Longhorn Network Tapes First ‘Game Changer’ John Daly

By Jordan Schraeder in 40 Acres on September 30, 2011 at 2:20 pm | No Comments

As the lights dimmed in KLRU’s Studio 6A, you could almost hear the echoes of Austin City Limits performances past. But, instead of the tunes of Steve Earle or Johnny Cash, the booming voice of communication studies professor John Daly filled the intimate concert venue.

Last night was the first live taping of Game Changers, a Longhorn Network show that brings the lessons of dynamic professors to the UT community beyond the classroom.

The 30-minute show features a live studio audience—this go-round, there was a wide array of faculty, staff, and underdressed students in attendance—and an introduction from none other than President Bill Powers himself.

The first academic programming to be filmed for the Longhorn Network, Game Changers aims to balance the network’s sports coverage by showing what else is offered on the Forty Acres.

On the show’s premiere, set to air Fri., Oct. 14, Professor John Daly addresses “The Politics of Ideas”—which is also the subject of his latest book, Advocacy: Championing Innovation and Influencing Others.

In Thursday’s taping, Daly gave tips for surviving in the corporate world, pausing only twice to take “commercial breaks,” which later will be filled with ads.

Among Daly’s key points was the need to change the way that we persuade to better the chances of getting an idea picked up. One of the keys, he says, is using what he calls “god terms.”

“How many of you have teenagers at home?” Daly asked the studio audience.

Several raised their hands.

“How many of them have ever said to you, ‘Mom, Dad, don’t you trust me?”

Those same people nodded knowingly with their hands in the air.

“Trust is a god term,” Daly said. “If you disagree, you are saying you don’t trust them. God terms like trust, transparency, and honesty are non-negotiable. So if you use them in a proposal, no one will want to disagree with you, fearing they will come off as non-transparent, untrustworthy, or dishonest.”

Next month’s speaker will be H.W. Brands, the Dickson Allen Anderson Centennial Professor of History at UT, who has written two books that were finalists for the Pulitzer Prize.

Professor John Daly, right, glad-hands at the recent party celebrating the release of his book. File photo by Jeff Heimsath.

Tags: ACL Live, bill powers, Game Changers, h.w. brands, john daly, KLRU, longhorn network