President Biden Can Connect Stronger Emotionally

President Joe Biden

This is a “Special Contributor” piece for Communication Intelligence magazine. Special contributions are independent thought that do not represent the Communication Intelligence brand, editor or publisher.

Blue-Collar Joe
by Brent Filson
Filson Leadership Group

Sharpening their message for the upcoming elections, Democrats are afflicted by a deep-seated communication misconception that could cost them dearly.  

They are focusing on replacing “Build Back Better” with a new buzz phrase. Of course, they need a sharply drawn phrase but whatever it turns up to be, such a phrase, no matter how effective, cannot substitute for what Democrat leaders fail to understand, which is what Joe Biden can do to help defeat the Republicans in the midterms. 

What he can do goes far beyond mouthing buzz phrases to communicating in such ways that he establishes deep, motivational relationships with large segments of the electorate. After all, though many voters will only vote for issues and policies, most will also take the person into consideration, preferring political candidates that share their character traits and values.    

Leadership communications have roughly two streams; one deals with formatting and communicating information, the other deals with establishing emotional connections. Both are necessary, yet few leaders employ them together. 

Up till now, Biden has not taken advantage of the emotional-connection opportunities staring him in the face. In fact, he and his handlers may not even know those opportunities are important enough to merit their focus. To take advantage of those game-changing opportunities, Joe Biden must simply do this: be himself. 

Who is Joe Biden?  He is “Blue-Collar Joe.”

That’s an obvious statement and one many people will respond to with, “So what?”

The trouble is, as demonstrated by his consistently cratered polls, he has failed to communicate who is really is. Of course, he has talked about his blue-collar roots in Scranton; but simply talking about those roots is not communicating their essence in ways people feel the truth of them and see them as vital to him, and to them as well. 

To best describe how he can make this communication, let me point out a working definition I have been employing for decades in my mission to change the culture of leadership in profit and nonprofit organizations, by investing their leadership communications and actions with strong human-centered dimensions.

Such dimensions are not about style but about creating emotionally-charged relationships that boost organizational effectiveness.

In doing the former but not the later, Biden is failing to tap into large pools of voters. But he can turn that communication failure into a great success by skillfully executing a few character-revealing processes. Such execution will help him harvest those authentic, heartfelt, blue-collar experiences that formed his identity and for the first time communicate them in ways that deeply resonate with the American electorate.

Here are a few tips on how he can do that. 

Identify: Clearly, Biden’s life has been shaped in part by his growing up in a blue-collar community. What were those defining experiences of his formative years that made him what he is today? Voters don’t know. He hasn’t revealed those experiences in any meaningful way. And because voters don’t know, Biden is missing out.

Once communicated, such experiences could bind voters in important emotional ways to him. Such biding can transcend politics as evidenced by the blue-collar Democrats who voted heavily in favor of (Ronald) Reagan, a republican. 

Prepare: Biden is motivated by the experiences. In all of his campaigns, he has talked about his blue-collar roots. But his being motivated by those experiences is irrelevant. What is relevant is this: he must communicate that motivation to the voters so they become as motivated by his experiences as he is. 

He hasn’t made that transformative communication yet. Maybe he thinks policies are more important. Maybe he doesn’t know he must do it to bring a significant portion of the electorate to his side. Maybe he can’t do it. Whatever the reason, he is failing to take advantage of the full array leadership opportunities at his disposal.

To communicate this motivation, he simply must convey the facts of those experiences that triggered the emotions. 

I know of no politician who has done this. All politicians in their communication venues focus entirely, and thus wrongly, on policies. 

Of course, policies are important. But what is missed is the leadership-communication rule that the message is not only the message, the message is also the messenger. Wrapping a message in a human being is the best way to communicate it.  

Communicate: Biden must communicate those experiences in such a way that the people understand that the lessons in those experiences must be hard-lived solutions to their needs. 

His core belief that the backbone of the American economic system is the middle class, augmented by strong unions, is an electorate vision that will be nothing more than fodder for a brochure, if not animated by the emotion-transferring processes I just mentioned.

Cementing a formidable bonding with the blue-collar electorate, he will garner significant portions of voters who otherwise would have stayed away from the polls or not voted for him. 

Such an outreach must not be done ad hoc but integrated into a strategic, comprehensive, coordinated campaign that will provide strong coattails in this year’s elections.

“Blue-Collar Joe” can make for a compelling transformation in our nation’s political landscape.

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Brent Filson is the founder of The Filson Leadership Group, Inc., a 37-year-old company that helps leaders in top companies achieve sustained increases through hard, measured results. He’s published 23 books and regularly has written articles on leadership. He is well known for his mission to have leaders replace their traditional presentations with specially developed, motivating process called the Leadership Talk.

Filson has lectured about the Leadership Talk at MIT Sloan School of Management, Columbia University, Wake Forest, Villanova, Williams, Middlebury and spoken at numerous organizations, including: Abbott, Ameritech, Anheuser-Busch, Armstrong World Industries, AT&T, BancOne, BASF, Bell Atlantic, BellSouth, Betz Laboratories, Bose, Bristol-Meyers Squibb, Campbell Sales, Canadian Government, CNA, DuPont, Eaton Corporation, Exelon, First Energy, Ford, General Electric, General Motors, GTE, Hershey Foods, Houghton Mifflin, IBM, Meals-on-Wheels, Merck, Miller Brewing Company, NASA, PaineWebber, Polaroid, Price Waterhouse, Roadway Express, Sears Roebuck, Spalding International, Southern Company, The United Nations, Unilever, UPS, Union Carbide, United Dominion Industries, U.S. Steel, Vermont State Police and Warner Lambert.