No Passion, No Victory..!

A few years back many learned pundits tried to analyze and  find out why Hillary Clinton lost the election when she stood against Trump. Just before the results, every exit poll, news channel and publication predicted she would win. But she lost!

I was in the US when two of her debates with Trump took place. What I saw was a lady with no passion.. She was like a cold fish!

Trump might have evoked a lot of hate, a lot of anger, but every bit of him was pure emotion! Even if the emotions he triggered off were bad vibes, hate feelings, still they were passionate!

On the other side, Hillary remained expressionless. When Trump said something nasty about her, her face remained impassive and stone-like. What one would have liked to see would have been anger, horror, shock, but in seeing a bland, numb face one got the impression she wore a mask. An expressionless mask.

When a general leads an army into battle, when a leader leads a nation through a crisis, what he does is speak passionately. His voice should rise and fall with the words he or she says. His tone should be forceful, his pitch impactful.

When this happens, battles are won, and nations rally behind their leader.

When this is not done, you lose!

Put passion in what you say.

It is like watching a boxing fight or cricket match. Even if we are all cheering for a particular team, we do not want that team to just walkover and win over the other. We want drama, a nail biting finish, a cliff hanger last over, a winning sixer in the last ball, and then we all go home feeling exulted, the better team won!

We love drama. And drama is passion. Passions inspire and ignite the listener!

Very often at meetings, a Xerox copy of a speech is handed around, but does the Xerox copy match the reading of it? The reading, if done in a professional manner, galvanizes the audience.

I remember Tony Blair, reading verses from the Bible during Princess Diana’s funeral Even though the verses were familiar and maybe boring on paper, he made the verses come alive!

Yes, that’s what you need to do, make your words come alive; whether speaking to your husband, your wife or at your office, bring passion into what you say, and you will be the winner.

Poor Hillary; no passion, no victory! I wish Bill Clinton had told her this earlier, he was quite a passionate man, though quite often for the wrong reasons..!

Robert Clements is a newspaper columnist and author. He blogs at www.bobsbanter.com and can be reached at bobsbanter@gmail.com