Yesterday here I picked on the pathologically vulnerable. Today, I turn the shadelight on myself, and everybody like me.
I’m founder and convener of the Professional Speechwriters Association, the Executive Communication Council and the Higher Education Leadership Communication Council. So I guess you have to say I’m a professional people connector.
I hate hearing myself (frequently) telling someone they ought to connect with someone else because “she’s terrific” or “he’s a great guy.”
Let’s list the presumptions that go into a statement like that (statements that I make all the time):
I myself am terrific and great, because if I wasn’t, how could I anoint others, to you?
You are also terrific and great, because if you weren’t why would I be talking to you at all, let alone hooking you up with another member of the Terrific and Great Club? Of which, as I mentioned, I’m the founder and convener.
What is terrific greatness? It’s whatever you and I think it is, overwhelmingly heavily weighted toward the cozily sinister: our kind of people.
My dad had a hotshot friend in advertising in the 1960s who used to tell him, “Stick with me, Tommy, and you’ll be farting through silk!”
That was meant to be funny. And yet, it’s a version of what I’m telling people when I go around talking about who’s terrific and great.
I try to force myself to say what’s so terrific about her, or great about him. But do feel free, if you find yourself on the other end of the call, to ask. Because I’d like to become a little less presumptuous—and a little more of a great guy.
Join us next week, when we take up people who are always telling people about all the people they know who are “brilliant.”
Leave a Reply