On Monday night Republican presidential hopeful Carly Fiorina had the chance to introduce herself to millions of viewers of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
A difficult task for business or political leaders is to get their message across clearly, simply, and concisely in five minutes on a television show recorded live without the benefit of re-takes. In my experience I find that most leaders stick to facts while failing to realize that viewers must connect with a leader emotionally in order for persuasion to occur. As a skilled communicator Carly Fiorina knows that facts alone are not enough. She connects through personal stories ; stories of struggle and success.
Here’s Fiorina’s response to Jimmy Fallon’s first question, “For the people watching my show who don’t know you, what do you want them to know about Carly Fiorina?”
“When I was a little girl my mother said to me, what you are is God’s gift to you; what you make of yourself is your gift to God. I’ve learned that everyone has God given gifts. I started as a secretary, filing for a nine-person real estate firm. It’s only in this country that you can go from being a secretary to the chief executive of the largest technology company in the world and run for president of the united states. It’s only possible here.”
Fiorina’s answer was met with loud applause, partly because personal stories of humble beginnings are nearly impossible to ignore. Fiorina then makes her story everyone’s story with the following quote: “I want to make sure that every American, regardless of who they are, what they look like, how they started, or what their circumstances has the opportunity to fulfill their potential.”
Fiorina also uses questions to distance herself from her competitors in the race while returning to the theme of struggle and success, triumph over adversity. For example, when Fallon asked Fiorina for her opinion on Ben Carson’s controversial comment about not supporting a Muslim as president, Fiorina said,“I think that’s wrong. It says in our constitution that religion cannot be a test for office. It’s also true that in our country we judge each individual and that anyone of any faith is welcome here.” In a few sentences Fiorina clearly stated her opinion on Carson’s comments. She then used the question to make a statement about the importance of faith and how it sustained her in bad times.
“I actually believe that people of faith make better leaders, whether Christian as I am—my faith has sustained me through some very bad times—I’ve battled cancer, I’ve lost a child, I’ve been tested—but whether it’s a person of Christian faith, or Jewish faith, or Muslim faith or other faiths, I think faith gives us humility, and empathy, and optimism and I think those are important things.” Once again this statement was met with a round of applause. The interview’s applause lines all happened after Fiorina talked about her personal experiences.