Writin’ Dirty: [rahy-ten dur-tee] a presenter’s use of slang, dialect, or pop cultural phrasing to develop rapport with a demographically cooler or younger audience.
Street cred is important, and here’s why: in the 80’s, listening to your hard mix of thug rap and hip-hop jams meant hoisting a 20 lb. boom box on your shoulder, which in turn caused that gangsta shuffle (which your chiropractor more correctly calls spinal curvature) that made the ladies go wild. That meant that every person who had a street streak kept it on the street, and a lot of streetness went untapped.
Today, little, tiny, white iPod buds are bringing the street inside the marbled halls of Corporatedom. You don’t know who’s street and who isn’t. (Hint: thickness of coke-bottle glasses isn’t necessarily negatively correlated with rap affinity). As you stand on stage gazing out at a seemingly docile group of people swaddled in khakis, blazers, and turtlenecks, you should be aware that anywhere between 2/3rds and 3/4ths of them may actually be freaky deaky. Of those, half may be getting inked after the presentation, and that includes your secretary of 30 years. The other half spent last year’s Christmas bonus getting spinnaz on their cars.
Failing to insert slang and edgy content into a presentation is an excellent way to imitate the adults from a Peanuts cartoon. Have any young people in the sales force? You already look like their parents, so try not to sound like them.
(Warning: one decade’s dirty is another decade’s old person talk. Never say that’s whack, yo! or the word jiggy on stage. Hire a relevant person to do it for you if you get scared).
The Takeaway: Be relevant. Be current. But be aware of your limits and your knowledge: street cred dependent on slang and edginess is rickety scaffolding indeed. What matters more is your sincere, informed, authentic voice delivering worthwhile content to an audience you understand. True street cred isn’t in the words. It’s in your rapport with the audience.
