I’m going to ask you to stick with me here and click 2 links. It’s important. You could save lives.
This post is in response to “Did PowerPoint Ruin GM?” You can skim the article, but do read the first and last lines.
Nonsense
First, the article itself makes nonsensical conclusions. Here’s one sentence:
“Here’s one way General Motors Co. Chief Executive Mary Barra can start fixing her company’s management culture: Ban PowerPoint.”
That’s followed by:
“Lengthy slide presentations have been a substitute for meaningful communication at GM since before Microsoft’s ubiquitous PowerPoint software was invented.”
So, it isn’t PowerPoint, is it?
And another sentence:
“An engineer who’d been investigating the problem presented PowerPoint slides – but apparently didn’t discuss ‘backup”’slides that made reference to five deaths and some serious injuries.”
Hmm, not the slides, but the fact that the engineer just didn’t discuss the issue.
More importantly, what did GM presenters say?
Look at this.
“The report details confusion among the engineers and executives over what was in the slides, which slides were presented and which were not.
“One engineer told Mr. Valukas he did present the slide. Three other executives at the meeting said they didn’t recall fatalities being discussed. Others who attended the meeting said they didn’t learn about the deaths until later.”
I’m sorry, I just don’t believe it. People were trying to cover up issues then and they’re still doing it. There’s a meeting about a defect that could cause a safety issue. Don’t managers ask the presenter, “How many accidents have occurred because of this? Were there any deaths?” But that didn’t happen. In fact, look at this:
“Ms. Boler-Davis also told investigators ‘that had she known at the time of the December 17, 2013 EFADC meeting that fatalities were involved, she would have treated the issue with more urgency.'”
In my opinion, another cover-up. Perhaps a downright lie. It was her responsibility to ask.
What if someone had communicated clearly?
At the end, the writer asks, “Indeed. What if someone had simply stood up, without a visual prop, and said: ‘People are dying.'”
This is stupidity. What if someone had shown a slide like the one my friend and fellow PowerPoint MVP, Echo Swinford, created? Go look at it here. And do me a favor, leave her a comment there about what you think about that slide.
Do you think that slide is as powerful as standing before the audience and saying, “We’re killing people?” Perhaps even more powerful?
Poor communication is always the fault of the communicator.
You can communicate clearly, powerfully and persuasively
I know, because I train clients to achieve that all the time. It’s what I do.
But only if you want to. If you prefer stupidity, lies and coverups, I can’t help you at all.
PowerPoint is a communication tool. It’s not a lie detector.
The old adage Garbage In Garbage Out (GIGO) is more relevant now than ever before as corporate malfeasance and the art of the coverup have reached monumental proportions.
And attempting to redirect the issue to the tool (PowerPoint) and away from the true issue (corporate coverup and outright lies) only highlight the pitiful desperation these corporate tools are feeling.
Good points but the photo of what looks like military row of tombstones is off putting. While people did die, it wasn’t comparable to the large number of lives given in service to our country. Why not use the GM building image like the article did? It just seems extreme IMO.
Great article, Ellen!
Stupidity, yes. Bad communication, absolutely!
The communicator is responsible for the information. The slide should be there to support what the communicator is trying to convey.
Someone wasn’t sharing the right information and no one seemed to be asking the right questions.
That does not add up to “ban PowerPoint.”
Thanks, Heather! As you could probably tell, I felt strongly about it.
Exactly. It’s “cool” to blame it on PowerPoint, but that takes the responsibility away from the people involved. And that’s not right. People were killed.
Chelsea, actually, I looked hard for a graveyard site that didn’t look military, but maybe I missed the mark. Thanks for pointing that out. I wanted to show death, not GM.
NJ, thanks for your comment. I can see that you feel as strongly as I do about it.
Welcome to the 21st Century, where people are not to be trusted with jumbo size soda pop or powerpoint.
We are powerless victims of Coca Cola and Microsoft.
Not to worry, the government will protect you.
Joe, I’m not sure what the government has to do with it, but it doesn’t seem as if we can trust the people at big corporations, as you mentioned.
Challenger, Afghanistan, etc., and now GM: PowerPoint has become a scapegoat for inept management and cowardice. Our leaders are whining: “It’s not my fault; PowerPoint made me stupid!”
Keep up the good work, Ellen!
Isn’t it ironic that the president of GM and all the politicians of the USA, use the same excuses. “I did not know” “I was not aware”. Sound like excuses to me. Does the computer one day wake up and build presentations on its own with no human intervention. Like any tool, if it is abused or used incorrectly, it will not perform what you want it to do. Maybe you should send these people the link to your website so they can build presentations and present correctly. I truly believe until we hold people resonable for their actions and… Read more »
Thanks for your vote of confidence, Larry and I agree. I’ve been imagining being called by GM but I’d probably run into such a morass that I’d feel uncomfortable. I’m sure there are many honest, ethical people working for GM, but it seems as if the executive culture got out of hand.