Skip to main content

How should a leader communicate to the public?

The answer to this question depends on your subjective opinion. However, in an ideal world, it's safe to say that most members of the public would like their leaders to communicate with honesty and integrity by relaying important information in the way best-suited to serve the needs of the masses.


Let's put this idea in the context of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. Brutus, the most noble character in the play, always tries to work toward the greater good, and so he accordingly communicates honestly with the masses of Rome. Antony, on the other hand, uses crafty and deceitful rhetoric to gain the support of the public and advance his own political schemes. In short, Antony will say anything to the public that he believes will bring him power. However, at the end of the play, Antony is living and powerful, while Brutus has perished. As such, though we'd all like our leaders to communicate to the public honestly, Shakespeare suggests that many leaders will communicate dishonestly in order to gain power.  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Is 'efficate' a word in English?

I routinely hear the word "efficate" being used. For example, "The most powerful way to efficate a change in the system is to participate." I do not find entries for this word in common English dictionaries, but I do not have an unabridged dictionary. I have checked the OED (I'm not sure if it is considered unabridged), and it has no entry for "efficate". It does have an entry for "efficiate", which is used in the same way. Wordnik has an entry for "efficate" with over 1800 hits, thus providing some evidence for the frequency of use. I personally like the word and find the meaning very clear and obvious when others use it. If it's not currently an "officially documented" word, perhaps its continued use will result in it being better documented.
Post a Comment
Read more