News You Can Use: Would you really prefer the casket to the lectern?

From the archives of The Influential Executive, 12/2008

The very latest in the very long line of very suspect studies purporting to show that some people fear public speaking more than death comes from Australia. A survey by Newspoll found 23 percent of Australians fear public speaking more than death. The study was commissioned (of course) by an outfit that offers online public speaking training. In a report on the survey results, the Sydney Morning Herald dragged out the old Jerry Seinfeld quote, which the reporter said was about a โ€œsimilarโ€ study: โ€œThis means to the average person, if you go to a funeral, youโ€™re better off in the casket than doing the eulogy.โ€
This supposed โ€œstudyโ€ goes back at least 30 yearsโ€”and maybe longer. A Google search turns up articles citing it, willy-nilly, as a cultural fact.
โ€œFear of oration is ranked even above that of death โ€ฆโ€
โ€œTheir number one fear was public speaking, and that the fear of death was number five.โ€
โ€œSociologists report that the fear of public speaking ranks even higher than the fear of death.โ€
โ€œAccording to most studies, peopleโ€™s number one fear is public speaking. Number two is death.โ€
โ€œAccording to The Book of Lists, the fear of public speaking ranks number one in the minds of the majority of people. Far above the fear of death and disease โ€ฆโ€

Elusive are:
1. The origin of this perpetual study.
2. A single report of anyone committing suicide to avoid a speaking engagement.

Coke to Americans: Itโ€™s not our fault youโ€™re fat. In a bold address at the InterBev 2008 conference in Las Vegas Oct. 20, new Coca-Cola CEO Muhtar Kent urged industry leaders to reject claims theyโ€™re to blame for the U.S. obesity epidemic. โ€œPeople need to understand that obesity is not about a beverage or a candy bar or a restaurant meal or a PlayStation game or about working longer hours,โ€ Kent said, according to the Atlanta Journal- Constitution. โ€œItโ€™s a systematic lifestyle issue that we must address individually and collectively as a society.โ€

Music to our ears. In conjunction with his new memoir, Counselor: A Life at the Edge of History, former JFK speechwriter Ted Sorensen was interviewed by the Unitarian Universalistsโ€™ UU World magazine. Editor Jane Greer asked him how rhetoric contributes to political leadership.
โ€œItโ€™s words that enable a president of the U.S. to galvanize support in the country, to mobilize support in the Congress, and to attract support from our allies and others around the world,โ€ Sorensen said. โ€œKennedy was respected and indeed revered in many countries of the world because you could tell from his words, his statements, his speeches, his positions, that he was a man with a good heart and compassion, and wanted peace. Yes, I think words matter a great deal.โ€

And finally, a cautionary (cock)tale. Robin Kay, president of the Fashion Design Council of Canada, made an unintended splash at the launch of the recent Lโ€™Oreal Fashion Week conference in Toronto. Overserved during a cocktail hour, she gave a drunken speech that ended in her being escorted off the stage. โ€œNext time Iโ€™ll pace myself a little better,โ€ she said. โ€œIโ€™m very embarrassed.โ€
The better quote came from Holt Renfrew fashion VP Barbara Atkin, who said, โ€œThis kind of bad behavior is the equivalent of wearing a bad accessory. The problem is no matter how beautiful your outfit is, everyone is looking at the bad accessory.โ€

Would you really prefer the casket to the lectern? โ€ฆ CEO calls on industry leaders to fight critics โ€ฆ and a cautionary tale about the importance of sobriety

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