As I write this post, I am preparing to speak on behalf of a group of neighborhoods at a school board meeting.   I’ve spent the past few years training others how to present their cases to often hostile audiences.  Now is the time for the teacher to practice what he preaches.

In the board meeting, we expect a large & noisy crowd of folks fighting to keep the district from moving ahead with an unpopular plan to tear down and not rebuild the high school where my wife graduated.  The “Save Klein High School” is well organized and appears to have forced the administrators to reconsider their decision.  It is a turn of events my group fully supports.

Unfortunately I represent a smaller & less vocal contingency that will be trying to sway the board in a completely unrelated manner.  The challenge will be to make a strong statement based solely on school data and common sense in an emotionally charged and perhaps raucous setting.

The advice we give clients in such situations may surprise you.  We counsel some of the largest corporations on the planet that sometimes a whisper can be more effective than a shout.  In our society where most folks have a television on while listening to an iPod while texting a friend on their phone and surfing Facebook on their laptop, we have become accustomed to white noise surrounding us.  So when we have silence introduced into the discussion …. it can stop us cold in our tracks.

The next time you are having trouble yelling over the top of your student’s stereo or being heard by a hostile customer, try rocking their world by pausing with a smile and then whispering a statement.  You may be amazed at the results.