DY: In Just a Few Words (#15)

Davis Young
Feb 2, 2021

Pretty sure I handled myself well, but I'll let you decide.

Chris Wallace came to Cleveland last fall to moderate the first of the Presidential Debates. This debate (many call it a debacle) occurred at the Cleveland Clinic, a client of mine for a number of years. The debate brought back into focus my experience with Chris’ father, the legendary TV journalist Mike Wallace of 60 Minutes fame.

If you Google the late Mike Wallace you may see this reference: .....interviewed a wide range of prominent newsmakers. Perhaps 25 years ago give or take a little I was in Boston at a conference and I was interviewed by Mike Wallace. I guess that qualifies me as a prominent newsmaker.

I media-trained prominent newsmakers including more than 100 administrators and physicians from the Cleveland Clinic. If you’re not familiar with media training, participants are taught different techniques to take control of interviews.

· Have a clear message.

· Get to the point.

· Prepare for likely questions.

· Keep your cool.

· Above all, take the interview process seriously.

Journalists – especially TV journalists – are famous for the so-called ambush interview where an unsuspecting target is surprised, indeed shocked to suddenly find a journalist in their face asking tough questions.

One day at the Boston conference about 7:40 in the morning I got on the elevator heading to the opening session. A couple of floors later, the elevator door opened and Mike Wallace got on. The ambush interview began immediately and without warning when he opened with the type of difficult question prominent newsmakers like me fear most.

Wallace: Have you had breakfast yet?

Me: Yes. (What was his agenda? Was he going to invite me to have a second breakfast? Did he want to know if I thought I had been poisoned?)

Wallace: What did you have?

Me: Some orange juice, a couple of eggs and wheat toast.

Wallace: I had room service breakfast, just toast and coffee. That’s all. They charged me $24 and I think that’s outrageous. What do you think?

Me: Yes sir, that sounds like a lot to me.

The interview ended abruptly as the door opened to the lobby. To his everlasting credit, Mike Wallace respected my time as a prominent newsmaker and did not ask me for an autograph.

Fortunately, I remembered all of the media training counsel I had provided others and I think I acquitted myself well. The interview did not air. It was a busy news day, lots going on. But, we all know it’s not unusual for shows like 60 Minutes to reach back in time and air at least a snippet of a long ago exchange. That may happen yet. Stay tuned.

Some people think Mike Wallace was an overly aggressive journalist, but my experience with him was just fine. I’m proud of the way I stood up to him that day. Others might have folded. Not me. What has become widely known as the Boston Exchange was a career highlight for me and I hope for Mike Wallace as well.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

DY: In Just a Few Words is a blog that comes out when something needs to be said or every Tuesday - whichever comes first. Davis Young is a communications professional who adds 50+ years of experience and perspective to issues of the day. His emphasis in DY: In Just a Few Words will be humor (a touch of sarcasm here, a pinch of facetiousness there...). Once in a while, he will touch on something a bit more serious - but hopefully not too deep or depressing.

This blog is a product of DY Author & Speaker LLC. Feel free to quote content with attribution. Respond. Agree. Disagree. Share the content with your friends. Heck - even invite him as a speaker for your group! Enjoy!

DY: In Just a Few Words (#14)

Davis Young
Jan 26, 2021

To run or not to run. That is the question.

When I started this blog several months ago, I promised myself I wouldn’t get caught up in serious subjects such as national politics. There’s plenty of bloggers out there sitting at computer keyboards pounding away on topics people are tired of reading about. I don’t want to do that.

Recently, however, a number of good people have approached me about running for President in 2024. At first, I just dismissed them as some sort of crazy cult. But, as their numbers have increased steadily, I feel that as a loyal American I need to give some serious thought to what they are asking of me.

If I were to run for our highest office, the very last thing I would undertake would be to shine a light on misdeeds of my opponents. We need to bring our country back together again and attacking others is not the way to do that.

For example, there’s been a lot of talk about Senator Do-Goody being a potential candidate despite the fact he’s been identified by a number of anonymous sources as somewhat of a party animal. One of the grocery store tabloids did a story that Senator Do-Goody was seen at the State of the Union speech with white powder residue on his face. Far be it from me to suggest he is a cocaine addict, but many others certainly are saying that. There won’t be any talk of Senator Do-Goody and his possible addiction issues in my campaign. I wish him well in his recovery.

Likewise, I will never associate my good name with rumor mongering. Here’s an example of what I won’t do if I run. Everyone knows there are rumors out there to the effect that Senator Wishbone was caught by a security camera exiting a men’s room at a Washington, D.C. hotel having not washed his hands. If it turns out that’s a legitimate photo - and nobody has said it isn’t - he has some explaining to do. We’re fighting a pandemic and a Senator who doesn’t wash his hands needs to explain why. I have no idea if that rumor is true or not, but I do know you won’t find me talking about any of Senator Wishbone’s alleged hygiene issues.

This gets me to something I feel I should be upfront about with the American public. It’s far better for me to bring this up now than to leave it to an unscrupulous opponent to dig into my past and exploit what he finds.

In the fifth grade at my elementary school in Altadena, California I was chosen to be a Squad Leader. This is a high honor and those tapped for this prestigious position are expected to set a good example for their peers. Squad Leaders then - and perhaps even now - were identified by a red kerchief draped over their left shoulder. It was a badge of honor.

I was a model of good behavior except for one thing. I talked a lot in class. My teacher didn’t approve of that. She accused me of talking again and again one day and made me turn in my red kerchief. Mind you, there was no judicial process, no witnesses to speak for me, no time to adequately prepare a defense. Perhaps most egregious was the fact I was not allowed to retain a lawyer. I felt then and feel now that I was smarter than the average fifth grader and that what I had to say to a seatmate was far more important than anything a teacher might say. The bottom line is that I was impeached as a Squad Leader.

I still remember how divisive that was for the class. Students who had courage spoke up for me. Others not wanting to jeopardize future college recommendations sided with the teacher. A fifth grade class split right down the middle. How sad.

After a month or so, I was reinstated as a Squad Leader. My red kerchief was returned and I was allowed to wear it. But, to this day, some 70 years later, this spirit-crushing experience remains an open wound. Whatever either Senator Do-Goody or Senator Wishbone may have done - and more is coming out every day - I’m not going to throw dirt on them. They have every right to defend themselves in the court of public opinion. I hope that eventually each of them will get his red kerchief back.

DY: In Just a Few Words (#13)

Davis Young
Jan 19, 2021

Today is a very, very good day.

Breaking News!!!

I want to share a very important experience I hope will inspire every reader of this blog.

Today is like Christmas with a touch of Thanksgiving and an early birthday celebration added for good measure. My Christmas gift is that I got my first COVID-19 vaccine shot this morning. Representing Thanksgiving is the fact I’m scheduled and all set for the second and final shot in four weeks. And, the icing on the birthday cake is that my arm feels fine. Is this a great day or what?

As I celebrate my good fortune, I remember with sadness and respect that more than 400,000 of my fellow U.S. citizens have died from COVID-19 and that right now more than 120,000 are hospitalized, many struggling to breathe and all fighting for their lives.

I’m going to work very hard not to get over-confident. Shot #1 is not a cure-all. It’s the opening salvo against the pandemic. And even Shot #2 doesn’t guarantee total immunity forever. It’s a huge step forward, but there’s work still to be done -- especially continuing with social distancing and wearing a mask for the foreseeable future. I will continue to mask up and avoid hugging you. Please control yourself and avoid trying to hug me.

Leading up to today, I thought a lot about the absolutely wonderful job our government at multiple levels has done to give everyone clear information about the COVID-19 pandemic and the vaccine. Think about how difficult a pandemic would be if there was any confusion. In addition to providing us with clear, easy-to-understand, factually based information, the feds did something else that was spot-on. They off-loaded implementation to state governments. The states in turn delegated responsibility to counties. Next on the assignment list were cities. Then entities like hospitals, clinics, schools, churches and so on. All the way down the responsibility food chain at each level was the order to develop a plan to make it happen where you are.

America now has hundreds - if not thousands - of plans to deal with the pandemic. If your neighborhood doesn’t have one yet, help is on the way. An official COVID Attack Plan is coming to a theater near you. I don’t think you can ever have too many plans. The last thing any of us should ever want is one simple template with very few instructions and the same crystal clear information that everyone understands and uses. It’s sort of like raising children. If you give them everything they want exactly when they want it, they will never appreciate the value. On the other hand, making them work for what they want generates ownership and gratitude. I’m exhausted from the work, but I’ve never been more grateful.

Facetiousness aside, Karen and I lucked into someone who is doing it right - University Hospitals of Cleveland. As our search for a vaccine shot went on, we decided to put our name on as many lists as we could. You should do that, too. We registered with our county, a couple of surrounding counties where we don’t live, a drugstore chain, a couple of hospitals, etc.

Our regular healthcare provider (not UH) put out a communication a few days ago saying demand exceeded supply by just a little bit. At the time, they had about 3,400 doses for 80,000 people in our category. Their advice to patients is to be, well, patient. Loyalty aside for the very good care they have provided in the past, we moved on in this instance, rolled the dice and contacted UH. We got right through and were scheduled. Expand the search outside your normal comfort zone.

Fast forward to this morning and into a UH building we walked. We were greeted immediately by a friendly face who directed us to a check-in desk. We were about 20 minutes early for Karen’s appointment and 30 for mine. They took down some information, verified our age and insurance and whisked us right through to a large room surrounded by work stations that had been set up for the purpose of dispensing the shot. A few more questions, the medic gave us the shot and we were sent to another area with socially distanced chairs where we sat for 15 minutes to make sure we didn’t have a negative reaction to the shot.

We left the building at 9:19 a.m., nine minutes after my appointment and 19 after Karen’s had been scheduled. Everything from start to finish was well organized, welcoming and just the opposite of what we’ve been seeing on TV. This all happened in the first hour-and-a-half of the first day of UH dispensing shots to the public. University Hospitals had done its homework. The process was seamless.

Hats off to University Hospitals. You were totally responsive and I am eternally thankful for that. Did I mention my 81-year-old arm feels just fine?

I hope this story peps everyone up a bit. We all need to hear about positive experiences on cold and cloudy January days. Keep the faith. There’s light at the end of the tunnel and if you get yourself scheduled for the vaccine, that light will no longer be a train coming at you.

If this isn’t good news, I don’t know what is.

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