Trending
As you watched the two candidates for governor debate, be honest here. Did you get a sense of what type of human being there really were? The guess from this corner is a big no. After all the side they had to show had really nothing to do with them personally. Nobody ever asked them what kind of ice cream they liked or their favorite Motown song.
By design it was all business. Answer the questions. Jab at the opponent to show you are a fighter which their consultants told them the focus groups wanted to see. The handlers also programmed them to use their body language to send another signal of a strong leader etc.etc.etc. The point is the debates were a high stakes performance with little room to display anything that even hinted of softer or other human traits.
I ran this little theory past one of those performers as Gov.-elect. Jocelyn Benson prepared to sit in a comfortable chair to engage in her first extended televised interview on Off the Record. Did she agree that any semblance of revealing your personality or other human attributes was left in the Green Room before the debates? The answer came quickly. “Oh yes.”
The TV exchange was an attempt to show some of that which the voting public had little chance of seeing. The interview wasn’t one minute in when it became clear this exchange would be different.
One of the first delightful reactions was when she laughed and hide her face. Ya never saw that in a debate.
You see she recalled before the cameras rolled days before that she was coming “full circle” by doing her first interview as the new governor. Back in 2009, she ran for Secretary of State for the first time and the very first interview she did was on the same Michigan Public TV program.
When told the producers had found that tape, she in effect said she had figured out that in advance and prepared for the worse with the head hiding.
As the tape rolled, the reporter asked her, “Are you going to run for governor?”
She quickly opined that she was running for SOS, but she was pressed for a more direct response. She eventually admitted she was not interested in so many words. The reporter noted, “we’re going to save this tape” from March 27th 2009 not knowing that it would re-appear 17 years later with her being the 50th governor of Michigan in waiting.
She had another good laugh with the follow up inquiry. “If you weren’t interested then (and she truly was not) when did you get interested in being the head of state government?
Turns out in was after the 2022 election when her need for public service kick in big time. She knew she had reformed her office which was notorious for long lines and citizen frustrations that were off the charts and was noticing that other state government departments appeared to need more attention and she felt she could deliver there, too.
She also reveals she has already contacted all of the living former governors minus one because “there are few people who have worked this path” and she smartly wanted to see where they may have stumbled.
I want to going in know what pitfalls the others perhaps felt along the way so I can avoid those and for good measure she adds, “I know that neither political party has all the answers,” and it is only through collaboration that problems can be solved. She likes that notion and promises to practice it seeking to develop bi-partisanship solutions to advance her and stuff lawmakers want to do.
And then this striking and revealing personal disclosure.
In a political world where a whole bunch of players want to be in the spotlight and command attention from an audience, turns out that is certainly not her. You never would have heard this statement on the campaign trail.
“I’m very much an introvert and I’m a little bit shy. That’s always been hard for me in crowds to feel like people want to hear from me,” she discloses. Some might say it takes a bunch of personal confidence and inner strength to put that out there for your to hear.
She expands on the theme.
“I’m a proud introvert. It has made me a better listener which is really important for service and for leading and being a collaborative leader…I don’t need to go in and command a room with a great speech or connecting with everyone but I have to go in a room and listen to what people have to say to me so I can figure how to best help them…That’s where I get energy and inspiration. It reminds me of why I’m dong this even if it’s hard for me to get out there and do a crowd…”
Imagine what impact that might have had on voters trying to decide which candidate to support. But to belabor the point, debate questions are rarely designed to solicit that revealing reveal.
On another front, remember Ms. Benson is not a creature of the legislature and with 148 lawmakers to deal with, she is undertaking a crash course of “getting to know you.”
“I hope by the end of January I will know all of them” visa vie lunches and dinners “with all lawmakers…I want to know why they are serving” which will be on her menu.
Her selection of Lt.Governor-elect Winnie Brinks will help immensely in the effort to create and foster new relationships and there will be a bunch of them. She has been the senate Democratic leader and knows most the players but even she will have to get to know 23 new members of the state senate out of 38 and over in the House there are also 23 new members out of 110 members.
Ms. Benson’s journey begins on a note of optimism and a bit of history to boot.
For the first time, two women are at the top of the pecking order of power in state government. For the first time in decades, the citizens have stayed with the political party that was in power for eight years. Previously voters have voted for one party and two terms later, they plunked for the other guys.
So with an impressive 40 marathons under her felt, she launches into what she hopes is an eight year run.
In another candid personal disclosure she concedes that before every one of those races, “I always doubt on whether I can finish it. I always get nervous…and then one foot in front of the other you achieve your goal.
This willingness to reveal her inner feelings at the outset seems like a pretty good first step toward the success she hopes to deliver for you.
To judge for yourself what she is like. Please go to WKAR.org and click on this program. Enjoy.