Smith's new tactics....

Some of us remember Smith when he brought the Proteas to Australia three years ago, all fire and brimstone, bad mouthing everything in Aussie and getting his words well and truly shoved back down his neck. This tour has been so different (and the results too) as he has come over so well with the Media and public, that, now with a broken hand, he was walking around the boundry and he gets a standing ovation from the public at the Sydney Cricket ground. This is an interesting artical I found on the topic..

It has taken a while, but SA cricket captain Graeme Smith, has finally discovered one of the world's most powerful communications tools that leaves the competition dumbstruck.

It's called humility.

And hopefully, our politicians and business leaders will, like Smith, also come to the conclusion that in these radically changed times, humility has replaced grandstanding, aggression, confrontation and even slick salesmanship as the best way of staying ahead of the competition.
The past year has seen an acceleration in the way consumers all over the world have changed in terms of their attitude toward politics and businesses.

Effective communication

So, these days when politics and business want to persuade voters and consumers to but their ideology, products and services, they'd better look closely at the way Graeme Smith is talking to his team, the competition, the media and the cricketing public.
What Smith seems to have realised is that effective communications is not just about getting those who are listening to him to understand what he is saying but to be inspired and motivated by what he is saying.
His change of communications strategy from aggressive, tub-thumping confrontation to humility has been praised by the media, particularly in Australia, and has clearly caused a lot of discomfort in the Australian cricket team who were expecting Smith to try and out-sledge them.