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Beware the vitality gap.

“A vitality gap has opened up.”

That phrase caught my attention. Columnist David Brooks was writing in The New York Times about the Trump administration. 

“It possesses one quality I can’t help admiring: energy. … It is operating at a tremendous tempo, taking the initiative in one sphere after another.”

Brooks has written critically about President Trump and many of his policies and proclivities. But as he points out here, that level of energy is a huge asset, and very much part of the president’s nature.

Of course, we haven’t seen that same personal intensity from those who oppose parts (or all!) of the president’s agenda. That’s a problem for those who’d prefer to see our national policy go in a different direction.

They’re not the only ones, though, with a vitality gap.

You may know somebody who seems to have information down cold, who has the knowledge and experience to make that information meaningful. Who even has the right words to describe their idea, their proposal, or the results of their work. And yet, when they’re talking at a meeting or on a Zoom call, it just falls flat.

There seems to be something missing. It’s the energy.

As I tell my clients, energy trumps content every time. You can have clever ideas, stories to illustrate them, artful phrasing … and still lose your listeners’ attention. You see it happen often in meetings, conferences, and sales conversations.

It’s the energy. And some people just don’t seem to have it.

Oh, you want it in fancy French?

Brooks takes issue with what he calls the establishment; the lawyers, reporters, and government officials who ought to be “defending institutions, like the Constitution, objective journalism and scientific research centers.”

He wonders if they can “work up the necessary élan vital?”

Yes, high school French gave me a general idea of what he’s talking about. And … thank goodness for Google!

I learned a French philosopher, Henri Bergson wrote in 1907 about “a creative force that he called élan vital, which he held distinguishes heroic individuals and nations from the plodding herd.”

None of us want to be part of a plodding herd, right?

That’s why we need the energy or, if you prefer, the élan vital.

For some of us, that’s natural. Speaking with more verve and vitality may just be a matter of getting out of our own way. Taking the lid off. Letting our light shine.

Others could stand to crank it up a bit, to intentionally speak with more spirit or enthusiasm. We do that by being in our bodies.

If you’re sitting in a meeting thinking about what you’re going to say when you have a chance, worrying about who else is in the room and what they’re saying or thinking, or just wishing you were somewhere else, you need to get present, pronto.

Sense your feet on the floor, your seat in the chair. Breathe. Let your shoulders drop. Relax your body. Breathe some more.

Here’s the truth. The more present you are in your body, the more energy you have, and the more people are drawn to you. The more engaged they are, and the more receptive they are to what you’re saying.

You can crank it up even more by making eye contact with your listeners—it’s one way you exchange energy with them. If that’s challenging for you, you might go back and check what you read here recently.

If any of it sounds challenging, you’re lucky enough to know a coach who can help you get there. Here’s the bottom line. It’s not our client, prospect, or colleague’s responsibility to hear what we have to say. It’s our responsibility to communicate in a way that makes them eager to hear what we have to say and open to our plans, recommendations, and offers.

We very likely have competition. We can’t afford to have a vitality gap.

What does that mean for those in public life?

Most Democrats, Independents and those Never-Trump Republicans need to amp it up, pronto. As Brooks writes, “Democrats will do the most good if they can stop sounding like Democrats for the time being.”

The people in leadership positions need to demonstrate the same kind of spirit that Trump has in spades. And if they can’t or won’t, they need to find people in the party who naturally have it and let them emerge as the new leaders.

For them … and for us too … it’s the energy.