Where are the Great Women Orators?

Turning over my keyboard this week to ZMF colleauge Bill Grimes. Who would make your list of great female orators? Comment below and let us hear your list. Talk to you soon ... TZ

There are, and have been, great orators who happen to be women; Susan B. Anthony, Margaret Thatcher, Barbara Jordan, Hillary Clinton, to name a few. But male orators, past and present, far outnumber the women. Historian Philip Gavin’s Great Speeches Collection lists sixty-five speeches – three were given by women. University of Texas at Tyler Communications Professor Michael Eidenmuller’s list of the 100 greatest speeches has a better ratio than Gavin’s, but still just twenty-one were delivered by women.

Poll your friends and you will likely find what I did. Out of thirty-seven “great speakers” named by a dozen friends, two were women. Even most of the women named all men.

Under “Orator” in Wikipedia you will find that “the leading Roman families often sent their sons” to study under Greek masters. Why not their daughters? The great Greek philosophers – Aristotle, Socrates, Plato – were all of the male persuasion. This predilection for testosterone over estrogen continued for hundreds of years. Betty Rizzo, author of “Male Oratory and Female Prate” wrote, “Throughout the eighteenth century, while male rhetoric was almost universally, perhaps unprecedentedly, valued and studied, women’s silence was almost universally commended, recommended, and virtually enforced.”

The recognition of women orators lags that of racial minorities. The inspirational leaders of the Civil Rights Movement such as Martin Luther King fed off a Black religious tradition of several centuries. Max Atkinson, author of “Our Master’s Voices,” says there were no such obvious models for females leading into the women’s movement.”

The lack of women orators also boils down to the standard obstacles: familiarity, custom, preference for a deep voice, and sexism. You can’t dismiss the fact that most of the lists of great speeches were made by men.

Bill Grimes is a communication professional with more than thirty years of experience, the last eighteen of which have been at ZMF. His expertise as a communication consultant is built upon more than fifteen years as a broadcast journalist. Bill is frequently invited to speak about persuasive communication, media training and media crisis management.

Lie To Me

I'm back .. thanks for being patient while I was away ... interested to hear what you have to say about this topic. Theresa

Yesterday, my son lied to me, my business partner lied to me, my manfriend lied to me and a client lied to me (those are the ones I know for sure.) I am hoping that this was an unusual day. But the more I learn about our capacity to lie, the more I believe this happens to each of us every day, more than we would like to know. Research suggests that people lie approximately three times within 10 minutes of meeting someone new. In fact, one article I read last year suggested “we probably engage in 1,000 lies and deceptions in a day” (if you include non-verbal deceptions).

None of the lies I was told were malicious. Of the four untruths, two were told to self-protect, one to protect my feelings. The motivation for the remaining fib is still a mystery that will probably unfold at a later date. I was always good at recognizing when I was not getting the whole truth. But now I am obsessed with determining truth or lie. My mind is filled with “why does he want to know, what did she mean by that, what is the real reason he called, what is her real opinion” and on and on and on.

So, I don’t want therapy…write back and tell me what is your personal favorite tool for telling if someone is lying to you. Is it eye dilation, fidgeting, sweating, ums and ahs? Or do you have something unique to share? And don’t lie to me…..I will know.

Tattoo This

Hello Readers - ZMFer Alan Tuerkheimer is filling in with a guest blog for me since I have spent more time on airplanes than on laptops recently. Talk soon! Warmly, Theresa

Who here thinks about the 1981 Rolling Stones album “Tattoo You” upon hearing the word “Tattoo” 28 years later? Probably not many. Probably not even the members of the Rolling Stones who released that album nearly three decades ago. Back in the ‘80s, my association with “Tattoo” was that album. Since then, society has undergone a rapid transformation from a time when tattoos were the exclusive body design of felons, Hell’s Angels, and seriously rebellious teens. Nowadays, you don’t even have to look carefully to see how mainstream tattoos have become and how many people you would never expect to have them, have them. Men in Armani suits, middle-age women, professionals, salespeople, appellate lawyers, real young, real old, real educated, real uneducated, the list goes on and on and on.

A study in The Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology showed that about 24% of Americans between the ages of 18 and 50 have at least one tattoo, and that 36% of those between 18 and 29 have a tattoo.

So what exactly does having a tattoo mean? Is it purely symbolic? Why do people decide to permanently burn a display onto their skin? And of those, how many regret doing it later in life (or 20 minutes later)? Is there significance to where on someone’s body it is? Surely where and what it is means something. Answers to these questions get at the overarching question of what do tattoos communicate? Since communication is a two-way street, we have to look at what the person with the tattoo wants to convey, or more accurately what he or she is conveying, and what the person looking at it interprets the tattoo to mean.

My psychologist friend thinks that those with tattoos covering their entire body have a fear of forming and sustaining attachments to others. Many people will shun someone full of tattoos, so tattoos all over someone’s face and body typically serve as a barrier to anything deeper than superficial personal interaction. However, those who can look past the shell of tattoos are less likely to turn away from that person once they penetrate through the wall of tattoos.

One quick note, I personally agree with NY Times columnist David Brooks who feels that, while there are exceptions, most people who have tattoos thought they were unique and doing something only few others were doing. However, now, they are realizing all they have done is something incredibly mainstream, non-rebellious and non-individualistic. Since many people initially got tattoos thinking they would be making a statement and were being rebellious, it is ironic that now only the truest of non-conformists seem not to have tattoos.

So I decided to give it a shot and ask people their thoughts. Here are some of the consistent thematic responses my question generated. Remember, I just asked what people think of tattoos and what they think of people who have them.

• Tattoos are fine if they are tactful.
• People are trying to satisfy some internal desire to take a walk on the wild side/be naughty while being able to keep it hidden when desired.
• If you get one, I hear you want another.
• If you get one, people regret getting them.
• They make people feel special, unique, powerful.
• It is a 'tramp stamp' for women and for men they want to impress people (i.e., with the “look at my biceps burst through barbed wire” tattoo).
• It is a statement. Not sure what. Depends on tattoo.

Interestingly, people often go into personal stories about their own tattoos, as if an excuse or story is necessary to justify the ink. For example, someone who knows someone who got a tattoo and then a month later broke up with the person who inspired them to get it in the first place. Drunken stories about people getting tattoos and then having mixed reactions the very next day abound. Many of the people asked also took on a defensive posture when answering the question, as if the question itself seems to search for criticism of people who have tattoos. The point is that similar to many topics, there is an array of opinions about and experience with tattoos that makes it difficult to generalize what is communicated by having one. Other than the situation and venue (i.e., bar versus job interview) what will help determine what a tattoo communicates is a) what the tattoo is, b) the relationship of the people communicating, c) any incongruity with the tattoo and the person, and d) the range of attitudes people hold about tattoos in general.

Alan Tuerkheimer, M.A., J.D. utilizes his background in psychology and law as a litigation consultant for ZMF. His experience conducting jury research has given him an in-depth understanding of people’s attitudes, biases and decision-making processes. He is highly sought-after due to his ability to deliver solutions that bridge the communication gap between trial team and jury. Alan earned his J.D. from the University of Wisconsin Law School and completed his graduate and undergraduate work in Psychology from Connecticut College and University of Wisconsin, respectively.

More Thoughtless Communication

Maybe my age is showing with my increased sensitivity to insensitivity. President Richard Levin of Yale was quoted in the New York Times this morning saying that he wrote an email to the Yale community stating “our hearts go out to Annie Le’s family, fiancé and friends, who must suffer the additional ordeal of waiting for the body to be identified.”

For you regulars, you may recall a few weeks ago when I blasted a local industrial company for "announcing" a death as if it were a second moon landing. Could President Levin have found more appropriate language than "the body"? What pray tell is his training? Apparently not sensitivity.

Let me hear from every non-Ivy League educated reader (not that there is anything wrong with that) with a better version of the message he should have sent.

What’s in a Face?

Another guest post this week from fellow ZMFer Eliza Shepherd ...

In a previous post, Theresa discussed the growing inquiry about the hit television show on Fox called “Lie to Me.” What makes the show so intriguing is that it is based off the work of Dr. Paul Ekman, a world-renown face reading expert and “human lie detector.” Through his research, Dr. Ekman found that “micro-expressions” (brief facial expressions) can reveal true emotions a person may be trying to conceal, such as deceit. Dr. Ekman’s work illustrates just how powerful and integral nonverbal cues are in communicating effectively. Consider the following:

1. The most successful communicators are masters of emotional intelligence.
   
2. Processing of nonverbal facial cues occurs without our conscious awareness, and when the cues are brought to our attention, we cannot ignore them.
   
3. A mere 100 millisecond exposure to a face is sufficient enough to form specific trait judgments about an individual.
   
4. This rapid and unconscious processing of morphological cues makes physiognomy a potent component in first impressions.
   
5. Facial appearances of competence predict candidate electability. Todorov, Mandisodza, Goren, and Hall (2005) found that inferences of competence based from facial appearance accurately predicted the outcomes in U.S. Congressional election 68.8% of the time.
   
6. Remember, estimates suggest that 80% of communication is nonverbal. Nonverbal cues, whether they are facial expressions, posture, tone, or eye contact etc., are more important than the words you use.

Take this test to discover how good you are at reading facial expressions.

Eliza Shepherd combines her background in Psychology with practical research experience in impression management, group decision making, nonverbal communication and leadership in her role as Associate Consultant. Shepherd lends her expertise in research design and analysis to ZMF’s jury research projects nationwide, including focus groups, mock trials, post-trial interviews, zOpinions (online surveys), and venue attitudes surveys.

Article on Gender Roles in Business

Once again, I am honored to be quoted in new article on MSN about gender roles in business.

Click here to read:

http://bit.ly/iRMLF

However, I take issue with a fellow contributor's quote. Mr. Flett's advice not to flirt may or may not be sound advice. I am, however, anxious to pick up his book to determine whether he gives men the same advice. In nearly 30 years as a professional businesswoman, the only businessman I've seen who doesn't flirt is a dead one. I'll be investigating this further and will follow-up with you; I also may decide to take the dialogue to Twitter.
_________________

FOLLOW-UP:
So, I decided to take my concern about Mr. Flett's advice to Twitter. Here's our exchange:

From me (@tzagnoli) to @ghostceo:
"Fellow contributor on MSN's gender story, but I take issue w/ your quote. Couldn't find comment area, so thought I'd tweet u. .... Your advice not to flirt may or may not be sound advice. I haven't read your book (yet!), but do you give men the same advice?"

From @ghostceo to me:
"I do. The double edged sword is...men can do it and be laughed off as dorks; women are considered slutty. Unfair? Yes."

From me to @ghostceo:
"So let's don't perpetuate the divide. Let's give the girls/women some rules. Slutty clothes - no. Flowing hair - no. Come hither nonverbals - no. A smile, a well placed wink, compliment, pout - maybe. I am sure you could do much better than this short list. It is easier to teach someone how to do something then to tell them to stop, knowing the advice will get ignored way too often. Yes?"

Still waiting on his response, but what say you? Do you think flirting is acceptable in for men and women ... if so, by who and when?

Welcome New Readers from U of C!

Last Thursday, I was honored to guest lecture the Power and Influence in Organizations class at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. I thoroughly enjoy teaching the class and as usual, Dr. Tanya Menon is an incredible host. Her class always provides me a great opportunity to share my expertise, while giving me insight and ideas along the way to use in future classes.

Welcome to everyone from the class – hope you find this blog useful in your continued studies. Let me know if there is a particular communication conundrum or topic you are interested in and I will try to address it in an upcoming blog. Or, if you are part of the growing twittering world, start following me and we can exchange ideas there as well. My username is @tzagnoli.

Thanks again for visiting – look forward to talking with you soon!Theresa