Leaders insult with clarity and class
by Miki SaxonTrue leadership requires great communications and the hallmark of great communications is clarity of thought.That clarity applies to all communications—including insults.
When it’s necessary to insult someone, and at times it is—or at least it feels that way—your insults should be offered with the same clarity and a whole lot of class.
The need for clarity is obvious—you want the person you’re insulting, and anyone else who is cognizant of it, to not only know your opinion, but to be impressed with your elegance.
Any idiot can say, “She’s dumb” or “he’s a *%$# jerk,” but those insults have no real meaning.
In fact, the minute you resort to expletives to describe a person or action you prove yourself to be a person of small intellect and smaller vocabulary.
Clarity is the key—using the fewest words, while allowing no question as to meaning or intent, as is shown by these three historic figures.
Clarence Darrow: “I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure.”
Abraham Lincoln: “He can compress the most words into the smallest ideas of any man I know.”
Oscar Wilde: “He has no enemies but is intensely disliked by his friends.”
Additionally, when you’re insulted, especially by someone with clarity and class, you want to respond in kind as was done here.
George Bernard Shaw sent a note to Winston Churchill saying, “I am enclosing two tickets to the first night of my new play; bring a friend… if you have one.”
To which Churchill responded, “Cannot possibly attend first night, will attend second… if there is one.”
No question as to what either thought of the other.
Mark Twain was a master of perfectly barbed clarity, “I didn’t attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it.”
And before you think that the art or the clear and classy insult is a thing of the past, take a look at three modern examples,
“He has Van Gogh’s ear for music.” – Billy Wilder
“He has the attention span of a lightning bolt.” – Robert Redford
And I absolutely love this one,
“He had delusions of adequacy.” — Walter Kerr
Have you ever given or received a clear, classy insult?
Your comments—priceless
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March 18th, 2008 at 8:46 am
Does it really happens in real life ?
Few people have the wits to craft this kind of retort on the fly. Therefore most of these are taken from letters. Do you receive a lot of letters these days ? :p
March 18th, 2008 at 9:36 am
Denis, I doubt that the insults from Wilder and Redford were in letters and both Twain and Kerr are known for their verbal repartee.
No, most of us don’t have that skill with words or the quick wit, but I stand by my comment that “the minute you resort to expletives to describe a person or action you prove yourself to be a person of small intellect and smaller vocabulary.”
Insults are a form of communication and, as such, are subject to improvement—not that I expect a population that has trouble presenting an idea or writing a coherent email to bother.