George Bush (the father) Dramatically Improves his Speaking
Steve Adubato, Ph.D.

Former President George Bush was never known to be a powerful public speaker. His communication skills were the butt of many jokes. Saturday Night Live had a field day poking fun when Bush would misspeak or fumble over his words. Ronald Reagan or Bill Clinton, George Bush wasn’t.

Fast forward. Former President Bush has dramatically improved his communication skills. Last week, Bush delivered the keynote address at Cingular Wireless’ national convention in Las Vegas. After his speech, I moderated a conversation with the President on the topics of leadership and communication. Both in his “formal” remarks and his Q&A responses, Bush was on his game. His style was engaging and relaxed, filled with serious and sensitive anecdotes, personal observations and off-the-cuff spontaneous reactions to questions. He was conversational and funny and the audience (some of whom were skeptical before the speech) loved it.

One of the first things Bush did was to tell his audience of “techies” that he had become addicted to a personalized wireless organizer called “Blackberry.” He talked about all the ways it had improved his way to communicate on a regular basis. Yet, he also poked fun at his technical abilities saying he still didn’t know how to shut off the blinking green light on his TV/VCR. He told a story about how much Barbara Bush, who was also in attendance, was the real leader of the Bush family. The former President said his son George was over the house recently and the three of them were hanging around talking. George put his feet up on the furniture and his mother immediately chastised him saying, “George, get your feet off the furniture.” The former President turned to his wife and said, “Barbara, you can’t talk to him that way, he is the President of the United States” to which Mrs. Bush responded that being the President had nothing to do with it because, “George knows better.”

Again, the crowd loved Bush’s sharing of his personal story. Even if he has told it before, it still had a genuine feel. You could actually imagine it happening just that way because that’s the thing about Former President Bush. He may not be as savvy a speaker as Bill Clinton or as dynamic as some other big-name orators, but his human qualities come through and he connects with people on a very personal level. This is the essence of great communication, even for someone that has little natural ability.

In addition, Bush’s candor (“I hated losing to Clinton in 1992.”) was another quality that made his presentation so effective. He also poked fun at the New York Times and the media in general recounting a story about his son’s visit to Yankee Stadium after 9/11 to throw out the first pitch of a big game. Bush senior joked that the newspaper described his son’s pitch as “an apparent strike.” Looking exasperated and shaking his head, Bush blurted out, “What the hell were they talking about? George’s pitch was right down the middle.” The crowd roared with laughter.

Finally, in his own self-deprecating way, the former President acknowledged that he was not the greatest public communicator and poked fun at both his and his son’s much publicized past speaking mistakes. But he clearly showed that he gets it when responding to a question as to what it takes to be a really effective public communicator. “The key is to speak with conviction…to speak from your heart.” And so he did. For that former president George Bush gets the award for being the most improved communicator...at least amongst former Presidents.

Dr. Steve Adubato coaches and speaks on the subjects of communication and leadership and is the author of the book "Speak from the Heart." Write to him at The Star-Ledger, 1 Star-Ledger Plaza, Newark, NJ 07102, visit his Web site at www.stand-deliver.com, or e-mail him at sadubato@aol.com.

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