Stick to the Script, Mr. President
War requires discipline both on the battlefield and the podium
Watching our President struggle with the aftermath of several poorly worded and ill-timed utterances over the weekend — what are politely called “gaffes” in mixed company — evoked a little bit of empathy. You know what they say about not shooting the messenger, but in this case a little nick on the shoulder might be called for. Uncle Joe not only needed better-crafted messages, but also a lot more discipline in delivering them.
In short order, the President indicated that NATO may retaliate with chemical weapons if Russia uses them in a first strike in Ukraine; that U.S. troops may soon be deployed in Ukraine; and in what was widely viewed as an endorsement of regime change, said that Putin “cannot remain in power.”
The media, of course, is having a field day with it. The administration has had to walk back the remarks and, in the case of the Putin comment, walk back the walkback. NATO leaders have expressed dismay. The Kremlin has been disquietingly quiet.
There are lots of ways to put these remarks in context and get back on track. The latest and best explanation of the remark about Putin’s hold on power is that the President was simply expressing his “moral outrage” at what is happening in Ukraine. Who does not feel the same level of moral outrage? Moreover, who doesn’t agree with that sentiment outside of Russia and a few sycophant states?
But, in an important sense, that’s not the point. It wasn’t so much the meaning of the remarks as their impact. In the midst of a pan-European crisis with global ramifications, you don’t want to spend precious time explaining, walking back, or otherwise clearing the air about unintended meanings. Particularly when a certain party is sitting on 5,997 nuclear warheads.
Somebody needs to have a serious pep talk with the President about messaging, and more important, about message discipline. In conflicts like this, messaging is a powerful and critical weapon. Just ask Lincoln, Churchill, Roosevelt or Reagan.
When I had the privilege of running corporate affairs at a Fortune 10 company, the central function of the job was finding ways to communicate the company’s point of view in ways that would benefit the business — how it was run, how it could bring new projects on line, how profitable it was. That always started with creating a message.
It wasn’t easy, I’m not gonna lie to you. Messaging isn’t something you just make up. It has to be credible, and in the age of armchair fact-checkers you better make sure your facts are true (Kellyanne Conway once floated the idea of “alternative facts,” but that justifiably suffered a crash landing). It has to be compelling; in the age of ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder), good messaging has to find a way to cut through the clutter. Finally, good messaging has to be memorable. Messaging is a means to an end, so if it’s quickly forgotten its utility vanishes.
Good messaging can be a few words or a few pages. It has to be adaptable, easily applied verbally, across social media, print and broadcast advertising, or through third parties. Doing both of these things — developing and deploying messaging — requires discipline, of which our President could use a little more.
In my job, we were always looking for opportunities to use our most effective messenger, our CEO. After one engagement, where he had a conversation with a respected business journalist before a group of influential people, I was walking to dinner with the journalist.
“Your guy was amazing,” he said. “He never went off message no matter what I threw at him.”
“Well, the thing about him,” I replied, “is that he says what he believes and he believes what he says.”
And he had a lot of discipline.
Like any good professional communications function, we ran a lot of “murder boards” with people representing the company in high-profile situations. We’d huddle together with our key messages and then simulate a Q-and-A, trying to throw the subject off course. Sort of like doing a few wind sprints before a big race, or taking a few practice swings over the golf ball. You’ve got to find a groove and stick to it.
Unfortunately, when President Biden went off script, he didn’t do it innocuously; his statements were like verbal cluster bombs with a long string of detonations. It wasn’t as if he got his messages confused; he simply made them up out of whole cloth. His director of communications, Kate Bedingfield, must have been eating Pepcid like they were Pez.
But the bigger gaffe, to appropriate the word of the day, was the lack of discipline that opened the door to the remarks in the first place. The stakes are very high right now and discipline is required everywhere, from the battlefield to the podium. It’s one thing if you’re jawboning with the press about budget reconciliation, but quite another when civilians are dying and millions of people are being displaced.
Regardless of what you thought of Obama’s politics, he was a master of message discipline. One of the few times he strayed was when somebody asked if he’d consider having a beer with his legislative nemesis, Mitch McConnell. “Why don’t you get a drink with Mitch,” he sneered back. It was funny because it was inconsequential (please note that Mitch’s wife didn’t run up and slap Obama in front of everyone). President Biden’s statements were very consequential, hence the constant chatter, walkbacks and contextualizing ever since.
I don’t mean to pile on here, but this is important. For the foreseeable future, every leader involved in the Ukraine crisis must be clear-eyed, focused and disciplined. These are extraordinary times calling for extraordinary responses. It isn’t a time for emotional, off-the-cuff remarks that catalyze unintended consequences. One of the primary objectives of messaging at a time like this is to minimize ambiguity and maximize confidence. The President did neither over the weekend in Poland and Brussels.
Good messaging is hard, Mr. President, but we know you can do it. Now’s the time to tighten your belt, read your notes, practice your delivery and stick to the script. You can vent when you get home. For now, you’ve got a job to do.
A great tutorial on messaging. It brings back too many memories… good and bad! .
Russ that was a great assessment of "gaffes", and Biden is an expert! I liked your analogies using your work experiences. I wasn't quite up to your level in the business world, but I practiced what I believed in and believed in what I practiced. Through my work years I was complimented for my honest, straight talk, even by the unions who I often battled.