politician needs to these days. He talks about coming from nothing: "In no other country is my story even possible." "Believe in America," "possibilities for this nation," "lets face it," "we have more work to do."

"There is no liberal America or a conservative America - there is a United States of America." This is his most important point, because it's about bringing a nation together as one. When he wants to make certain points he speeds up and is more definitive. Study his body language, eye contact and use of hands - all great tactics that orators employ.

The Bobby Kennedy speech was written in the limo ride to the event he was speaking at. Indianapolis was the only city the night MLK was shot where there were no riots.

A strategy many speech writers use is to look to history for the answers. Kennedy talks about the Greeks and religion. He brings black and white together to understand that violence is not the answer. We talked about authenticity, and the way that Kennedy speaks is with pure emotion. He is visibly shaken. I also love his use of such strong words like division, hatred, violence, lawlessness, love, wisdom, compassion, and justice.

Finally, Shakespeare's Henry V Feast of St. Crispin speech was written 200 years after the battle, but is considered to be one of the best interpretations of leadership ever written.

"We few, we happy few, we band of brothers."

"He who sheds his blood with me shall be my brother." Up against death Henry V gave his men the shared belief that they could win. He convinced them that if they survived and won they would be honored forever. A staple of leadership: convincing others to believe and do things that they otherwise wouldn't through convictions and a vision.

Thanks Mr. Sheehan!

Choosing Your Words Wisely - Part 1

The ability to articulate your ideas is one of the most important qualities a person can have. Great speakers orchestrate their ideas through words. The great speech writers are poets - they instill images and greater possibilities inside the minds of their listeners.

Great speakers don't need to be talkative or conversational, however, if you aren't the most outgoing - you better be able to perform. One of the greatest speakers of our time is President Obama, and it's because he's a performer up at the podium. He also uses some great key words, "Yes We Can" should sound familiar.

"Yes We Can" won Obama the 2008 election because they are powerful words. It ignited the passion inside voters' psyche to believe that they were part of a movement that would change America forever.

Frank Luntz is an established speech writer whose current company, The Word Doctors, specializes in message creation and image management for commercial and political clients. He's worked with the likes of General Motors and Disney to Rudy Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg.

In class we reviewed his 11 Words for 2011. These are phrases and words that help his clients sell products or turn public opinion on an issue or a candidate. It's almost as if he's a marketer or advertiser.

Words are powerful, and certain words like "I have a dream" ignite social movements. The right words create public policy changes and these phrases are also applicable to leaders in business, sports, religion, academia and a variety of other situations.

I've chosen four of the eleven words that resonated most deeply with me and that I have tried to employ.

• "No excuses" is important to me because it reminds me of my high school football coach. He always used to say: "Excuses are like a#@holes - everyone has them and they all stink." He was right. Excuses are an easy way out of sticky situations - I wish someone would tell that to Barry Bonds. "No excuses" is about holding yourself accountable. It's a phrase that generates respect after mistakes and appreciation for being honorable.
• "Believe in better" is great because you don't need to attach a quantity - people just want quality and improvement. This is a phrase that goes along with helping people envision greater possibilities for themselves.
• "Imagine" - John Lennon comes to mind. Luntz claims it's the most powerful word in the English language. It's inspiring, motivating, and has a different definition for each person. Once again it follows along the greater possibilities theme.
• "If you remember only one thing" is a phrase that helps guarantee the one point that you want voters or investors to remember, especially during a complex situation.

Choosing the right words can make or break a speech or situation. These phrases will be just the right addition to your campaign speech, interview, or board meeting to push you over the edge.

It's "the simple truth."

Adam Schwartz: College Presidents & CEOs

For an assignment in class in response to Level 5 Leadership and in preparation for President Roth's visit to class, students had to write about how they would improve Wesleyan and how they would measure their success if they were president of Wesleyan. Most of the students submitted criticisms of the school or what they would keep in order to continue to develop the success at Wesleyan.

A few of the common themes were:

• improving the CRC
• more athletic funding 
• expanding the number of admitted students
• better housing
• lay off of the fraternities
• more practical classes (business)
• but many others argued that: 
• the liberal arts education should be kept
• that financial aid should continue to be at the level it is at
• and to not change the social climate at Wesleyan

Senior classmate and football teammate Adam Schwartz offered a different angle. He claimed that the president's sole job is similar to the CEO of a Fortune 500 company:

FIND WAYS TO RAISE MONEY

Here's what Adam said:

Collegiate universities are some of the strangest business in the world today. When looking at them, one thinks of them just as any other school. They should be trying to enrich and teach students about endless amounts of subjects for their betterment and advancement after school. However, when looking at it as a president of a university, I believe it is more important to look the dynamic as more of a business. As a president of a school, especially one that is private like Wesleyan, one must never forget that this school is selling something to students who they consider to be a consumer. As a president your job is to make sure the school runs as efficiently as possible under your leadership so that you can attract new consumers or students to invest in the school and it’s future. 

Following this type of idea that a school is simply a business turning people out, hoping they get donations and such for them after they graduate and hopefully have success, I believe the only way to truly make your school great would be to have a terrific endowment and to have a terrific U.S News and World Report ranking. When looking at it, you realize as a president this is what you need to attract future customers. It means that you have done a great job, so people who went there are investing in the future because they keep giving back. They realize that the school is running very well and that it needs money to operate. An endowment size has to certainly be on the mind of a president. If not then he has no money or opportunity to plan for the future. He is stuck thinking about the present but with no road that ends. Money is crucial to being a good president.

The other thing is the rankings. When encompassing the rankings, as a president you realize that it has everything you want to attract new customers or investors. The rankings are an accumulation of all the bright spots that a school has to offer. It takes into account the professors that teach at the school, the buildings and equipment offered, graduation rate, acceptance rate, prestige all wrapped up in a number that is easy to read and digest if you are a new student looking at the school. It is a symbol of how good the school is, and as president you need to look at the whole picture and not micromanage everything. It could be argued that graduation rate is the best indicator of a good president or perhaps students who go to graduate school, but once those students leave, the university still needs money to operate and that comes from new students coming to the school to learn, so hopefully they can give back after their time there. 

As a president it is also interesting to note what type of university you are. Wes is a liberal arts school that attracts liberal arts students, so there is no need to add finance or specific classes like that. We don’t have our own graduate degrees outside of masters so it isn’t important to offer classes like that. It is better to offer classes that we feel we can get the best teachers for. If you look at big schools like a UF (Univ. of Florida) or a Texas, they offer classes so that kids there can go to the graduate schools they have. It is a one-way bridge of keeping your customers at your institution, which is something that does not apply to Wesleyan.

As president you need to keep your customers happy the best and think outside the box. Athletes are a minority, however they keep investors coming in and keep spirits on campus high, so I would invest more into an athletic program to get investors and alumni to come back and be excited for the school. I would equally put just as much money into the film program at Wesleyan school because that is also another big draw for the school. The social aspect of the school shouldn’t concern me as long as student safety isn’t involved. That is something that would be to much micromanaging and as president I have to worry about the bigger picture, which is investors. You need them so that you can accept good smart students who will do well but possibly can’t afford the tuition of the school. Without the money from the endowment it would be impossible to admit half the students we do, which make Wesleyan the school that it is. It isn’t necessarily a type of student or a specific one, but a generalization for those who you believe offer the best chance for success in the future that as president you want to admit to your school. Overall as president just like anything you need to be concerned with the money and where it comes from. That is your number one job, because that is what keeps the school going and everything else should be secondary and delegated to others who you trust.

Great work Adam!

President Michael Roth & the Future of Wesleyan

Come, raise the song for Wesleyana,
Till night and echo send it back

Wesleyan in Middletown, CT is the place I've called my home for the past four years, and what a journey it has been. President Michael Roth, a graduate of Wesleyan, shared his first year as President with my freshman year in 2007-2008.  My dad always recalls the move-in day that August of 2007 and how the President was right there moving the wide-eyed freshman into their Fauver dorm rooms. My dad, not easy to impress, was taken back by such a sincere action. There isn't many colleges where the President is so visible and outgoing. You'll find Roth at the football, basketball, hockey, and baseball games being our most vocal supporter - you'll find him lecturing in his Past on Film class, and he writes a great blog. He's energetic about Wesleyan and knows what a Wesleyan liberal arts education is all about: 1) Boldness 2) Rigor and 3) Practical Idealism. He has a vision for Wesleyan's success that will catapult it into the next decade.

President Roth graduated from Wesleyan in 1979, received a Phd. from Princeton in 1983 and taught at Scripps College in California from 1983-1995. He went to work at the J. Paul Getty Trust in Los Angeles, which is an art institute from 1995-2000. He then served as the President of the California College of the Arts in San Francisco from 2000-2007. While President, CCA doubled its endowment and number of applications to the school, he also changed the name of the school (it was previously known as the California College of Arts and Crafts). His accomplishments at CCA allowed his resume to find its way to his alma mater, Wesleyan, which was in the search for a new President. Coming full circle, he now calls Middletown his home once again.

He came back to Wes and things were a little out of align. In the late '80s Wesleyan's endowment was nearly the size of its Little Three counterparts Amherst and Williams. Now the endowment sits at about half of Amherst's and Williams'. In other words, we have some catching up to do. Now we can argue about how that happened and what we should do, but that's a conversation for another day.

In the context of Strategies of Leadership, I'm more interested in Roth's vision, beliefs, and management style.

Roth came in and Wesleyan was out of line administratively. He asked professors to write a two page request for what priorities they'd like to see get pushed forward and he'd choose only three of the priorities. Questions ensued as you'd expect, because Prof. A's priorities might not have the chance to get funding. In the past, everybody's request received some type of attention. That's not the way it was going to happen under Roth.

We've talked in the past about how great leaders create a "culture of discipline." It may be viewed as tyranny, but it isn't. All great leaders need to use sound judgment and make decisions for their organization. The President of a college is the CEO. The President has his people (the deans and other assistants) to help him make certain choices, but in the end the President needs to use his authoritative power to quell any debates. President Roth had to set the tone from the start that not everybody's interests were going to be able to be honored. Elvin Lim talks about how the great Presidents of the United States were the ones who went above and beyond their powers outlined in the Constitution to make decisions. They used their Presidential prerogative to make decisions.

President Roth discussed that he may not be well versed on certain issues, but that's why he has people beneath him to help him make sound decisions on certain issues. That sound judgment is based on a consistent vision for your organization. A leader needs to be willing to step up to the plate and make decisions. Leaders need to make their followers understand that not everyone will win and Roth claimed that no organization can be successful unless it's aligned. Building a culture of discipline for your organization is so vital: create a "stop doing list" and unplug anything extraneous that is going on. One of the most important feats for a leader to accomplish is to get everyone on the same page.

Tagging along this idea is accepting leadership as if it's a responsibility. Once again, this is something Coach Whalen and Kennedy Odede spoke about in their classes with us. Roth discussed that a leader can't ever say that's not my job.

There have been countless amounts of times where leaders shove responsibility away from themselves and are looked at as weak leaders. And they are! One of the reasons why leadership is so hard is because people are afraid of taking it on. When in charge a leader must always accept responsibility no matter if they committed the wrong or not.

For example, the latest Beta incident caused a big stir on campus. Roth did not write or sign the e-mail that was initially sent out. The e-mail wreaked havoc on campus and Roth took the reigns and accepted responsibility. Remember our "Looking Through the Window and Into the Mirror" concept? Level 5 Leaders take the blame when things go wrong, but shower praise upon the people under them when things go right.

Roth talked about finding the right people - undertones of getting the right people on the bus and in the proper seats, and the wrong people off the bus. There are several people who did not ideologically fit into Roth's plans and schemes and they had to part ways. Sometimes, people realize that and leave, other times the leader may have to fire that individual who does not want to jump on the bandwagon. We've talked about how in the past, great Level 5 CEOs at Walgreens and other companies have had to even fire family members who were simply holding the company back.

Gotta do what you gotta do...

Great leaders understand that any employee is a reflection of the company and the leader at the helm. This is your track record that you're trying to protect - your earnings - your profit - and most importantly your reputation as a leader! And if there's people who aren't on the same page, then action must be taken.

I think many times in unsuccessful rebuilding efforts a coach or principal or CEO fail to diverge from what was done in the past. They don't cut ties with people who are holding the company back, which prolongs the culture of losing. Roth also talked about his right hand man Andy Tanaka who was Roth's driver initially. Roth saw that Andy had much more ability than the role he was in. A Wesleyan Freeman Scholar graduate, Tanaka is in Roth's ear constantly in a perfect role assisting Roth in his decision making. Roth also commented that it's important to hire people who share similar career goals and visions. People should have a track record of accomplishment and who shows sound judgment in what they believe in. All of these code of ethics and vision statements can be made, but without the right people in the right seats your company, organization, or team will not succeed.

Finally, Roth noted that what Wesleyan was built on - the receiving of a quality liberal arts education - is really still the main goal above all else.

Jim Collins talks about the Hedgehog Concept, which is for a leader to realize 1) what you can be the best in the world at, 2) what drives your economic engine, and 3) what you are deeply passionate about. Wesleyan can be the best in the world at giving people a unique liberal arts education. Today, especially after the recession, many parents believe that their children need a more "applicable" major that better suits their kid to enter the workforce, such as in accounting, business management, or teaching instead of an economics, government, or psychology degree. Now you can easily be an accountant if you're an economics major, you can easily become a lawyer if you're a government major, and you can easily become a teacher with a psychology degree. What makes a Wesleyan liberal arts education great is when we show people the diversity of successful people that have come out of Middletown to do great things in Hollywood, politics, media, in hospitals, law, and with their own companies (it's like in The Social Network when Larry Summers says: "Harvard undergraduates believe that inventing a job is better than finding a job," well that goes for Wesleyan too).

How to drive your economic engine? This is the endowment. Generating "sustained and robust cash flow" is how Jim Collins describes it. The President is the CEO and one of his main jobs is to try and extract money from alumni. Part of what goes into how much alumni give back is the memories they recall from their four years at school. That can be with fraternities, athletics, the arts, guest speakers who came to campus, concerts, and of course their academics. Part of the liberal arts education is doing all of these things in addition to the actual classroom studies. A liberal arts education gives its students the opportunity to explore and find themselves. This is important because I think that all of these pieces - fraternities, athletics, the arts, etc. are what goes into the minds of students and how they'll look back on their times at Wesleyan - maybe not so much what they learned in their philosophy class. At the same time, what they learned in the classroom and what they learned out of it on athletic fields or in performance halls is what will contribute to them becoming a great businessperson, doctor, or educator. This success the student built will be directly attributed to their education at Wesleyan, which means more funds coming from the pockets of alumni.

Lastly, stimulating passion. What is your organization deeply passionate about? Wesleyan is unique in that it's probably the most socially aware school in the NESCAC. Wesleyan's financial aid office is one of the most generous in America. Wesleyan needs to continue to find students who want to pursue a liberal arts education no matter their background. Roth agreed with this sentiment in that even during the recession, financial aid did not fall. Wesleyan is passionate about providing a very open ended liberal arts education. It wants its students to explore, be challenged, and promote critical thinking skills. A liberal arts education is a good example of helping people find what they are passionate about. The liberal arts is not about perfect sciences and accounting. A Wesleyan liberal arts education ignites passion in its students and allows its students to discover what makes them passionate. Leaders understand what they are passionate about and they evoke this same quality from their leaders. Kennedy Odede is passionate about spreading hope for women and better standards of living in his country, and he is igniting the same sentiment amongst his fellow Kenyans.

I hope you can see the parallels that we have drawn throughout the semester. Leadership in the context of business, politics, education, real life social movements, and personal experiences. Leadership is all around you and at Wesleyan it is extremely high. With President Roth leading the way into the next decade, cheering us on at football games, teaching classes, and raising money for that ever important endowment, Wesleyan is headed in the right direction.

Our song is for the dear old college!
Join hands and praise you while we can!
Time ne’er shall shake our deep devotion,
Our deathless love for Wesleyan!

The Mayor of Kibera

I met Kennedy for the first time the same day I asked him to come and speak in class. I read about him in the Wesleyan Connection because he was just about to go and speak about his initiative in Kenya for The Kibera School for Girls at a conference hosted by Bill Clinton. Kennedy started an organization called Shining Hope for Communities in his homeland Kenya to combat the way women are treated. He set out to give purpose to women and his community – the Kibera slum of Nairobi, Kenya. Many of you heard about the hit movie Slumdog Millionaire. Well, did you ever think about the people who actually lived in the slums? Slum tourism is an actual business in some places – tourists literally go and see how people live in these areas. These are humans we’re talking about, not animals. Kennedy made this known in his recently published op-ed article in the New York Times: "Slumdog Tourism." 

The Kibera School for Girls is meant to change the position of women in his community; educating women will give them better skills to work, and is argued to reduce violence toward women since they will be more respected because of their educational attainment. It will remove the stigma of men as being the primary breadwinner because men are physically stronger and will demonstrate that women have just as much will as men do. It is also argued that educating women will also reduce the amount of violence in these places – preventing the formation of terrorist groups like al-Qaeda. Kennedy calls this gender equality.

Inspired by Kennedy’s story, I immediately asked him to come and be our third guest speaker of the semester – mainly to talk about where he’s come from and how he's led the formation of his organization in Kenya. I knew we'd be inspired, I just didn’t know how the stories would stick with me forever.

I can count about five times that Kennedy mentioned how great it is that in America you can take a shower whenever you want. Kennedy discussed that he became a street boy after he ran away from home when he was young. He earned $1/day working in an unsafe factory. Somehow along the way he figured out how to speak six languages. People would speak with Kennedy and they’d say “Kennedy, your English – you speak like a white person.” There was no clean water, no school, and he joined the street gangs – it was survival of the fittest, whoever could scrap for food and water survived. Talk about toughening up right? What have you complained about today – how the food at your dining hall was horrible? “I came to this country and for the first time I had food laid out for the taking, as much as I wanted. Wes Wings is not for me, I don’t like their options!”

Kennedy emerged as the unofficial Mayor of Kibera. He read about Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr., and Marcus Garvey and ideas for change started to stir in his head. He realized that gun shots and eating every two or three days was not normal. To his people, these things were accepted in everyday life. Kennedy recognized this and he connected with them. He explained how much better life could and should be. He brought people together and he got through to them. Kennedy explained that it is hope that brings his people together. They share a common struggle, but he demonstrates to them how much better life will be. There are undertones of leadership here – igniting a fire in people and letting them believe in things that they otherwise wouldn’t. Also, the Paradox Concept – believing that things will only get better, and inspiring this vision.

Kennedy’s definition of leadership is how the leader is able to influence others. Leadership to Kennedy happens when you don’t do it for yourself. You can’t force it. A leader is a person who can connect with people and a good leader is someone who “leads from behind.” When things are bad the leader takes the blame and he shoves attention away to the members of the group when times are good. It’s familiar to Jim Collins’ “Looking Through the Window and into the Mirror” concept. Kennedy explained that leadership is not easy. Leadership is a responsibility (Coach Whalen talked about this when he came in to speak) and leaders don’t have to know everything, but they have to be able to work with what they have. Good leaders inspire hope in people who have no hope in life. Leaders make their team members, constituents, or Kenyans in Kennedy’s case feel like they own the movement. They give them that purpose.

“What you dream is what you get” Kennedy said. Where Kennedy comes from there is no dream of college. Wesleyan has become a family to him. He described that what is great about America is that when people in the United States grow up in poverty and find success they are a hero. Where Kennedy comes from this is almost impossible. He didn’t understand this phenomenon, the American Dream if you will, where Americans appreciate the struggle that you went through to achieve success. What makes Wesleyan great he says is that you don’t know anyone’s class. In fact, if you are different they celebrate it here.

Kennedy wants to go across Africa and give hope to women. He wants to give them purpose. I think he gave all 15 of us a story and message that will stick with us forever. I have made friends with people at Wesleyan from around the world, Job (also from Kenya) and Sid from India and I have been blessed with them coming into my life and teaching me. Now I know what Kennedy means when he says that Wesleyan is his family.