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You’ve Got Less than 30 Seconds”: How Public Servants Can Find the Words to Win Back Trust

What if the key to better public communication isn't finding the right words, but keeping your mouth shut?

In a compelling hour-long conversation with former New York Times Executive Editor Jill Abramson, former Member of Congress and psychologist Brian Baird (D-WA) shared hard-won lessons from his 12 years representing a swing district—including the counterintuitive wisdom that fueled his political career: "occasionally allow yourself the luxury of an unexpressed thought.”

Baird emphasized these lessons apply beyond the 9-5 as a public servant. "Everything I'm talking about here applies personally," Baird said. "If you're having an argument with your significant other, with your neighbor, with your family member," the same principles work.

"As a campaigner, you want to tell everybody what makes you so special and why they should vote for you," Baird told Abramson during the January 14th InnovateUS workshop, part of the Amplify series to bring practical communication insights to the public sector. "The voters want someone who will listen to them."

Drawing on experience from over 350 town halls during his time in office, Baird revealed the challenge of knowing your audience that plague many well-intentioned public servants. "Most of us approach communication saying, 'what do I know that I'm going to tell them,' rather than 'what do I know about them that should guide my communication?'"

"As a campaigner, you want to tell everybody what makes you so special and why they should vote for you," Baird told Abramson during the January 14th InnovateUS workshop, part of the Amplify series to bring practical communication insights to the public sector. "The voters want someone who will listen to them."

Abramson reinforced the point from her own experience leading America's premier newsroom: "All the mistakes I made as editor of the New York Times was [sic], I talked too much and didn't listen enough."

The wide-ranging discussion tackled urgent challenges facing public communicators today, from what Baird called America's "epistemological crisis"—the breakdown in how we agree on truth—to practical techniques for explaining complex policy without condescension.

Participants also learned:

  • How to respond to angry constituents without escalating conflict (hint: never say "calm down")

  • Why digital communication requires even more emotional intelligence than face-to-face interaction

  • How reframing issues, such as talking about "saving money" instead of "climate change,” can bridge partisan divides

Baird emphasized these lessons apply beyond the 9-5 as a public servant. "Everything I'm talking about here applies personally," Baird said. "If you're having an argument with your significant other, with your neighbor, with your family member," the same principles work.

With trust in government at historic lows, Baird framed effective communication as essential to democratic survival: "Service is the unappreciated, essential ingredient for all democracies. If we don't have a sense of serving the common good, the democracy's gonna fail."

Watch the full 60-minute recording to access Baird's complete framework for communication that builds trust and bridges divides in an era of political polarization — one that over 95% of session participants would recommend to a colleague.

This workshop is part of InnovateUS's Amplify series, training public-sector professionals to communicate clearly, credibly, and effectively in a rapidly evolving information landscape.