Balance the Power

#OnThisDay in 1920, the #19thAmendment was ratified, stating that the right to vote couldn’t be denied based on sex. However, Black women, amongst other marginalized communities, still faced barriers to voting, including waiting hours to register, violence, tests and more. 📸 Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Frances Albrier Collection.

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Sometimes you learn more from #failure than #success. (And it’s nice when other people are illustrating the fail!) In the interests of balancing out the space I devoted to Kamala Harris’ #communications style and substance last week, I started this post to offer a few “what not to do” #tips inspired by the Republican presidential nominee. ( Worth noting: Sarah Neville and I co-authored a piece back in 2016 in which we unpacked Trump's communication effectiveness. It’s linked in the comments below.) But I’m supplementing those tips with some additional “try this” bits inspired by Kamala Harris’ VP pick, Tim Walz. TIP 1. Ambition is valuable, but being a team player may open more doors. Apparently in the run-up to Harris’ decision, Walz explicitly encouraged his new boss NOT to select him if the data didn’t show that he could help her win. By privileging the higher purpose over his own ambitions, he demonstrated the ultimate allyship.  TIP 2. If you want to discredit an opponent, it’s helpful if your attack has some substance. Trump specializes in what’s known as “ad hominen” invective, where he attacks the person (their race, gender, disability, body, spouse, clothing…) rather than their position or policy. Both cheap and intellectually dishonest, such attacks may ignite hard partisans who are already drinking your Kool-aid, but they typically don’t sway the undecided, and are more likely to steel the resolve of your target’s existing supporters. TIP 3. If you want your denigration of another candidate to stick, make your accusation credible. The resume of Harris’ new running mate gives evidence of a rich list of service: military veteran, geography teacher and football coach, Governor of Minnesota. The man is regularly described as affable, plain spoken and relatable. CNN called him “cuddly.” One of his most significant achievements has been to pass legislation ensuring that kids in need would be fed breakfast and lunch at school. This is the kind of program that has been proven to support disadvantaged children and allow them to concentrate better in the classroom. But when the governor was revealed as Kamala Harris’ running mate, Trump roared, “He’ll unleash HELL ON EARTH” (all caps in the original. Obviously.) In defending his record, Walz underlined how ridiculous Trump’s hyperbole was by saying: “What a monster! Kids are eating and having full bellies so they can go learn and women are making their own healthcare decisions.” TIP 4. Your ability to joke about yourself to deflect others’ insults is a communications super-power. When people criticize Walz for appearing older than his 60 years, he says it’s because he supervised the school lunchroom for 20 years. “You do not leave that job with a full head of hair. Trust me.” It reflects well on an adult man when he dresses professionally but doesn’t take his appearance so seriously that he can’t joke about himself. Great photo by Michelle Griffith, Minnesota Reformer

“Please do not wash your feet in the sink” – so read the sign in the washroom. Which made sense, because the facilities were in a yoga studio. It was reasonable to assume that many people using them were flexible enough to accomplish the discouraged task! Physical #flexibility is a valuable quality most of us are gifted with at birth, and gradually lose, unless we work at it. Watching Simone Biles and other gymnasts at the Paris #Olympics is to be reminded of the incredible discipline it takes to not only maintain extraordinary flexibility, but complement it with incredible strength – physical and psychological – in order to compete at that level. So to hear that a man now vying for the Vice Presidency of the United States had denigrated Biles a few years ago for pulling herself out of the Tokyo competition was galling. J.D. Vance has demonstrated his own brand of flexibility, of course. Before kissing Donald Trump’s ring and riding his coattails to the US Senate, and his current VP status, despite an astonishingly thin resume, Vance described his Republican running mate as “America’s Hitler”. If political 180s were an Olympic sport, he’d be a medal contender. So it’s especially telling to juxtapose his comments about the folly of celebrating Biles’ “weakest moment”, against his own unprincipled opportunism. It took enormous strength, not weakness, for Biles to prioritize her health and bow out of the Tokyo competition because her body and mind had fallen out of sync. Witnessing the inspirational gymnast’s triple-gold triumph is even more gratifying in the face of his resurfaced criticism. We desperately need politicians with the capacity to empathize beyond their own limited life experiences. We desperately need women’s realities and insights to be represented in the halls of power where policies are developed and decisions are made. Simone Biles may never run for political office, but if she did, I bet millions of women AND men would step up to cast a vote for someone with her discipline and self-awareness, integrity and courage.

🎉 Congratulations to our EV board member, Francyne Joe, on her nomination as the NDP candidate for BC’s Fraser-Nicola! With two decades of frontline experience and a history of advocacy throughout Canada, Francyne has championed economic development, the environment, housing, and more. She is also a prominent voice in combatting violence against Indigenous women. We are incredibly proud and excited for Francyne. Your voice will be missed on our board! #Fraser-Nicola #BCelection #BCpoli #EqualVoice #RepresentationMatters

It was a riveting moment that resonated with every woman who has ever been interrupted, ignored or shut down: "I'm speaking," Kamala Harris calmly but forcefully repeated, when Mike Pence kept talking over her during the 2020 Vice Presidential debate. Now she's up against a much more formidable opponent and so much more is at stake. What can we learn from her communications style, and how will it serve her over the next crucial four months? Join us August 1st at noon EST for a one-hour webinar as we discuss her strengths and vulnerabilities -- in contrast to both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton -- how they might inform your own strategies, and influence the outcome of the upcoming US election. Link to event page appears in comment below. All funds generated will support a bursary fund that makes our practical skill-building workshops accessible to under-represented and under-served women and gender-diverse people whose voices need to be heard.

Leadership means putting your organization’s interest ahead of your own. Joe Biden has just done that, and the world, not just his party, owes him respect and gratitude. Anxious about the state of American politics, I have significantly increased the amount of time I invest in reading The New York Times. So last week, I read an op ed by organizational psychologist Adam Grant, titled “The Reason People Are Not Telling Biden the Truth”.  He wrote: “The root causes of silence are… fear and futility. People bite their tongues when they doubt that’s safe and worthwhile to speak up. Leaders who want to make informed decisions need to make it clear they value candid input.” I’ve been writing columns and op eds for almost 30 years, and through Informed Opinions, teaching others how to do so for 15. Grant’’s commentary is a textbook demonstration of the form and its value. He addresses a timely issue that people are already talking about, but provides a uniquely relevant perspective that I hadn’t seen elsewhere. His writing is clear and engaging, conversational in tone but no less authoritative for that. He builds a compelling case for his central argument regarding the importance of leaders inviting critical feedback, bolstering every point with evidence (often hyperlinked) to support his claims. He also does something I recommend to every participant in our #thoughtleadership workshops: he provides concrete #solutions for the issue he’s unpacking. This is an under-appreciated virtue. The world is full of critics – armchair and otherwise. Opposition benches in every parliament around the world delight in focusing on the problems, gleefully pointing out what’s wrong and blaming it on the folks in power, even when that blame is not deserved. What’s desperately needed in our deeply-challenged world, however, are solutions. And Grant goes so far as to draft a “truth-to-power” statement that, based on his understanding of a significant body of research, is likely to be effective. I don’t know if the interventions made this past week by Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer and Barack Obama were informed by Grant’s op ed. What I do know is that if you’re going to use the form to direct attention to something you know and care about, it’s really smart to deliver some concrete take-aways that give readers the opportunity to make change for the better. In the meantime, I also salute Biden's #leadership in explicitly endorsing the extraordinarily capable and articulate Kamala Harris to succeed him. Like him, she has the ability to lead with integrity and heart. (One last thing: Everyone who cares about #evidence-based decision-making and the future of #democracy should subscribe to a journalistic source that fact-checks what it publishes and employs respected and credible analysts to provide commentary.)