Every once in awhile I have the chance to take a little father-son walk with my 10-year-old. Sometimes we talk about little things of little consequence. Sometimes we talk about big things that matter a lot to him. Other times we just play silly word games.
Often, though, he asks me what I've been doing at work lately. I don't remember ever asking my dad what he did at work. I knew he was a computer analyst with the Government of Canada, but I had no idea what that meant and I wasn't all that interested in finding out.
So I'm grateful that my son takes an interest in what I do all day. I told him I was working on a speech for a conservation association dinner in New Brunswick. They're very concerned about Atlantic salmon populations in the Miramichi River. He said he thought it sounded pretty important and I agreed that it probably was.
Then he told me that it's too bad the speechwriters don't receive some sort of recognition when the speaker delivers the speech. I explained to him that our job is to help the speaker sound good and deliver the right message. If the speaker or someone else in the organization expresses kind words about the product, that's all the recognition that we need.
He said he guessed so, but then he asked me if other people write their own speeches. I told him President Obama or Prime Minister Harper would have writers who work closely with them and almost nobody really knows or cares who they are.
I discussed how someone like the President and his speechwriters would likely work together to help him deliver the message he wants to convey. I said that if he wants to get across the message that his government has everything under control, the President can't just stand up there and say, "Everything's under control!" He has to use the right words and tone to convey the FEELING that everything is under control. This is how some politicians live or die on what comes out of their mouths and how it comes out of their mouths. It's one reason why so many politicians don't aspire to great oratory anymore. The nature of the news media in the 21st century is another. Politics no longer rewards risk-taking and bold statements so much as it rewards not screwing up.
I told my son that many of the great public figures of the past, like Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King and Winston Churchill, wrote their own speeches. I reminded him that King was first and foremost a minister of religion who had both training in, and a natural gift for, public speaking - a sense of rhythm that made his words come to life in a way that no other speaker could. All the great speakers have a way of making the speech their own. A great speaker knows his or her strengths and weaknesses and is able to use both to good effect.
When I said "rhythm" to my musically precocious son he started making hip-hop noises with his mouth and did a rap to "I have a dream." I explained that rhythm in this case means something a little more complex but just as captivating, if not more so.
We discussed why another person might not be able to pull off the "I have a dream" speech, just like another speaker might not be able to do justice to Churchill's "what is our aim?" or even Nixon's "Checkers" speech.
This is why the writer needs to know the speaker's strengths and weaknesses as well as the speaker does. I once worked for a Cabinet Minister who was a very good speaker in a folksy sort of way, but couldn't or wouldn't attempt anything more than a word or two in a foreign language. Writing speeches for a trip to Russia, I inserted an entire paragraph in of Russian. When it came back from his office for revisions, everything but "spasiba" (thank you) had been crossed out. He wasn't going to look silly tripping over a whole paragraph's worth of foreign words and, in hindsight, I don't blame him.
I have always enjoyed writing for speakers who enjoy public speaking and give a lot of thought to what they're saying, to whom they're saying it, and why. The first question I ask when I sit down with program experts to discuss a speech is something along the lines of "why is the Minister speaking and what are we trying to accomplish?"
This is something else all the great speakers have - a sense of purpose. Every speech has a purpose, however grandiose or humble. The job of the writer is to find out what it is and make sure it accomplishes its goal.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Buying and Selling a House: Ten Days Without a Net
Some people drink or smoke too much; some people like to drive fast or go in for extreme sports. When my wife and I need a thrill we put our house on the market.
For some reason we both have a history of moving around a lot, both before and after we were married.
When we were first married in 1999, we lived in a rented duplex for 10 months, then bought a home in Aylmer, Quebec, a suburb of Ottawa where housing is less expensive. We were there for three years and three months, then moved downtown to be closer to my work, since I was in TV news and working crazy hours.
We lived in an urban co-op for almost two years, then bought a house in a suburb in the far west end of Ottawa. It took us about 18 months to decide we disliked the community (or lack of same) and found a beautiful place on the top of a steep hill out in the woods. Although beautiful, there were things we never really thought about previously - like irrational fears about our well and septic system, the costs of hiring a plowing service for the winter months, the commute and, finally, the hill itself, which forced us to buy a four-wheel-drive and still left us stranded when we had a heavy snow or freezing rain. The hill was also a disincentive for people to come and visit in the winter months. In Ottawa, that’s about four or five months out of the year.
We were there for almost exactly a year, then came to an urban area not far from downtown. We have been in this place for nearly four years, which is a record for us.
But circumstances change and with my son’s music getting very serious, we decided it was time to re-evaluate our finances. This led to the decision to reduce the size of our mortgage by moving to a less expensive part of town.
We didn’t want to go back to another plain old suburb. Luckily, we found a place that’s not too old, not too expensive and not too far from the urban core. So we called a real estate agent, put in an offer, and got ready to list our house.
These days, selling a house involves something called staging, which seems to mean making your house look like a work of art. Now people don’t normally live in works of art, they just look at them. There are certainly no dish racks or wet toothbrushes in most works of art, so we had to excise these things from view. The same went for any evidence that we might read books, have hobbies, produce garbage or take family pictures.
Since we live in a neighbourhood that is becoming more desirable, our house saw a lot of traffic - well over a dozen people in less than 36 hours. On the second day of showings we received an offer that was to our liking and five days later, after the home inspection, we’ve sold our house.
Having a good agent makes all the difference in the world, and we hired a couple of the best: Patrick Morris and Rob Kearns from the Morris Home Team.
Buying your first home is nothing like having to buy and sell at the same time. You have to make a choice: buy a place and hope that your old house sells fast, or sell your place and hope you find a new place fast. Both are incredibly stressful, especially if your bank is not willing to let you hold two mortgages at once. Fortunately, mine is, so at least I wasn’t going to be sued for breach of contract. But the selling doesn’t always go as smoothly as all that. In fact, a couple of times in the past we wondered if our house would ever be sold at all. There was a time during this sale when we thought the purchase agreement might fall apart too and we would have to start showing it all over again.
To the passing observer it would appear that our family changes houses on impulse, with very little forethought. But every move we’ve made has been for a very good reason - occasionally for many good reasons.
Sometimes in communications it’s a hard thing to shake things up and try to change the established order. You shouldn’t do it just for sake of change - there has to be a reason, maybe more than one. This is why you should always be examining the way you do things and looking for opportunities to improve. Maybe most of what you’re doing is good, even excellent, and there’s no need to change anything. Maybe it’s going well but you can see potential issues down the road. If so, take steps now to prepare for them. Then again, maybe your shop really does need a major shake-up. If this is the case, it’s only a matter of time before someone with the power to hire and fire takes notice. Then it’s better to be on record as the shaker or else you could end up as the shakee.
And that could leave you living without a net for a lot longer than the time it takes to sell a house.
For some reason we both have a history of moving around a lot, both before and after we were married.
When we were first married in 1999, we lived in a rented duplex for 10 months, then bought a home in Aylmer, Quebec, a suburb of Ottawa where housing is less expensive. We were there for three years and three months, then moved downtown to be closer to my work, since I was in TV news and working crazy hours.
We lived in an urban co-op for almost two years, then bought a house in a suburb in the far west end of Ottawa. It took us about 18 months to decide we disliked the community (or lack of same) and found a beautiful place on the top of a steep hill out in the woods. Although beautiful, there were things we never really thought about previously - like irrational fears about our well and septic system, the costs of hiring a plowing service for the winter months, the commute and, finally, the hill itself, which forced us to buy a four-wheel-drive and still left us stranded when we had a heavy snow or freezing rain. The hill was also a disincentive for people to come and visit in the winter months. In Ottawa, that’s about four or five months out of the year.
We were there for almost exactly a year, then came to an urban area not far from downtown. We have been in this place for nearly four years, which is a record for us.
But circumstances change and with my son’s music getting very serious, we decided it was time to re-evaluate our finances. This led to the decision to reduce the size of our mortgage by moving to a less expensive part of town.
We didn’t want to go back to another plain old suburb. Luckily, we found a place that’s not too old, not too expensive and not too far from the urban core. So we called a real estate agent, put in an offer, and got ready to list our house.
These days, selling a house involves something called staging, which seems to mean making your house look like a work of art. Now people don’t normally live in works of art, they just look at them. There are certainly no dish racks or wet toothbrushes in most works of art, so we had to excise these things from view. The same went for any evidence that we might read books, have hobbies, produce garbage or take family pictures.
Since we live in a neighbourhood that is becoming more desirable, our house saw a lot of traffic - well over a dozen people in less than 36 hours. On the second day of showings we received an offer that was to our liking and five days later, after the home inspection, we’ve sold our house.
Having a good agent makes all the difference in the world, and we hired a couple of the best: Patrick Morris and Rob Kearns from the Morris Home Team.
Buying your first home is nothing like having to buy and sell at the same time. You have to make a choice: buy a place and hope that your old house sells fast, or sell your place and hope you find a new place fast. Both are incredibly stressful, especially if your bank is not willing to let you hold two mortgages at once. Fortunately, mine is, so at least I wasn’t going to be sued for breach of contract. But the selling doesn’t always go as smoothly as all that. In fact, a couple of times in the past we wondered if our house would ever be sold at all. There was a time during this sale when we thought the purchase agreement might fall apart too and we would have to start showing it all over again.
To the passing observer it would appear that our family changes houses on impulse, with very little forethought. But every move we’ve made has been for a very good reason - occasionally for many good reasons.
Sometimes in communications it’s a hard thing to shake things up and try to change the established order. You shouldn’t do it just for sake of change - there has to be a reason, maybe more than one. This is why you should always be examining the way you do things and looking for opportunities to improve. Maybe most of what you’re doing is good, even excellent, and there’s no need to change anything. Maybe it’s going well but you can see potential issues down the road. If so, take steps now to prepare for them. Then again, maybe your shop really does need a major shake-up. If this is the case, it’s only a matter of time before someone with the power to hire and fire takes notice. Then it’s better to be on record as the shaker or else you could end up as the shakee.
And that could leave you living without a net for a lot longer than the time it takes to sell a house.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
