Special Ingredients

Recently I attended a concert that was a celebration of the songs of Frank Sinatra. The singer had a pleasant voice. The song selection was good and the band behind him was strong. Watching the performance, I recalled a story I once read about Sinatra that happened many years ago. He had left the Tommy Dorsey orchestra and been on his own for several years. In an interview, Dorsey was asked about the singer he hired to replace Sinatra - Dick Haynes. "I don't understand it," Dorsey said. "He's (Haynes) doing the same songs with the same arrangements but somehow it's different." Indeed. This is not meant as a criticism of Haynes or of the singer I saw the other night. They were and are fine. But they were and are no Sinatra.

As much as anything when it came to doing what he did best, Sinatra's greatest strength was his ability to communicate. As a communicator of lyrics - upbeat or sad - he was credible. He was believable. Lots of singers, past and present, have and have had great voices. Lots of singers, past and present, perform and have performed great songs. But one would be hard pressed to name any as consistently credible as Sinatra when it came to communicating the essence of a particular song. It was his great gift and our great treasure. In the world of communication, Sinatra's talent represented the ultimate goal of any one's attempt to connect with others.

It is tempting and perhaps a bit accurate to characterize Sinatra's gift as pure and simple magic. But the fact is throughout his 60 year-long career Sinatra worked extremely hard at his craft and at maintaining his level of excellence. Even with the magic that was him, he would not have been nearly as successful as he was without also having a very strong work ethic. Communicators everywhere can and should take note of this. Being consistently credible, personable, engaging and inclusive in how one communicates takes practice, practice and more practice. It also requires a commitment to expanding one's base of knowledge. Those are the so-called special ingredients that go into successful communication. The career of Ol' Blue Eyes serves as a perfect example.