I spent most of my business life in sales and marketing and devoted significant amounts of time to any and all things that could enhance my job performance. In time, I'd amassed such vast amounts of useful information I eventually wrote a book on the subject, published by the American Management Association.
One of the things that became extremely clear to me early on was that you could learn considerably about those you dealt with simply through observation. Just watching others function gave you all kinds of insight regarding their habits, characteristics, attitude, likes, dislikes, style, personality, and certainly -job performance. You can gain huge amounts of insight by merely paying attention to how folks act, conduct themselves and perform, regardless of anything they may tell you. And, in reality, all that counts is what they actually do, not whatever it is they espouse.
And that brings us back to our president. He spends considerable time making public appearances and particularly, droning on in drivel-filled rhetoric that's exceptionally boring, and does so more often than any incumbent I can remember. But, since I don't tune in anyhow, it means little to me, it's simply an observation. Nonetheless, I do read short recaps of whatever it is he says.
And one of the things I've noticed is that lately he's made a number of embarrassing gaffes in very important forums. One was in a national speech in Oregon where he said: “Over the last 15 months, we’ve traveled to every corner of the United States. I’ve now been in 57 states. I think one's left to go.” Then, last May he claimed "In case you missed it, this week, there was a tragedy in Kansas. Ten thousand people died — an entire town destroyed.” Yet, the actual death toll was 12.
His most recent error occurred while praising the troops from the 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum, NY, saying "I had the great honor of seeing some of you because a comrade of yours, Jared Monti, was the first person who I was able to award the Medal of Honor to who actually came back and wasn't receiving it posthumously." However, Monti was, in fact, killed in 2006 and Mr. Obama posthumously awarded him the Medal of Honor in 2009 in a White House ceremony with his parents.
Now, while the gaffes themselves are inappropriate and embarrassing, especially so for someone in the lofty position of President of the United States, I think they carry a much more important message. Because, in relation to my subject for today, I thing the errors don't mean so much as simple mistakes, I think they're saying much more. I think they reflect that the president doesn't care a whit about what he says, and is simply going through mindless motions whenever he speaks.
On the other hand, what does count is what he does. And in that regard, no matter whatever it is that the president spouts, we can all see the results. And, step by step, speeches or not, the whole country's quickly going down the proverbial chute.
That's it for today folks.
Adios
No comments:
Post a Comment