When you are speaking with the media or delivering a presentation, your job is to represent your company or organization, not yourself. Your personal opinions usually are not relevant and can get in the way of your key messages. But there are exceptions. In an interview with ABC News, Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson declines to give his personal opinion about whether municipalities should take down Confederate statues. Then he circles back and offers his personal opinion where it is appropriate as governor of his state.
Hutchinson’s answer serves him well because he reserves his personal opinion only to a situation that involves a decision by the state government, not municipalities. Going beyond that might have gotten him in political hot water. The lesson is the careless expressing of your personal opinion could make your audience boiling mad.
The Terri Ammerman Group will help you develop and deliver key messages to the media. We offer workshops in media, crisis communications and many other communications training programs. We are here for you!