Why has the US bailout failed?

Was the US bailout package the right thing to do? Probably. Should the bill have been passed by the House of Representatives? Probably. So why didn’t it? Everyone agreed it was critical to the future of the American economy.  

Poor presentation of key messages resulted in 100-1 American citizens against the bill. From the name of the package to the average Joe’s understanding of what was actually on the table, it was flawed before it even got to ‘the House’. 

A bailout in financial terms is pretty simple if you are on Wall Street. A bailout to the average Joe means the fatcats from the biggest banks in the world are being helped by the US Government even though their last paycheck was in the $m’s.

Of course it hasn’t passed – it was so poorly positioned that the state representatives couldn’t ’sell’ the real facts of the package to their constituents. The government doesn’t understand the core concerns of ‘Main Street’ and therefore can’t reassure any fears they may have. 

In such a fast moving market and when pressure is at its highest levels for decades, selling a message quickly is of paramount importance.  The pressure is on businesses to keep morale high over the coming months of uncertainty. 

Communication is key and manager’s ability to think on their feet  will mean the difference between positive and negative strategic messages being cascaded.  

Here are three tips to communicate with confidence:

1. Identify core concerns
2. Address those concerns
3. Cascade strategic messages clearly.