Kansas City Royals broadcaster Joel Goldberg exemplifies what it means.
By Roy Harryman
I’m not an easy audience member to win over.
As a card-carrying member of Generation X, I’m always on the lookout for posers, narcissists and empty suits.
But Joel Goldberg, a Royals reporter, author and speaker, caused me to (temporarily) trash my cynical paradigm with his presentation on Building Trust.
I didn’t show up for the topic, but for the company (Social Media Club of Kansas City). The topic, in my mind, was actually a liability. “Trust? Right. Yada, yada, yada. Blah, blah, blah. Leadership! More blah.”
How did he convert me?
First of all, Joel has the exact same persona and manner when speaking to our group that he has on TV (or live streaming, whatever you want to call it). It was obvious he was just being himself – a rarity in our age of AI-generated hype men.
Second, Joel showed actual human emotion. He shared professional moments when he felt awkward, afraid and vulnerable (“Did I pick the right industry?”). And of course there were plenty of moments of joy.
In addition, Joel was comedic. I laughed out loud at the zany circumstances that happen when you cover a professional team year in and year out. Yet the humor wasn’t random; it was attached to the greater theme of building trust.
Most importantly, Joel delivered on his topic in a unique way. He did not give corporate platitudes about trust. Instead, he told personal stories about how he actually built and retained trust with professional baseball players. The process was not rocket science, but then again it was not easy. Humans are complex machines. There is no one-size-fits all approach to gaining our trust. We must have emotional intelligence, powers of observation and a genuine empathetic concern for the well-being of others.
Joel demonstrated practical examples of how it’s done. And for that, I’m thankful.