Olaf Scholz: "Fabric softener" without charisma?

Management coach misses important Merkel quality

Created: 05/18/2022, 09:23

By: Marc Beyer

Is Olaf Scholz taking the right course with his reticence in the Ukraine conflict?

The population is divided.

© Abdulhamid Hosbas / Anadolu Agency /dpa

Andreas Bornhäußer coaches executives.

The expert sees significant deficits in communication with the SPD chancellor - and explains why he thinks he is too soft.

Munich – Olaf Scholz gives big interviews, gives speeches to the nation, recently he even got loud.

The communication of the Federal Chancellor has changed noticeably in the last few weeks of the Ukraine conflict.

Andreas Bornhäußer explains exactly how.

The Berlin media coach trains leaders from business, politics and culture who want to improve their public image.

Mr. Bornhäußer: On May 8, Olaf Scholz gave a speech to the nation, a public appearance by many in recent weeks.

Was the chancellor as you know him?

Andreas Bornhäußer:

Absolutely.

He remains true to himself and his communication style.

I really had to smile.

If you compare that speech to the February 24 televised address, he originally read the same sentences.

The order was just different.

This is the fabric softener Olaf Scholz, who behaves in a politically correct way.

Weren't his sentences at least shorter this time, and also more understandable?

Bornhäußer:

I remember a speech at the SPD party conference where he tried to express emotion.

He also used short sentences.

Staccato, staccato, then he added the Napoleon spring step.

Always on tiptoe, hoping that it will add weight to his words.

But don't do it, because he lacks voice.

And by the way, shorter does not automatically mean more understandable.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz?

"Unlike Merkel, he lacks the daddy gene"

There have already been performances where people asked afterwards what he actually said.

Bornhäußer:

But what did he say this time?

"It's a difficult situation, we made clear decisions, we're not sure if the decisions are right, the future will show that" - that's what he left us.

But he already did that at the end of February, and in the Bundestag too.

He just knocked out a polarizing vocabulary.

The turning point?

Bornhäußer:

Yes, he used it twice.

How does the chancellor appear to you overall?

And how do you think it affects the general public?

Bornhäußer:

He looks like Merkel's successor to me.

That's how he was elected.

One that has an integrative appeal and impact.

In contrast to Merkel, however, he lacks the father gene.

Mom always sorted it out somehow.

Olaf Scholz cannot give me the feeling that he will fix it too.

I believe voters actually chose him because they hoped he could succeed the integrative figure.

Now they have this level-headed representative, but would like someone who also speaks up.

Media expert: "Olaf Scholz far removed from a charismatic personality"

So it's too quiet for the citizens?

Bornhäußer:

Let me quote Helmut Schmidt, albeit not quite word for word: charismatic politicians are needed because they will increasingly be required to sell, or at least communicate, unwelcome decisions to the citizens.

Olaf Scholz is far, far, far away from a charismatic personality.

In contrast to Merkel, he still attaches importance to media presence, especially in the last few weeks.

Can he convey his politics convincingly?

Bornhäußer: In

my opinion, not.

He lacks what Robert Habeck does very well: he explains.

Habeck says it will be necessary to make such and such a decision.

He says: "And we will all pay our price for it, let's face it!" Those are clear words.

I don't hear that from Mr. Scholz.

I think he's losing voters more and more.

His team, one hears, wants to start right there: communication, explanation.

Do you feel the effort?

Bornhäußer:

Yes, of course.

However, from my point of view, this is mainly due to the effort to be politically correct.

There is no polarization there.

If I were to give three ratings to the three politicians that you see and hear most often in the media - Baerbock, Habeck and Scholz - then I would say: Joan of Arc, explainer bear and fabric softener.

He tries hard.

But when I was a student, I tried my best to be punctual.

Andreas Bornhäußer, media coach.

© FKN

Olaf Scholz: Does the Chancellor have a voice problem?

Coach Watches "Funeral Orations"

How has his communication changed since he's a wartime chancellor?

Bornhäußer:

Not at all.

In our team, we make this a topic again and again.

If he were my coachee, the first thing I would do with him is proper voice training.

So that he is able to support his statements tonally as well.

Not only short, but also clear and pointed.

With the breaks, it's a bit better now that he uses them in a targeted manner.

But do you have the feeling at any point that someone is really getting upset?

At least his choice of words now seems more pointed.

The "barbaric" war of aggression, Putin's "infamous" falsification of history.

Bornhäußer:

He has already tried that in the Bundestag.

But we are now talking about its effect.

His eloquence, his choice of words, it's all okay.

What is completely missing is the expression of a person who literally underlines what he says.

My dad always says, "Can't he stop doing his funeral eulogies?" And my old man is 86.

There was the May Day speech at the DGB rally in Dusseldorf, where he had to yell at a crowd.

Did he only do that for acoustic reasons - or did something loosen up in him?

Bornhäußer:

It's the combination.

If you yell at a crowd and you feel like the crowd doesn't respect you, eventually you'll start to get angry.

And then you may lose control and scream.

Many people have probably never seen the chancellor like this before.

Bornhäußer:

Not afterwards either.

I saw this eight-minute speech on May 8th and asked myself: Does that really move him?

He delivered the vocabulary.

But he says "barbaric" (speaks deliberately emotionless) and not "barbaric" (overdramatic).

I would start there.

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