Telepathy Does Not Work
The one thing I know is that telepathy does not work. It may work for rats. But, it does not with Regulators, Politicians, and journalists.
If you want to persuade regulators, politicians, the press, and indeed the public, there really is only one way to do, and that is going out to talk to them.
Brussels – Worshiping a Strange Religion
Now that may sound like heresy to some. I am sure there are religions that believe in telepathy. I am very dull and I have not worked out how to persuade anyone to support my position without talking to them. But, Brussels is full of adherents to a secret religion who believe that the channeling of thoughts, better known by their practioners as telepathy, works.
How We Take In Information
I never found that letters and position papers did the trick. It’s not that because many of the letters sent are seemingly designed to wind up the reader and are quickly put in the bin. No, it is far simpler. We as a species take in information in different ways. Some people learn well by reading text, others love excel sheets of data, others images, and others film. Many people who do well in exams take in information through written words and data.
The key is that different people look at things differently, and more importantly they take in information differently. Now, the really interesting thing is that if you combine all these ways of taking in information together, your audience really start to take in a lot of information.
When you see this in action, you’ll be amazed at why anyone sends mass produced letters out anymore.
Start from they are, not where you want them to be
A lot of things are complex and hard to understand. But as a finer scientist than I put it “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it properly” (A.Einstein).
The excellent cartoon –book about the life of “Richard Feynman” – I was struck that a man who had a noble prize insisted in giving an introduction physics course each year to undergraduates. He thought this was the best way to really find out if you really know your subject. Indeed, Professor Feynman took 3 years of re-writing QED to realize that he actually understood the subject.
It is not easy dealing in the currency of clarity and making your case crystal clear. If it was not easy for Professor Feynman it is unlikely going to be easy for you. But, just because something is not easy is no reason to try it.
Now, there are plenty of others who can do it. Hans Rosling makes population statistics seem like a fast paced novel. Bjorn Lomborg has Danish university students crashing his lectures to learn a statistics. There are others.
What do these great communicators have in common?
The most obvious is they have a love of knowledge and a love of communicating it. Not talking about the issue, let alone doing a PowerPoint, no, they have a love of helping their audience take in and learn about the issue.
They don’t assume their audience has a PhD in the field. They do assume the audience is well educated and open minded enough to listen. And, then they win them over, by entertaining them, using emotions like humour and fun, they communicate to all the senses and they genuinely love what they are talking about.
If you want to see population statistics made fun watch Hans Rosling.
Values
It is not surprising that people look at things in different ways. I for the life of me could never understand why an advertisement about dancing cars would persuade me to part with my money and buy one. I am pining for a VW Passat estate, drawn closer to the Dark Force by ads like this.
Now, if the hard to read Maslov is too much for you, you can find more about value communication here.
It is all pretty obvious when you think about it. You’d hardly use the same talking points when you meet a Portuguese Communist politician as you would when you met a fiscally prudent Swedish conservative. These two people have very different values and see things very differently. Something that may resonate with the Communists, would if repeated on the Swedish Conservative likely cause them to vote against you on principle
But, as I have learnt, if you appeal to each person through their set of values, rather than your own, and adjust your messaging to help it make sense to them, you will then land up with an odd rag tag bag alliance of Portuguese Communists and Swedish Conservatives and everything in between supporting your case, but all from different perspectives.
They may not support you for the reasons you believe in, but that’s not the point. Winning the vote is the point and everything else is details.
Speak – On time and often
Now, it’s obvious that, in particular for the press, if they don’t know about you it is going to be very hard for them to contact you and write your side of the story. It’s going to be even harder for them to add your side of the story if you call them 48 hours after the story has run.
Now, showing your expertise to journalists is not too hard. You can have a blog where you write frequently and show off your expertise.
You can have coffee with them and get to know them and see how you can help them. If you can make the issue clear they’ll be very grateful.
And, you can even give them a heads up about some new development you expect will happen, and give then your take.
Now, the only side effect is that you’ll get more positive stories, and you’ll even find sometimes your own writings used extensively. Someone else can take the credit, and your story is told and written by someone else.
If Not You – Someone Else
Sometimes the best person to talk for your case is not you. Often the best voice is a customer who is more an evangelist than you.
The best is the unexpected convert; the person everyone thought is against you, who then turns up speaking for you.
Often we bring out a scientist. Having worked at WWF they loved to bring out scientists. They are great but only if what they are saying make sense. They can all too often think that sea of faces of politicians have passed a course in applied statistics.
It’s very easy to do.
The easiest way to do this is to go out and start talking. There are no successful sales people who don’t go and speak to their customers. If you don’t call or meet people, it will nearly be impossible to make the sale.
Now, it is true you’ll make mistakes, but we all know that the best way to learn and improve is to make mistakes. Some of the mistakes will be embarrassing, this won’t be plain sailing.
I’ve found videoing yourself giving a talk is a good way to learn to improve. You can do it in the comfort of your own home and watch, grimace at your mistakes and re-do.
You can borrow a trick from politicians. The best candidates do dress rehearsals. They get cross examined by stand ins, they do this until they get it right. It’s a great technique for ironing out any creases, to make sure what you’re saying makes sense not to you, but to your audience.
The best way is to go out and do it. Get objective and tough feedback. Practice, practice some more, and keep on practicing.
The entry price for expertise is high – it’s likely to be several thousand hours. It is not something you do once.
Key to Human Progress
Communication is the key to human progress. It is in fact essential. If we do not speak to people, it is impossible that we‘d ever meet our partners, let alone produce children, it is so key, that the idea of not trying it is inhumane. Peace came to Northern Ireland by people who thought they hated each other talking to each other. When they sat down and spoke Peace broke out. It is a powerful tool worth trying.