I have been fortunate to have Joel Roberts as a mentor during the last few months. You may not have heard of him, but he spent ten years as a popular radio host for KABC in Los Angeles with over 250,000 listeners. After a speaker system malfunction at an event, he lost the hearing in one ear and as a result, he was not able to continue on the radio. Joel is now coaching entrepreneurs on creating an impactful and concise message.
Joel is a brilliant interviewer with a keen wit, incredible insights and has a trait that is often missing in the media arena today…he is an outstanding critical thinker.
He started our training session this evening with a rant about the travesty of the recent media coverage of the results in Iowa. He panned his former colleagues for their misplaced and intentional influence on the direction of the election. The intermission between the Democratic and Republican debates last Sunday allowed a window to ask informal questions of the Republican candidates. The moderator asked the Republican candidates to rate Barack Obama’s performance. Although the candidates panned Obama, there was little said about the other candidates. The underlying message – Barack is the man to beat. Joel’s additional take – it could be perceived as political underwriting of Obama by the network.
Joel also noted the media spin on the results of the Iowa vote, as well as the poll of less than 400 people in New Hampshire, as an indicator of Obama as the ultimate victor in the Democratic Party as well as the entire election. As he said, those two states with a total population of approximately 4,000,000 have 1/17th of the voters as his home state of California. It would be wrong to assume that a small percentage of the population represents the entire US.
When I first heard Joel speak, he wowed the crowd with his incredible presence. His core message was that no one will listen to you unless they see, feel and hear your authentic humanity. Joel’s authentic humanity resonates with his audience. Although Hillary is a brilliant woman, her lack of visible humanity may seal her fate. Hillary should hire Joel if she wants to win.
I am not usually vocal about the elections and I have not made a decision about my vote at this point. However, I do feel strongly that people must become educated about the candidates and make their own decisions instead of using shortcuts of following other people in positions of influence.
One of the best books I read last year was Robert Cialdini’s book on influence. It is provocative and scary. I highly recommend reading this book before you buy a car or listen to the media. It exposes the tactics of people in positions of influence and reinforces the need for universal free thinking.
Thank you for your indulgence – this is definitely not about interior design. I will leave future political comments to my very bright, insightful husband who is also one of the best critical thinkers and writers that I’ve ever known. He, by the way, doesn’t get caught up in all the hype, and so too hasn’t made a final decision.
