A few weeks ago, I was at a company sponsored event where the speaker was Frank Luntz. At first I nearly boycotted the presentation because of what he represents. I yielded due to curiosity.
Frank started his presentation with the following quote: "Americans don’t trust anything anymore," and I nearly spit my drink out. Really? We don’t trust anyone or anything because schmucks like him twist language into nice sounding but meaningless phrases that market and sell well.
He comes to the podium wearing his ill-fitting suit and trademark running shoes. He looks weathered and tired.
The reason he was there was to teach us "Words that Work." You see, I work for a Wall Street firm (I’m always the token liberal) and we need to speak in a language that will earn back our client’s trust.
Frank taught us to use words like:
- Accountability
- Fierce integrity "we don’t screw around when it comes to integrity"
- Respect
- Independent
- Measurable Results
It was so hard to sit still while he spoke because he’d constantly make these side comments to illustrate a point that would take aim at the current president and his administration. Then, to be "balanced" he’d tell an off-color joke about Bush or something. It was nauseating.
Ultimately, I did get to ask him a question, but it was about the data he was presenting. He tried to make it seem like people are so unhappy – now (as if it was Obama’s fault). So I challenged him on how that metric had changed in the past decades. To his credit, he answered that the number was actually up (less unhappy) from previous times, but he was misleading us by not disclosing the trend. He caught on to my unspoken message and made another joke at Obama’s expense.
That’s when I collected my things and left the room.
Many years ago, when I went to a similar event for my same company, the featured speaker was recently retired General Tommy Franks. He had yet to be discredited. I was the only one in the room who didn’t give him a standing ovation. I can only hope that Frank Luntz follows in General Frank’s footsteps and becomes someone discredited as well.