Made you look…

Have you noticed on CNN these days (and most of the other cable news channels) that the “Breaking News” tag is flashed across the screen ALOT and it often pertains to something that happened hours ago. Isn’t breaking news supposed to be, well, breaking, as in happening right now? I guess not anymore as the networks work to sensationalize anything to capture eyeballs.

How does this apply to you? Do not say the sky is falling unless it is, in fact, falling. Employees will see through you very quickly and you will lose credibility which will make you less effective.

Speak the truth, as much of it as possible, as often as possible. Use discretion but don’t use hyperbole and hysteria. Employees may respond, this time, but the next time you resort to such tactics they may not respond.

When I see the “breaking news” tag on the bottom of the TV screen now, I don’t even look. You want your employees to look and listen. You need them to if you are to be of maximum effectiveness.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 7th, 2009 at 3:12 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.