Next Level Communicators and Public Tragedies
Next Level Communicators and Public Tragedies
Note: This post in no way is about my position on the death of Charlie Kirk. Instead, my remarks are meant to help us as communicators responsibly steward strategic moments for the good of our hearers. I only use Charlie Kirk’s death as a current example of a tragic moment.
On the evening of April 4th, 1968, Robert Kennedy received the news of Martin Luther King’s assassination. Kennedy was on a plane headed to Indianapolis, just a few weeks into his bid to seize the Democratic nomination for President, and a few months from his own tragic death. Shaken by the news, Bobby scribbled some notes, and listened to his advisors caution him about security and political concerns. A few moments later he was standing on the back of a flatbed truck where- and this is hard to grasp in our social media age where everyone gets news instantaneously- he delivered the news of King’s killing to a shocked crowd. After a few moments, Kennedy said, “You can be filled with bitterness, with hatred, and a desire for revenge…tempted to be filled with hatred and distrust at the injustice of such an act against all white people. I can only say that I feel in my own heart the same kind of feeling. It’s perhaps well to ask what kind of a nation we are and what direction we want to move in. We can move in that direction as a country, in greater polarization…filled with hatred toward one another. What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence and lawlessness, but is love, and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or whether they be black.” And then, drawing on his own brother’s death, and the inauguration of 1960 which inspired so much hope among many in our nation, Bobby Kennedy finished, “When I think of all the things that have happened since that snowy inauguration day in January [1960], I like to think our role has been the one that is suggested in an old Greek saying: ‘To tame the savageness of man, make gentle the life of the world.’”
Like Bobby Kennedy, next level communicators will find themselves in the unenviable position of putting words to very tragic moments- like the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s assassination- in a way that comforts and points people forward. We won’t need to seek these events out; they have a way of finding us. So how do we as communicators steward these moments? I have found the following to be helpful:
1. Don’t craft in isolation. Bobby Kennedy found himself surrounded by advisors, and solicited their thoughts when MLK died, and in the same way we need to include trusted advisors around us as we are thinking through what to say. Proverbs 11:14 says, “…in an abundance of counselors there is safety.” I would specifically suggest gathering together a group of mature and diverse advisors who represent the different ways people will tend to hear what’s being said. The diversity should include class, gender and race.
2. Don’t shoot from the hip. I don’t care how experienced you are as a communicator, if ever there was a case for writing out and internalizing your careful words, it’s in these kinds of moments. You should be emotional, and your audience should feel this from you. But an abundance of emotions paired with a deficit of pre-planned words will almost always result in carelessness, offense and confusion. Think it through. Write it down. Commit to memory.
3. Be careful, not emotionless. Yes, I want you to be very careful and clear with your words, but not to the point where you come across as stoic. Tragedy should move us.
4. Lectures are for classes, not funerals. Remember the communication pyramid I’ve made mention of? Level 2 is facts, and level four is feeling. It’s never good to immediately meet people’s grief with an appeal to the facts. Standing on the back of the truck, Bobby Kennedy did not tell people to pause their judgments because they didn’t know the who or the why of the killer. No, his tone and demeanor was one which matched their grief.
5. Leverage silence. Next level communicators don’t fill the air with words, but understand one of their greatest tools is silence. For some of you that means calling people to prayer. For others who are in environments where prayer is frowned on, inviting people to a moment of silence and reflection also creates a space for lament and grief. It’s always good to provide these moments.
6. Stay in your lane. Our role as communicators is to primarily comfort, and then to provide some clarity for our people. Unless you are a politician, police officer or other kind of public servant, you should stay out of the policy lane. What this means is while we should talk with great feeling about the school shooting, those moments are not helped by a rant on what we think about gun control. And for many, when we venture out of the communicating comfort lane, and into the policy lane, we will fail at both.
7. Be courageous. Can I encourage you with something? No matter how much you do the previous six, you will disappoint people who felt as if you should have talked about policy, or lectured one particular side and their perceived shortcomings, or not talked about the tragedy at all. You may even email me complaining about something I said or didn’t say in this post. This is not for the faint of heart. Give both yourself, and the people who complain grace.
What I am reading:
The Very Good Gospel, Lisa Sharon Harper.
