Sanjay Gupta, the neurosurgeon, CNN commentator and host of a Sunday morning medical program on CNN, has been named Surgeon General by President-elect Obama. There’s no question that he’s a multi-talented guy with enough energy for seven normal people, but how does he stack up as a communicator?
Another way to put the question is, given that Gupta is working around the clock to bring us health care news we can use, and saving lives as a working surgeon, why does he rub so many people the wrong way?
I like the guy, and I wish him well, but the reason that he gets up some people’s noses is that he tries too hard. Watch him arguing with Michael Moore on YouTube, and you’ll see someone who is simply moving too fast, in terms of emotions, for the average viewer to follow. One second he looks concerned, the next mildly remonstrative, the next he’s shaking his head ‘no’ and taking issue.
As I explain in my new book, Trust Me: Four Steps to Authenticity and Charisma, (http://tinyurl.com/5pq49q) authenticity derives in part from openness and connection with the audience. Gupta does well on the first criteria but not so well on the second. By letting his face telegraph a series of emotions, reactions, and opinions from nanosecond to nanosecond, he runs into a paradox. This overreaction makes it look like he’s not actually listening to the other people on screen, and by extension, his audience. As a result, we don’t feel connected with him. We feel broadcasted at – a very different thing.
One of the paradoxes of achieving authenticity in the YouTube era is that you must work at it. Just being yourself won’t work – you’ll look clumsy, awkward, or, in Gupta’s case, over the top. He needs to throttle back, cool down, and slow his reactions to allow the audience to enter into a discussion with him.
You make a very valid point about the paradox of “authenticity” on YouTube or television (as I learned long ago). I was asked to co-host a popular noontime variety show, and was of course thrilled. I had a grand time – until my friends asked me after the show why I was mad at Steve (my co-host). I thought they were pulling my leg until I watched the tape of the show, and realized that whenever I looked at him from under my dark thick eyebrows, my eyes would flash and I looked angry even if I wasn’t. On television (or YouTube) you need to be aware of, and manage, your facial expressions to convey what you’re feeling – not just what the camera is capturing!