Good Communications Means Striking the Right Note

Sometimes it’s not what you say, but who says it that matters.

At least that was the case in 1957 – two weeks after the Little Rock Nine were barred from Central High School – when Louis Armstrong gave one of his most notable performances.  But this wasn’t a musical riff.

According to a recent interview on National Public Radio, Larry Lubenow, a journalism student working at The Grand Forks Herald in Little Rock, AK, was sent to interview Armstrong about a concert.  Instead he got an (obscene) earful about politics and race relations that ultimately caught the attention of President Eisenhower.

As The Chicago Defender reported at the time, “Any white confused by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s polite talk need only listen to Mr. Armstrong.”  His words, they wrote, had the “explosive effect of an H-bomb.”

In communications, we have to think about not only what we’re saying, but also the way we say it.  We all know Louis Armstrong had a talent for striking the right note, so perhaps it’s no surprise he used his talent to effect political change.

At a time when people are bombarded by verbiage in myriad forms – email, Facebook, Twitter – we have to find creative ways to break through the noise.  And sometimes something a little off-key is just what we need.