Lessons From David's JCOC Trip: A Clever Public-Speaking Tip From the Officer Corps
The Joint Civilian Orientation Conference is a Department of Defense program designed to give a few dozen non-military members a deeperunderstanding of the U.S. Armed Forces. In this week'sRule Breaker Investingpodcast, David Gardner is ready to reflect on the lessons of his trip.Watching senior officers speak to his group, he noticed a habit among them that he thinks everyone who has to answer complex questions should consider adopting.
A transcript follows the video.
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This video was recorded on Aug. 31, 2016.
David Gardner:
I mentioned earlier that I wanted to give you a public speaking Q&A best practice. I saw this happen a few times, and I think, in particular, of Lt. Col. Joseph Shusko (who I mentioned last week, who teaches the Marines martial arts), but I also saw it in Gen. Kenneth Tovo, who is in charge of the United States of America Special Operations command. Both of them would do this every time they answered a question.
They would say, "Did that answer your question? Great." And the next person would ask, "Did that answer your question? Good." Every single time asking at the end of a Q&A, "Did that answer your question?" Giving the person who had asked the question opportunity to say, "No, not quite."
Imagine if this ever happened on television, when everything from politicians to CEOs are being asked questions on a regular basis. They're regularly not answering the question. Of course, they would therefore not at the end of their answer say, "Did that answer your question?" Imagine what a better world it would be from a public discourse standpoint if everybody did what I saw the military leaders regularly do, which is at the end of every A, to every Q, to ask simply, "Did that work for you? Did that do it? Awesome."
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