The unfortunate consequences of using marketing speak and saying words you don’t truly believe in.
Watch Michael Bay’s appearance here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23ypkgYO4Rc
Read more thoughts on the art of communicating week-daily at https://michaelgerharz.com/blog
Transcript
A couple of years back, director Michael Bay had
Michael:one of the most devastating performances on a big stage ever.
Michael:In a Samsung press conference, he totally lost it.
Michael:It was heartbreaking to watch.
Michael:He lost it so thoroughly that his lizard brain kicked in with a flight reaction.
Michael:He literally fled the stage after about a minute into his appearance.
Michael:What had happened?
Michael:Bay was supposed to endorse Samsung's new curved TV sets.
Michael:Apparently, he had been instructed to just read the text from the teleprompter.
Michael:But he missed a line.
Michael:So he got off script and tried to improvise.
Michael:But he totally failed to do so which made him feel so embarrassed that his
Michael:lizard brain commanded him to hide from further embarrassment and leave the stage.
Michael:Looking at the scene once again, it makes sense.
Michael:Bay was trying to act as if he cared for the TV sets saying words he didn't believe
Michael:in on a cause he didn't believe in.
Michael:He really didn't care.
Michael:It wasn't his words.
Michael:It was the marketing departments words.
Michael:It wasn't his cause.
Michael:It was Samsung’s.
Michael:And that's why he really couldn't improvise.
Michael:Since he had nothing to say, he didn't know how to say it.
Michael:Well, while that's certainly an extreme example, it's a similar pattern that
Michael:we can observe with lots of leaders who feel uncomfortable on a big stage.
Michael:It's when they have to say words that someone told them sound good rather than
Michael:say words that truly matter to them.
Michael:The Bay effect is what happens when you try to use marketing speak that
Michael:makes things sound cool rather than speak about the things that actually
Michael:are cool in words that are truly yours
Michael:. Once I change this for my clients, time
Michael:they start to feel comfortable speaking about the things that matter to them in
Michael:front of even the largest of audiences.