Best Point makers

Below the Waterline

In remarks before the Human Resources Professional Association of Ontario titled "Empowerment: Myth or Reality," Michele Darling, executive vice president, CIBC, human resources, uses an analogy to illustrate her point about allowing employees greater latitude for making decisions... and making mistakes:

"The W.L. Gore Company in the United States uses another analogy to reinforce the concept of boundaries and risk with their `Waterline Principle.'

"Imagine an organization as a ship sailing on the ocean. All of the personnel on board, in carrying out their responsibilities, are obviously cognizant that putting a hole in the side of the ship is not a desirable thing to do!

"When working above the waterline, however, making a mistake and creating a hole in the side of the ship will have no serious consequences. We'll have the time to repair the hole, learn and sail on.

"Below the waterline, an action that creates a hole could quite literally, sink us.

"I know we can all think of examples in our companies and in our careers that help illustrate the point. One of the most powerful examples I can think of is the Tylenol scare that seized the entire continent in the early 80s. The entire management team at Johnson & Johnson was clearly working at the waterline. And knowing the risks, they first consulted their company values to establish the boundary, or waterline, below which they would not work. Second, empowered teams across the organization were formed to break down the issue and contribute equally to the decision that would ultimately result in removing Tylenol from every shelf in North America.

"Ownership of the problem was broad-based, the decision was a courageous affirmation of the company's commitment to its customers and values.

"What could have been a fatal blow to the brand actually served to generate high trust in the ethics of the corporation and a gain in market share."

Expert Testimony

An example based on a novel and unexpected source with a darkly humorous twist helps to dramatize a point about progress in the reduction of auto emissions. Adding to the effectiveness are the two preceding examples involving more conventional instances that help set up the climax (from remarks titled "The Elusive Electric Vehicle," by Robert J. Eaton, chairman and chief executive officer, Chrysler Corporation, before the Comstock Club in Sacramento):

"Let me give you some idea about how far we've come in cleaning up the automobile.

"If you drove a 1995 Dodge Caravan from here to Carmel, you would put fewer smog-forming emissions into the air than if you drove a 1965 Mustang from here to the State Capitol building!

"If you drove that 1995 Caravan from here to Stockton, you would emit fewer emissions than you would if you left that 65 Mustang parked in the driveway all day long--with the engine turned off!

"And if you really want a testimonial about how clean the modern automobile is, take it from The Hemlock Society. (You know who they are, don't you?)

"In the January 1993 issue of Hemlock Quarterly, members were warned that car exhaust is no longer considered a satisfactory means of self-deliverance.

"Maybe that's why Dr. Kevorkian hasn't been in to see us about a new car lately."

Calamity

In remarks titled "Humor & Speeches" before the Chicago Speechwriters' Forum, speechwriter Eugene Finerman, takes listeners on a rhetorical tour highlighting the use of humor in speeches throughout history. Included in his comments is Disraeli's droll definition of a calamity:

"Disraeli's political rival and comic foil was William Gladstone. Gladstone was a man of great ability and achievements, but even Queen Victoria found him a pompous bore. To quote Disraeli, William Gladstone `has not a single redeeming defect.' This is how Disraeli distinguished between a misfortune and a calamity. `If Mr. Gladstone fell into the Thames, that would be a misfortune; if someone pulled him out, that would be a calamity.' Gladstone was to be Prime Minister for 19 years, while Disraeli stayed at `the top of the greasy pole' for only seven years. Yet, if you were to compare the space that Bartletts assigns to each, you would guess that the quotable Disraeli was the more victorious of the two. From history's perspective, he was. We remember Gladstone for being Disraeli's rival, but we remember Disraeli for himself."

Cost Cutting

"Then there is the true story of Harold Ross who began The New Yorker magazine in 1925. Mr. Ross started the magazine on a limited budget and to keep it in production had to keep a close eye on expenses. Too close, as far as the employees were concerned.

"During these lean years, he hired Dorothy Parker to do an article for the magazine, but she failed to show up for the assignment. He called her and asked why. She said, `Someone else was using the pencil.'"

On History

In "Past and Future: Some Reflections," James R. Houghton, chairman and chief executive officer of Corning Incorporated, at the time several months from retirement, addresses his last senior leadership meeting as chairman and CEO.

His remarks include a review of the company's history and observations on the future, which focus on performance, quality, and the individual. In moving from his introductory remarks to his reflections on company history, Mr. Houghton employs a number of proven devices and techniques including personal, conversational language, contrasts, paired elements, humor, and a quotation:

"Let me indulge in a little historical reflection. The record of the company has been a good one, but I want to take us back, not so much to bask in the glories of past successes, but to help set the stage for tomorrow.

"Now, it's not all that easy to learn real lessons from history-- or from historians. You remember that marvelous variation of Murphy's law, which states that the first rule of history is that `History doesn't repeat itself--historians merely repeat each other.' Or the famous Churchill quote: `History is simply one damned thing after another.'"

Affirmative Action

"An Affirmative Action official of the State of Pennsylvania wrote to a business officer of a company whose policies were being investigated: `Please send to this office a list of all your employees broken down by sex.'

"Some time later, this reply was received: `As far as we can tell, none of our employees is broken down by sex.'

"(And while none of us is broken down by sex, we are sometimes worn down by filling in all those forms....)"

Truth & Change

It is said an Eastern monarch once charged his wise men to invent an aphorism to be ever in view, and which should be true and appropriate in all times and situations. They presented him the words, "And this, too, shall pass away."
--Attributed to Abraham Lincoln

More Disraeli...

A novelist as well as a politician, Disraeli left us with many delightful and memorable lines, including this selection taken from his nearly three-page listing in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations:

• "I never deny; I never contradict; I sometimes forget." -- Said to Lord Esher of his relations with Queen Victoria in Elizabeth Longord Victoria R. I (1964) ch. 27
• "The right hon. Gentleman caught the Whigs bathing, and walked away with their clothes."--Speech, Hansard 28 February 1845, col. 154 (on Sir Robert Peel's abandoning protection in favour of free trade, traditionally the policy of the [Whig] opposition)
• "Never complain and never explain." In J. Morley Life of William Ewart Gladstone (1903) vol 1, p. 123. Cf. Fisher 283:5, Hubbard 353:9
• "Change is inevitable in a progressive country. Change is constant." --Speech at Edinburgh, 29 October 1867, in The Times 30 October 1867
• "An author who speaks about his own books is almost as bad as a mother who talks about her own children." --At a banquet given in Glasgow on his installation as Lord Rector, 19 November 1873, in The Times 20 November 1873
• "A sophistical rhetorician, inebriated with the exuberance of his own verbosity." --Of Gladstone, in The Times 29 July 1878
• "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics." --Attributed to Disraeli in Mark Twain Autobiography (1924) vol. 1, p. 246
• "Every day when he looked into the glass, and gave the last touch to his consummate toilette, he offered his grateful thanks to Providence that his family was not unworthy of him." --Lothair (1870) ch. 1
• When a man fell into his anecdotage it was a sign for him to retire from the world." --Lothair (1870) ch. 28
• "Mr. Kremlin himself was distinguished for ignorance, for he had only one idea--and that was wrong." --Sybil (1845) bk. 4, ch. 5. Cf. Johnson 373:10
• "Damn your principles! Stick to your party." --Attributed to Disraeli and believed to have been said to Edward Bulwer-Lytton, in E. Latham Famous Sayings and their Authors (1904) p. 11
• "Everyone likes flattery; and when you come to Royalty you should lay it on with a trowel." --To Matthew Arnold, in G.E.E. Russell Collections and Recollections (1898) ch. 23

Work

In remarks titled "Value-Added Attitude & Action," William I. Gorden, professor emeritus of Organizational Communication, Kent State University, discusses ten principles dealing with adding value to what we do.

As an example of the principle of self-improvement, he mentions that he had decided to memorize more poetry and prose passages, among them selections by the Syrian poet and essayist Kahlil Gibran. The poet's inspirational insights on the nature of work quoted by Professor Gorden also restate and emphasize several of the principles mentioned earlier in his remarks:

"So a Value-Added Attitude and Action begins with you and me. What new skill, new thing, new love, or new concern will you add to your life? Lately, I've decided to increase the number of poems and prose I have memorized. For example, within this past two months I have rearranged and memorized what the author, Kahlil Gibran, had to say about work:

`....And what is it to work with love?
It is to weave the cloth with threads
drawn from your heart, even as if your
beloved were to wear that cloth.
It is to build a house with affection,
even as if your beloved were to dwell in
that house.

It is to sow seeds with tenderness and
reap the harvest with joy, even as if your
beloved were to eat the fruit.
It is to charge all things that you fashion
with a breath of your own spirit.'

"Gibran tells us that work is work that makes love visible."

Job Creation & Destruction

In remarks before the Commonwealth Club of California, Tapan Munroe, Chief Economist and Manager of Economic Vitality Programs for Pacific Gas & Electric Co., uses a three-step approach to make a point about job creation.

He first quotes an authority, he then backs his initial assertion with a general statistic about job destruction and creation, and finally provides statistics from a specific year that further bolster his argument. Mr. Monroe's speech was titled "California--Transition to a New Economy":

"Stephen Davis of the University of Chicago has found from his research that large scale destruction and creation of jobs have been fairly normal for the U.S. economy. Over a typical 12-month period, 10% of manufacturing jobs disappear in a region, and do not appear at the same place in the next two years, but other jobs in a different region are created in the meantime. The year 1988 illustrates the point well.

"Nationally, there was no net change in manufacturing jobs that year--a very placid year--but what happened in reality was that 1.6 million manufacturing jobs vanished in 1988, and 1.6 million new manufacturing jobs were created in locations different from where they disappeared."

Misunderstanding

In remarks titled "Old Lessons, New Perspectives: Moving Toward a Global Mindset," Wiley Bourne, vice chairman and executive vice president, Eastman Chemical Company, outlines "some of the lessons we are learning at Eastman as we put new plants and people around the world."

One lesson has to do with communication..."that talk is sometimes NOT cheap. It can cost you in terms if credibility." In establishing that point in the minds of listeners at the Fourth Annual East West Conference, Mr. Bourne turns to a short, graphic anecdote:

"But first, let's talk about the conflict between trying to broadly communicate in advance what you plan and hope to do, versus the reality of what later turns out to be feasible. Often this is only a matter of things taking longer than you had hoped, but until you actually do what you have promised, your credibility is open to question.

"This reminds me of the story of the fellow who came to work one day with a black eye. His friend asked, `What happened to you!' And the fellow said, `I misunderstood my wife. I stood up when she said shut up!'

"Well, that's what can happen when you misunderstand or misread a situation. You can end up with a black eye, and in a real sense, that's what was happening to our credibility, both with our employees and in certain influential circles abroad, when we first started our globalization efforts."