Podcast - Episode 0102 - Becoming An Excellent Communicator

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In this episode Joel and Antonia unpack a model for becoming an excellent communicator from the book Made To Stick.

In this podcast you’ll find:

How do you communicate what you believe and how you want the world to be? How do you get that message out? Can we become better communicators in general?

One person may be very certain of the rightness of their position. but when pressed they struggle to back up their position, then succumb to faith as the reason they know something to be a fact. These usually respond with frustration when they cannot convince another of their conviction.

Religion often teaches they have the ultimate truth and endeavor to share it with others. They believe that if others have the right heart conviction they will know “the Truth.” If someone doesn’t see the truth it is because they have the wrong heart condition.

“I”m right and if you can’t see it, you must have bad intent. There’s something wrong with you since you cannot agree with me.”

“You should still agree with me, even if I’m not making a very convincing argument.”

That is the opposite of how reality works. These people expect you to borrow their conviction and be convinced even though it isn’t authentic to you.

When children borrow parent’s convictions it is not sustainable. Kids hand that power to parents and parents are able to convince them from birth, but eventually the kid will choose their own path.

The reality is that if we have a conviction that we want to convince others of, the onus is on us to be convincing. If we can’t convince others, we should not be questioning their intent, but to ask ourselves how can we have done a better job to be more convincing?

Not about brainwashing others. But inspiring others.

We want to spark an Intuitive Awakening Movement to encourage people to see and acknowledge the need for global change and a more desirable model for human interaction.

The onus is on us to be persuasive. It’s not about judging others when they don’t buy our conviction.

“You are responsible for the success of your customer in the products and services they purchase from you.”

“Made to Stick” by Chip & Dan Heath – step by step guide to guarantee your message is sticky. They break down the key components that make an idea successful – 6 components of a sticky meme.

Acronym – SUCCES

SIMPLE – What is the core simple nugget you are trying to get across? If they forgot everything else, what is the one thing they could take away?

Here at PH, our simple message is grow your copilot cognitive function. If you do that one thing you will have a lot of success. Southwest airlines tagline is “The Low Fare Airline.” They give this message to clients, customers and employees. Employees can be quirky and fun as long as it doesn’t hurt the bottom line.

UNEXPECTED – Break the frame of your listeners.

Las Vegas strip has people who try to hand out ads for brothels and strip clubs. They slap the cards on their hands loudly before they hand you the card. This startles people and breaks them out of their frame just prior to receiving a potentially objectionable advertisement. When someone breaks our frame, we are designed to become more open to suggestion.

CONCRETE – Very specific and tangible. Can be a challenge for iNtuitives. How do you make it approachable to people who don’t like to deal with intangibilities? Use sensory language. Tactile.

“Burning the candle at both ends.” “I’m at the end of my rope.” Tangible expressions of abstract concepts.

It is often hard for iNtuitives to be concrete.

Youtube video on the Ladder of Abstraction.

Language in Thought and Action by Hayakawa.

What are some of the markers of something being truly concrete versus something being really abstract?

If you want to be an excellent communicator the idea of making things concrete is important.

Sticky is such a wonderful sensory word. The book has masking tape all over to indicate stickiness.

CREDIBLE – We can’t just assume people are going to believe something just because we said it. Point to some research that supports our point.

This is tough for softer sciences like what PH does. What we have done to establish credibility is to have an open 30 day return policy. This is what we have to do to give ourselves credibility. We don’t have a mountain of scientific research to support Meyers – Briggs, so people need to know that they can try it and if it’s not for them then there’s nothing lost. In our particular field we have to make sure we are giving the highest quality information and we are speaking with integrity.

EMOTIONAL – To be sticky something has to have emotional appeal.

“People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” Nobody cares about metrics and data until they know how much you care for them as an individual.

Your credibility is the tail of the comet of emotion and, personal connections. We all need to keep in mind how our message benefits the other person, not just ourselves. People cannot borrow your conviction.

“Don’t Mess with Texas” – anti-littering campaign. It got absorbed in the identity and got co-opted for other things as well.

STORIES – Narratives are powerful. We are more likely to remember a story than a random list of facts and figures. People love stories! That is how we translate our info.

Stories afford an opportunity to simulate what you are talking about for the other person. When you are trying to get somebody to understand your message, a story will help them mirror your message. Stories also inspire. Movie “Rudy.”

SUCCES:

• Simple
• Unexpected
• Concrete
• Credible
• Emotional
• Stories

We here at PH believe everyone is fundamentally wired differently. Take this model and use it to communicate with people and it becomes a powerhouse of communication.

Continue exploring type so you can gain the knowledge you need of the different types. Identify your demographic. Speak their language.

We keep things simple. Cognitive Function stacks can be complicated. We try and make it more achievable to the general audience.

We take typology and use it for personal development, which most people don’t do.

Intuitive Awakening Movement is too abstract. A need for more concrete messaging around it.

Our content has a low level of scientific credibility, and yet we have tried to make it credible by providing value up front.

Dario Nardi’s work with Cognitive Functions.

This is not hard science.

People massively over identify with their personality type. It is way past the law of diminishing returns. Everybody’s experiences will vary, but everyone thinks they are the representative for their type. “MY type is .” There are hundreds of millions of every type, so there is going to be variance. What is the chorus saying, not the individual?

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