What Tony Snow Taught Me About Dealing With People In The Workplace...

Last weekend Tony Snow, conservative broadcaster and former spokesman for President Bush, passed away of colon cancer.  Over the weekend and this week, lots of people have and will weigh in on the great stories about Snow, what he meant to his team, etc.

For me, it's a similar situation to Tim Russert.  Regardless of political affiliation, when you see  someone repeatedly on the news and understand they're gifted and a gamer, you learn from how they handle things. 

I doubt we'll see the same level of heartfelt coverage for Snow as we did for Russert.  Snow wasn't as ubiquitous of a name in the media game and played from the conservative side rather than the middle, which means the other party will hold back a little bit on the compassion.  Still, whether you are Democrat or Republican, Snow's someone to model your professional approach by.

Here's what I learned about dealing with people from Tony Snow, specifically from him making the decision to join the Bush Administration and deal with what had become a hostile situation in the White House Press Corps:

-You Have To Be Willing to Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is - Looking back at articles, he was critical of Bush for backing down to the Democratic leaders and not being more systematic about getting his message out.  Bush reached out to him and asked him to help fix it.  By all accounts, he walked into a cesspool of a situation and did well.  Regardless of your affiliation, you have to respect a guy who is willing to get involved in what looked like a no-win situation.  Who needed to have "successor to Scott McClellan" on their resume?  Still, he took the job.  Stand-up guy....

-Stay Classy San Diego - Snow was an upbeat guy who was hard not to like.  Too many things play into this to list, but contrast him against the other talking heads within the broadcasting/political spectrum.  He was likable because he took the high road in multiple situations where he could have been chippy.  People sensed that, and cut him slack when they could have attacked him.  That's an edge any of us could use. 

-You Can Defend Without Taking It Personally - You take the job as press secretary late in the Bush presidency, you know you are going to get hammered.  By being classy and upbeat while defending the administration, Snow connected with the press corps to a much greater degree than Fleisher or McClellan.  He never took the attacks personally, seemingly moving forward with the opinion, "that's show business".

-You Can Say "I Don't Know" and Build Trust and Respect - Imagine that - saying "I don't know" when you don't know, rather than going into buzzword land.  That builds trust, respect and authenticity regardless of the positioning of those you are addressing.  Just don't say "I don't know" to every question. 

Rest in Peace Tony Snow.  Thanks for being different enough to make people notice.

Comments

[Andy]

I'll go along with your compliments for the late Tony snow, but I disagree with your comparisons to Tim Russert. Snow and Russert were not the same kind of media type. Parsing the political leanings of media is fine; we can do it all day long. But the truth is that Snow was a flack for a political ideology. Russert, at least nominally, was not. I will admit that anointing Russert as some kind of voice of the common person is a little hard to take, but he wasn't someone's press secretary.

[Joan]

The former comment posted by Andy demonstrates his lack of ignorance about Snow and his career. Tony's stint as press secretary was minimal compared to his experience as journalist, commentator, successful talk radio host, news analyst, etc etc. No matter what Tony was involved in, it was always done with class, humor, respect and grace. Andy needs to brush up on the facts and Tony's history before exercising such a shallow opinion.

[KD]

Andy - Thanks for stopping by. I noted in my post that the same wave wasn't going to come for Snow since he was clearly conservative. Don't know what else I can say, that was a part of the post...

Joan - Snow was a player, I agree. Anyone who could turn around that press corps that he inherited needed combat pay. The class and humor, I agree, was a big reason he pulled it off. Thanks for checking in...

KD