Older men standing at podiums telling the public what to do may be ineffective or counterproductive - CG
Jan 31, 2024, 12:47 PM
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I think, uh, in retrospect, having a whole line-up of older scientific, older men telling the public what to do,
really works to be honest. I know they weren’t all men, but they were predominantly men and I go back to where I started, I think GPs are trusted… We can communicate around complex issues. During the pandemic, I was often asked to go on the radio with a serious expert,.. and the serious expert would be asked a question, give a perfectly legitimate answer, then I would say ‘What he means is’… I think that’s what we should learn from this is to put generalists together with the specialists, and even though I knew a tenth or even a hundredth of what the specialist knew, a hundredth of a percent, I was able to communicate it because I am so used to communicating… every seven to ten minutes… Messages have to be given very simply… I wish we’d had more, sort of, women giving the messages, less standing up, less podium work… The people have a great appetite to be taken with rather than spoken at… I think the College was a very trusted voice, throughout the pandemic, certainly for general practice it was – we relied on it…
really works to be honest. I know they weren’t all men, but they were predominantly men and I go back to where I started, I think GPs are trusted… We can communicate around complex issues. During the pandemic, I was often asked to go on the radio with a serious expert,.. and the serious expert would be asked a question, give a perfectly legitimate answer, then I would say ‘What he means is’… I think that’s what we should learn from this is to put generalists together with the specialists, and even though I knew a tenth or even a hundredth of what the specialist knew, a hundredth of a percent, I was able to communicate it because I am so used to communicating… every seven to ten minutes… Messages have to be given very simply… I wish we’d had more, sort of, women giving the messages, less standing up, less podium work… The people have a great appetite to be taken with rather than spoken at… I think the College was a very trusted voice, throughout the pandemic, certainly for general practice it was – we relied on it…