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In the academic world,
we're used to thinking of two kinds of domains.
We think of the sort of hard domains
and the sort of soft, fuzzy domains.
The hard domains are areas in which we're dealing
with numbers, facts, dates, things that are hard and fast
and that everybody can rely upon and agree upon.
So that's, for instance,
physics, or chemistry, or mathematics.
And then, the soft, fuzzy domain
is the area of aesthetics, or human interaction,
which we can't always be sure of what's right and wrong.
So they're talking about psychology, maybe art,
and music, and literature, those sorts of things.
Now, I'm applying for a position, as you know,
of speech communication instructor
at Clover Park Technical College.
You're apt to think that that falls
in the soft, fuzzy domain.
But I'm going to demonstrate to you
in the next few minutes that in reality,
I have three things that you can really count on
that show why you should hire me instead of the other candidates
that you're going to consider.
Those three things that I'm gonna mention are:
quantity, quality, and personality.
Let me talk first about quantity.
I come to you with a great deal of experience
as someone who observes, and assesses,
and responds to public speeches.
In fact, in the year since 2000,
I've already assessed about 11,000 speeches
by students, by members of corporations,
by community members, and others.
In the course of my career,
I've made more than 30 conference presentations
to professional groups.
Topics have dealt with education, of course,
with human relations, technology,
international education,
and certainly speech communication.
I've edited two books,
and I've written more than 30 professional publications
in journals, in magazines, in newspapers,
including the Journal
of the American Association of Community Colleges.
I hosted 55 sessions
of an international intercultural television program
on KLEW-TV in Lewiston, Idaho, which is a CBS affiliate
at a leadership...pardon me, not a leadership,
but a viewership of about 180,000 people
in Washington, Idaho, and Oregon.
I can't claim that all 180,000 of them were watching my show,
but it reached 180,000.
And I've written more than 50 monthly articles
for business journals,
including Wenatchee Business Journal,
the Everett Business Journal,
and the Lewiston Morning Tribune.
Those are examples of quantity.
Now, let me talk about quality.
The quality of my learning over the years
is represented by the fact that I've lived
in several parts of the world besides the United States,
and at one point or another,
I was able to either study or work
in four languages other than English.
Those were German, Dutch, Norwegian, and Korean.
I've also had quality experiences
in learning and being able to use Spanish, Japanese,
a little bit of Arabic, and Chinese characters.
As a faculty member,
the quality of my work has been rated very highly.
I refer you to Andrea Libresco of Hofstra University
who was giving a speech
to a student going into an honor society there.
Who said, "Without logic, no one will be persuaded.
Without magic, no one will care."
What she's saying is that in any endeavor,
if you don't have a mixture of the factual,
and the sentimental, or the emotional,
then you're probably not going to be successful.
George Vaughan and Jim Palmer wrote in their book in 1991,
"Enhancing Teaching and Administration
through Scholarship,"
that indeed these hard skills and soft skills
are equally important in education.
So those are some examples of quality.
Let me move on now to personality.
My motto since 1971 has been,
"The good is always the enemy of the better."
What I mean by this is that when I start to feel satisfied
that I've accomplished something,
I try to avoid becoming complacent and satisfied.
And instead, I try to push myself harder,
so I can go to higher heights.
And as a faculty member,
this means trying to serve students better.
I tend to be very positive and optimistic in my outlook.
I'm patient.
I tend to judge other people negatively
only as a last resort.
When I think back to when I saw the Will Rogers Memorial
on the slopes of Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado,
high above the plains of eastern Colorado,
with the wind blowing, and...the beautiful sunshine,
and the clear skies there,
I was struck by the insignia on Will Rogers' tomb,
which said, "I never met a man I didn't like."
I try to operate that way myself.
What I'd like to convince you of,
what I believe I've convinced you of,
is that in reality, there are these three reasons
why you should hire me.
And in fact, if you simply do the math,
you'll see that quantity, plus quality, plus personality
equals Venditti.
[audience laughing/applauding]