A presidential candidate makes an off-the-cuff remark at a private gathering and, voilà, the next day it's the lead story on every news program and website. Then it moves from being an item in the news cycle to a recurring issue in the campaign.
This is just one example of how digital information and the Web have turned the early 21st century into an Age of Transparency.
As a senior executive and public speaker, you need to realize that transparency is an issue for you. As soon as you say it, everyone can know it.
Contrast our time with the opacity of the 20th century. Presidential examples tell the story. Calvin Coolidge was in a deep, clinical depression for the last year of his presidency after his 16-year-old son died. He slept for 14 hours a day. No one knew.
Woodrow Wilson was incapacitated by a stroke in his last year as president. The true scope of his condition was kept secret while his wife and a small circle of advisors ran the country.
As president, Grover Cleveland had a secret, radical cancer operation. A surgeon removed the roof of his mouth. These facts were concealed for 15 years -- until after his death.
John Kennedy had Addison's Disease, a serious, chronic condition that required constant monitoring and strong medication. For public consumption, Kennedy was tanned, fit, and, except for a bad back, the picture of health.
What does this new Age of Transparency mean to you as a speaker?
You've got to tell the truth always -- and do it well. When you can't, don't speak.
When the facts contradict something you've already said, make it right.
Get out in front of bad news. Deliver it yourself and do it fast. When you do this, your transparency is the story. When you keep quiet, your opacity becomes the story.
Because the digital world has changed dramatically in less than a decade, you need to adjust your rhetorical expectations. When you speak, think of your microphone being connected to every computer in the world.
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