Present your idea that grabs people immediately
Vasi is here. Loving-behind-the-scenes-stories Vasi.
Song of the dose (related to it )
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Estimated reading time: 4 minutes, 23 seconds.
One story I read recently:
Disney offers the composer Hans Zimmer to write the music for the next animation they’re preparing.
The movie is The Lion King. Zimmer declines the offer. “It’s just that I’ve never written music for cute animated animals before, and I don’t know if I’ll find the inspiration.” the composer admits later in an interview.
However Disney insists. In the end, Zimmer reluctantly accepts.
When he starts work, the production team presents him what the main plot line of the animation is – it’s a story about a son who loses his father too soon.
This moment turns out to be key. Because this is where the real inspiration of the composer opens up. He lost his father as a child.
Discovering his personal connection to the plot, Zimmer becomes unstoppable in composing. He expresses his own emotions and personal great tragedy through the music.
Zimmer wins his first Oscar for ”Best Original Score”. And the film becomes immortal.
What’s the issue about?
Every day we have to be sellers of ideas. Ideas that we create and sell to others. They can bring us success or they can forever remain buried in another daily meeting or on some board.
They may be reluctantly accepted and ultimately remain unrealized. And they can grab our teammates in such a way that everyone unites around its implementation.
How to present your idea so that it grabs others immediately?
Usually, tech people with whom our gang conducts soft skills trainings share their ideas like this:
“Guys, I have this idea.” [shares the idea]
“But that would be difficult/ slow/ demanding.” [kills the idea]
This is a passive behavior. You’re not confident about your idea and ignore yourself.
We have also observed the other type of presentation:
“Guys, I have the best idea.” [shares the idea]
“We don’t need to talk anymore. This is what we have to do.” [kills the audience]
This is an aggressive behavior. You’re too confident about your idea and ignore others.
Both types of presentation do not work.
Every idea sharing needs 3 things
When it comes to presenting ideas that immediately grab the audience, I think we can steal some experience from those who use this skill well. The ad creators.
Dave Trott – a creative director and copywriter structures and gives a simple system. According to him, every ad needs three thing.
(something that I learned from this issue of Harry Dry’s newsletter Marketing Examples)
1. Impact: “You’ve got to get noticed”
In order for your idea to be noticed by the rest of your teammates, you need to know what they care about. It’s not about you. Every person is interested in “What’s in it for me?“.
↳ So, find the one that your teammates care about.
↳ Connect your idea to the impact they care about.
I’m now wondering what would have resulted if Hans Zimmer had been given the following description of The Lion King:
“The Lion King is an animated film that tells about the adventures of a young lion named Simba in Africa. The film follows Simba’s life from a young lion cub who is the heir to the throne, through his funny and dramatic experiences, to how he returns to the savannah to become the king of the animals.”
(↑ this is according to ChatGPT)
“It’s a story about a son who loses his father too soon“ had a much better result.
Unsurprisingly, this is one of the tips our gang gives when we see tech people who are sick of repeating the same feedback over and over again: when giving feedback → connect it to the impact they care about.
2. Communication: “You’ve got to tell me what”
A simple approach that I learn from the copywriting: Clear, not clever!
Complicated message doesn’t work for your audience. People will immediately tune out.
If you’re not absolutely clear and simple in your communications, people will lose interest, due to the fact that they don’t understand what you’re trying to tell them.
Something we advise tech teams to do is: prototype or visualize their thoughts and ideas. Use a whiteboard (or virtual one), share your screen, give similar examples or use analogies.
Focus on active listening & visualization to achieve a shared understanding. On this way, the communication will flow smoothly and everyone will be engaged.
3. Persuasion: “You’ve got to tell me why”
We are emotional creatures. People will buy your idea with emotion and then justify with logic.
We are biologically programmed to have 8 primary desires:
(according to the startup founder and CMO Dave Gerhardt)
- Survival / Longevity / Better Health
- Companionship
- Desirability / Sex appeal
- More comfort / Security / Money
- More Enjoyment of Life. Like eating out, parties, relaxation, travel, and video games.
- Prestige / Praise / Popularity
- Superiority / Winning
- Accomplishment / Pride in accomplishment
And 9 secondary desires:
- To be informed
- Curiosity
- Cleanliness of body & surroundings
- Efficiency
- Convenience
- Dependability/quality
- Express of beauty & style
- Economy/profit
- Bargains
Connect your idea to their desire or emotion close to them.
If you want to explore more on the subject
Check out this dose → What makes you influential and charismatic?
Stay Healthy, my dear Pill-er!
– Vasi
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