No You Didn’t

Recently, a Mouthpeace instructor (who asked to remain anonymous) was teaching a roomful of nonprofit executives. Towards the end of the presentation, the instructor acknowledged the long hours that the nonprofit executives worked on behalf of the community and, in an impromptu joke, thanked them for not working “banker’s hours.”

After the presentation was over, a few people lingered to ask questions, including a woman who stuck out her hand and introduced herself to the instructor…as a banker.

Take two lessons from our chagrined instructor. First, if your intention is to say something nice, do it directly and with no qualifications or sideways negativity. Thanking the audience for their community service is nice, and sufficient. A tangential comment about bankers is irrelevant and counterproductive.

Second, don’t draw unnecessary distinctions between your audience and other groups. You’ll never know everything about your audience, and the assumptions you make—like there are no bankers in a roomful of nonprofit executives—can come back to haunt you. Remember: Your goal is to get your point across. Don’t give anyone in your audience gratuitous reasons to stop listening.