One Thought to a Rap

"One Thought to a Rap"

My Job Here is Done™ Transcript (for general use only, machine-generated and it may not be accurate.) 

Kelli (00:01) Play it.

Dave (00:01) No.

Kelli (00:02) Come on, play for everyone to hear.

Dave (00:04) No, I don't think that's a great idea.

Kelli (00:06) Don't be a wuss.

Dave (00:07) Why?

Kelli (00:09) I want Dave to play a part of an old radio air check to help set the stage for this episode.

Dave (00:15) Nobody knows what an air check is?

Kelli (00:17) Dave was a top 40 rocking disc jockey a short while back.

Dave (00:22) Short??

Kelli (00:23) Okay, so an air check is a recording of a DJ on the air and it's like an audio resume.

Dave (00:30) It's not a good resume for me.

Kelli (00:32) I like it.

Dave (00:33) Well, thank goodness that I got out of that side of the business.

Kelli (00:36) That's not true. But anyway, you learned this lesson we're talking about today from your days in radio.

Dave (00:41) That is very true. And it was a simple lesson to learn that ended up being a superpower for me.

Kelli (00:49) And me.

Dave (00:49) And it can be for you, too.

Kelli (00:52) Cue the music. Hit the post. It's time for One Thought to a Rap.

INTRO (00:57) Hi, I'm Dave, and I've been starting and running businesses all my life. And I'm Kelli, working for the man like a dog for decades. And you, are you the driven career professional, clawing your way up the ladder of success, maybe running your own business? The next 20 minutes or so is just for you. Welcome to My Job Here Is Done.

Dave (01:21) Well, hey there! Hi there! Ho There!

Kelli (01:24) Okay (laughing) 

Dave (01:26) Welcome and thanks a lot for taking a break to give us about 20 minutes of your time, I'm radio announcer Dave.

Kelli (01:32) And I'm Kelli and we talk about career success and entrepreneurial business growth on this podcast. Subscribe or follow us on your favorite app. We don't want you to miss any new episodes.

Dave (01:43) And you can also interact with the lovely and talented Kelli and I personally at our website, MyJobHereIsDone.com, and on social media at myjobpodcast.

Kelli (01:54) This is the one about brevity, clarity, and making your point memorable. It's the importance of practicing One Thought to a Rap.

Dave (02:03) I feel like I'm going to be forced to embarrass myself in our quest to make this a memorable point.

Kelli (02:10) Well, like I mentioned earlier, Dave was a disc jockey back in his late teens and early twenties. I remember it well

Dave (02:17) ...it was about ten years ago ...

Kelli (02:18) Right?Right (laughing) Yeah.

Kelli (02:20) And people often learn important life lessons very early on in their lives, and they don't realize those lessons or put them into practice until much later. But they remember them as if they happened yesterday.

Dave (02:32) And I remember One Thought to a Rap like I heard it just yesterday, and I've practiced this the best I could ever since.

Kelli (02:39) Play it.

Dave (02:40) All right.

Speaker 4 (02:44) (audio clip of Dave as DJ "Walker on the air") "It's Nine O'Clock at the rock of the Palm beaches WIRK West Palm Beach. And this is Walker getting sky high"

Dave (02:51) That was embarrassing, but that was me back in the day. If you're younger than 25 or so, you may not remember when DJs were the personality of the radio and the reason why people listened to a particular radio station.

Kelli (03:06) It wasn't just for the music. DJs took you on an entertainment ride from song to song, filling in interesting details about the artist or the meaning of the song, and about current events happening in your town or city.

Kelli (03:19) It was really very personalized and I bet you might remember your favorite disk jockeys and radio stations from back in the day.

Dave (03:27) When I was working at my first real radio job. It was a Top 40 radio station in West Palm Beach, Florida. WIRK 1290 AM. Its tagline slogan was known as the Rock of the Palm Beaches.

Dave (03:42) My boss was the program director, and that's a person who essentially programs the format of the radio station. Formats are like Top 40, Classic Rock, Country, or Easy Listening.

Dave (03:53) The PD ... Program director at the time had an on-air name of Terry Lee. Most everyone used an air name instead of their real names. Back then I used Lou Walker at some stations I worked for.

Kelli (04:06) Some Memorable American radio DJ names you might remember are Casey Kasem,

Dave (04:10) keep Reaching for the Stars.

Kelli (04:12) American Top 40.

Dave (04:14) Yeah, exactly.

Kelli (04:16) Wolfman Jack, Ryan Seacrest, Rick Party and how can we forget Delilah?

Dave (04:21) How can we forget Delilah? well ...

Dave (04:25) Terry Lee was not only the PD, but he was also the morning host. I was the night DJ on the air from seven to midnight at the time.

Kelli (04:34) Radio used to be live, and by live, I mean every song you heard was played in real-time by a live DJ.

Kelli (04:41) They ran contests on the air, played commercials, and gave their show a specific personality. Today, with the popularity of digital music, most of that personality and the classic DJs are long gone.

Dave (04:54) Sad. And so are the AM and FM radio stations for the most part, like WIRK hasn't existed for 20 years now, because of technology and entertainment.

Dave (05:06) People are just listening to their music mix on Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, and satellite services like Sirius XM.

Dave (05:14) And yes, you could still hear the occasional DJ on some of those XM stations adding some personality. But it's not local-based, it's not in your town. It's all national and very generic.

Dave (05:26) With that brief history as background, let me tell you a little about Terry Lee's insightfulness on talking on the radio as a DJ, and how a simple rule he had can be used by anyone - everywhere - who has to talk, present or convey a thought, or persuade others toward a goal or a plan.

Dave (05:46) When I was starting off in radio, I was super excited to be on the air. It was like a privilege. I listened to many of the popular DJs back then, trying to emulate them in some fashion, learning from them as I listened to the way they announced records and what they said, practicing to be tight and timely and having a natural timing so that I could sound really smooth.

Kelli (06:11) If you listen to DJs today - where you can find them - and you might have FM radio stations in your market that play music and some still have live DJs,  you'll hear those DJs sound very smooth.

Dave (06:25) And you might not even notice. But when they are talking over the instrumental intro of a song, they time themselves to finish right before the lyrics start. And that's on purpose.

Dave (06:38) It makes them sound connected to the music and they flow naturally along with the tempo and the beat, but they don't talk over the lyrics, so you as a listener can start singing right along.

Kelli (06:50) This type of timing isn't easy to do. Try it for yourself on a song, you know.

Kelli (06:55) Here's Dave on the air again with an example for you.

Dave (06:58) Really?

Kelli (06:59) Yes, really.

Dave (07:00) (audio clip of Dave as DJ "Walker on the air") "It's three twenty at WAEB and it's going to be more like winter around here, says CompuWeather. Clear and very cold tonight, low of eleven degrees, sunny and some cloudiness tomorrow high 28 to 33. It's 25 now in the Lehigh Valley at WAEB"

Dave (07:14) Notice in that last clip that I only talked about one thing... The weather.

Dave (07:20) I didn't mix it up with sports scores or the name of the song or anything else, but I wasn't always that way. When I was just starting off as a DJ, I was all over the place. I thought, hey, I'm supposed to talk, so talk I did.

Kelli (07:36) He was a talker!

Dave (07:38) A few months in, Terry came to me with a progress review and for the most part, he was very complimentary about how things were going. He did mention a fault that I had and I didn't realize it and I needed to correct it.

Dave (07:53) He said, "every time you're sitting facing another person eye to eye, just like you and I are doing right now, and you want to get your point across clearly and memorably to me, you have to speak to me with only one thought and then shut up. If you mix a bunch of thoughts together, I will become confused on what point you're trying to make for me.

Kelli (08:17) And that's very true if you think about it.

Dave (08:20) It is. And I said to him, but if you're unclear of something I just said, why wouldn't you just ask me to clarify?

Dave (08:28) Well, he said to me, "but your radio listener can't do that. They're stuck sorting out the confusion you just created."

Kelli (08:37) Mic Drop!  Clunk that was an AHA moment, wasn't it?

Dave (08:41) It was an AHA moment then and it's still an AHA moment for me decades later.

Dave (08:47) He said to fix this. Any time you get ready to open your mouth, just remember One Thought to a Rap.

Kelli (08:55) Terry Lee's rule on one thought to a rap works anywhere, not just on the radio, because the brain, any person's brain, is only half listening at best.

Dave (09:04) Or as in Kelli's case, about a quarter listening.

Kelli (09:07) Just a little bit of listening and a whole lot of not, right?

Dave (09:10) And as you speak. The brain, which is actually pretty slow at processing certain things like heard words and phrases, has to decide what's the most important thing to process at the time, and in what order, and the brain can make mistakes.

Kelli (09:25) So the antidote is to not make a person think too hard about what they just heard from you. Be succinct and precise, and you'll get your point across clearly and memorably.

Dave (09:35) Please listen closely. In the next part of this podcast, Kelli is going to try to decode the reason why the brain can make those mistakes and why listeners should concentrate on the health aspects of potentially a low-carb diet to help ensure positive attitudes.

Kelli (09:50) Say what?

Dave (09:52) That wasn't planned, was it?

Kelli (09:54) Yeah, so I don't know where this is going right now.

Dave (09:57) Okay, can you, Kelli, or you listening, recall what I just said after I asked you to please listen closely.

Dave (10:05) I mean, it was literally 5 seconds ago. I said, please listen closely in the next part of the podcast Kelli is going to ... (pause) 

Kelli (10:17) I got nothing.

Dave (10:20) You got nothing. Because I mixed up a few things that look relatable if you actually want to read it back to yourself. But in open discussion, it became confusing and not memorable.

Dave (10:33) Sad thing is, almost nobody would ask, can you please say that again? They'll just sit there, silent, confused, and hoping that time will clarify what I just said.

Dave (10:44) This is highly inefficient and absolutely not memorable.

Kelli (10:48) One thought to a rap can be used in your day-to-day life to make you a better communicator, and as a leader, make you clear on what you need and expect.

Kelli (10:57) One way to put this into practice is to stop using a single email as a laundry list of thoughts.

Dave (11:02) I hate that.

Kelli (11:03) I hate that too. Instead, send one thought to a rap in individual emails.

Dave (11:08) When we get those emails, before I read anything, I scan how long the email is.

Kelli (11:14) I do too. I go down. I'm like, I don't know. I don't think I can get through it.

Dave (11:19) TL semicolon DR - didn't read

Kelli (11:23) Too Long Didn't Read.

Kelli (11:24) Here's the little summary it's easier for people to sort, and it's clearer for people to think about one thing at a time, and it'll promote interaction and ideas.

Dave (11:34) Apply One Thought to a Rap in your presentations. If you have to use PowerPoint or any other slide-based program ...

Dave (11:42) listen to our episode PowerPoint, aka Mother's Little Helper, for a little trash talk on that topic.

Dave (11:47) Maybe more than a little.

Kelli (11:49) Yeah, a little bit more than a little.

Dave (11:51) Please do listen to that. But if you have to do a presentation with PowerPoint or otherwise have only one thought or topic you want your audience to remember. Not two, not three, just one.

Kelli (12:02) A lesson I learned later in my career follows the same train of thought.

Kelli (12:07) I wanted to share some processes and best practices, observations from my work experience at a national conference. So I decided to author a poster presentation to tell a story that was relevant to the topic of the conference.

Kelli (12:22) This was my first stab at this type of presentation and I was having some difficulty getting my thoughts cohesively and clearly on one conference-size poster, which I had to submit to the conference committee for approval.

Kelli (12:35) I struggled with it for a while and then I had an AHA moment. I didn't need to include everything I knew about the topic. I needed One Thought to a Rap and that's what I did. I created a simplistic presentation with only pertinent information in as few words as possible.

Dave (12:54) That was uncomfortable, wasn't it?

Kelli (12:55) It was!

Dave (12:56) Because you're thinking to yourself, this is just so simple, right? I'm not going to get everything across.

Kelli (13:02) Yes, but it was quickly accepted for presentation, and when I presented it at the conference, it was a huge success. And now I provide guidance to others about how to create successful presentations at national conferences and conventions.

Dave (13:17) Brevity, being clear and concise, and not mixing up different thoughts in one message may sound like it lacks efficacy. After all, it takes longer to separate things out, why not just combine them together and let the listener, your co-worker, your team, your boss, your kids figure it out?

Kelli (13:35) Hey, as soon as you added "your kids" in that mix, I bet it made a point to all parents out there, your kids aren't listening closely, so that would never work, right?

Kelli (13:45) You know that's, right?

Kelli (13:46) You could say, go clean your room and do your homework. You have to pick one or neither will get done. Choose your battle, so to speak.

Dave (13:53) And I'm not saying your boss or you as a boss are a poor listening kid.

Kelli (13:59) There is a chance though ...

Dave (14:02) (laughing) you're fired up. We're just saying that generally, we as humans are not clear in delivering messages, sales pitches, marketing Calls to Action, brand identity, or providing coaching and instruction. And it's often caused by not being clear and concise.

Kelli (14:18) So let's take a lesson from the professional radio disc Jockey's past and present.

Kelli (14:22) Before you open your mouth, think ... One Thought to a Rap.

Dave (14:27) Thanks very much for listening and allowing me to embarrass myself today. We hope you enjoyed our One Thought to a Rap story. More and more people listen each week just because of you spreading the word about our My Job Here Is Done podcast. So thank you very much for telling a friend about us.

Kelli (14:42) And please tell your friend they can follow us anywhere and everywhere. Podcasts are available using their favorite app or at our website. My job here is done dot com.

Dave (14:52) Wait, wait. What was the theme of our story today? See? It was memorable.

Chuck Fresh (15:01) I'm the announcer guy and I sound as good as the story you just listened to. My job here is done is a podcast production of 2PointOh LLC, thank you and your awesome ears for listening. Want to get involved? Have your own special story to share? Tell us all about it, and you might get some airtime, just like me. Browse over to Myjobhereisdone.com, yeah, squish that all together into one word, and look for the My Story link.

Chuck Fresh (15:30) Until next time ... My Job Here Is Done.