Dr. Michael Gerharz, Autor auf The Art of Communicating

What we want to be known for

It’s a very noisy world. And we’re not gonna get a chance to get people to remember much about us. – Steve Jobs

It is indeed a very noisy world and I think Steve Jobs’ take from 1997 has only grown in importance since back in the days when he said those words to introduce the “Think different” campaign.

The world is not going to remember much about us. Which is why we need to make sure that it remembers the right things. The things that we truly stand for and that we are proud to be associated with so that it fuels our motivation and inspires our actions.

This is not to be confused with a fancy sounding marketing slogan. Fancy is great. But it’s not the point – let alone the starting point.

The starting point is that people need to be able to find an anchor in our message.

To achieve that, we don’t need fanciness but clarity: Clarity about what we want to be known for and why that would matter to our audience.

With that clarity, we’ll be in a much better position to find the best wording that turns that clarity into a fancy slogan.

First comes clarity about what we want to be known for, only then comes the genius marketing plan, the communication strategy, and the actual implementation.

Selling diamonds

All too often, corporate messaging suffers from – let’s be straight – bullshitting. Promising the blue from the skies, using fluffy statements, and decorating vague claims with some sweet candy and cream.

One of the reasons for this is that these corporations think that great messaging can fix inferior products.

And maybe it can.

But I think it pays much more to fix your product first. To make sure that you’re actually selling diamonds.

If you’re selling a diamond, you don’t need to decorate it. You wouldn’t even want to. You much rather polish it to surface its pure beauty. You wouldn’t ever hide it underneath layers of fluff and stuff to make it appear more beautiful. It’s already pure beauty.

When you’re selling a “diamond” product, your communication becomes way easier. You just need to speak the truth, in plain English, making clear statements and bold promises.

If they knew what you know …

Would they buy your product?
Would they follow your recommendation?
Would they feel valued by your offer?
Would they approve of the way you achieve the goal?
Would they agree that your price is justified?

Great communication fixes your product. It’s the easiest tests you can make: Tell the truth and then listen.

The “must” zone

Some jobs carry stricter regulation than others. When you’re a doctor, you must adhere to hygiene standards. As a banker, you must comply with regulatory requirements. As a teacher, you must respect the examination guidelines.

And you do.

But I bet these boundaries are not the reason you chose to become a doctor, a banker, a teacher (or whatever it is in your case).

And yet, some organizations sooner or later cross the tipping point where they obsess over the boundaries to pivot into the “must” zone. The zone where it feels that the boundaries are the point. Where the whole policy is about what you “must do” and “shall not do”. About what “you’re obliged to do” and “forbidden to do”.

These companies have lost sight of why these boundaries exist: To avoid the common pitfalls. To help you focus on your job without having to think through every tiny aspect every. Single. Time.

When you embrace boundaries in that sense they can become a huge accelerator. It allows an organization to obsess over the reason people choose the job.

But when an organization has entered the “must” zone, the boundaries easily become the source of major frustration among the people who work in the organization.

Accurate beats nice

In data visualisation, accurate beats nice every single time.

The designers of this chart thought it would look nicer to have rounded curves in between data points:

Only that the chart, which visualizes downloads per day, is now inaccurate. It suggests that the peak number of downloads is here:

when, in fact, it’s not. The peak is exactly at the blue spot to the right of the arrow. Since this is a visualization of a discrete data set (downloads per day), in fact, there are not even any data points in between the blue points at all. It just doesn’t make sense to assume that any day could lie between two consecutive days. Therefore, it’s inappropriate to suggest that higher data points exist. They can’t. They don’t. The max number of downloads is at the position of the blue spot to the right of the arrow.

By trying to make the chart look more beautiful, the designers have made it wrong. They’ve compromised accuracy for the sake of making it look nicer. And so they destroy trust in the data.

When in doubt, always choose accuracy. Trust isn’t created by beauty, it’s created by saying what you mean. This chart doesn’t say what it means. (The irony being that to me an accurate chart would look just as nice, just not with rounded curves; clearly a personal taste thing.)

The Cult of Storytelling

Who made the call that everything needs to be somehow fitted into a storytelling framework? That every single piece of information needs to be decorated with an emotional anecdote from our childhood?

These are just two of the many consequences of the Cult of Storytelling that we witness as soon as we fire up any social media. And it’s caused by a profound misunderstanding about the power of storytelling:

It’s not the story that we tell that gets us the impact, it’s the story that’s triggered in our audience’s minds that makes the impact.

And that’s a huge difference. Most importantly, for some people, these “internal” stories are triggered by a single number that we mention or a familiar situation that we reference with a simple statement (”Remember the iPhone keynote?”). These things can trigger a whole suite of stories in our audience’s minds. On the other hand, full blown “storytelling” stories might not trigger anything at all for some people as they just don’t resonate with our childhood stories, so it has no effect whatsoever on them.

Rather than fit everything into a storytelling framework, the more useful question to ask is: How can we trigger the right stories in our audience’s minds?

Do funny ads work?

Remember that funny ad?

Well, can you also recall what it was advertising? Let alone did it make you buy the product?

You’re not alone, judging from a study by Ace Metrix which found that “funny ads were slightly less likely to increase desire or purchase intent than unfunny ones”.

But let’s look closer. Michael Curran, the study’s author explained that “humorous ads tend to be light on informative content, which in turn creates a lower desire for the advertised product”.

Which – to say it straight – is disrespectful to the audience. Essentially, funny ads fail when they favor the “wow effect” at the expense of the “aha effect”. When they go for the laugh without going all the way to the insight.

In other words: Make your communication fun and entertaining, but do it in a way that serves your message – rather than having it steal the show.

Humour is a great way to get people’s attention. But clarity about the message must come first: What’s the point? And why should I care?

PS: Essentially, what Ace Metrix found is that funny ads do work if implemented that way.

So you care for your cause …

Many people who deeply care for their cause fail to make change happen.

For a simple reason: It’s not enough to care for your cause. You need to care for the change, too.

This has a profound impact on your actions. If you care for the change, you’ll inevitably have to take the others into account. You can’t just care. You need to empathize: Who is affected? Why would they care? What would make them listen?

It’s when you switch to that perspective that you start looking at your communication differently. Suddenly, all the details that felt so near and dear to your heart loose some of their weight because you realize that people need to be curious for the facts before you can dig deep. Suddenly, it’s not even about the facts anymore but just as much about the values and beliefs that make us interpret the facts in this way or another.

But most importantly, when you care for the change it’s not about whether you feel uncomfortable to go on a stage and speak about your cause. When you care for the change it’s required to speak up. It needs to be done.

And so, you just do it. And when you do it, you’ll find the courage to turn your speech into a powerful speech because that’s what’s required to make change happen.

2 books that make the case that not all hope is lost

1. How to be perfect by Michael Schur

Who doesn’t want to be a better person?

My bet is that almost anyone reading this wants to. And yet, if you ever tried, you quickly discovered that this is harder than it should be.

Worse, it’s not going to help much to ask the experts – the moral philosophers – and dig deep into what they wrote because, well, have you ever tried? It ain’t easy. And certainly no fun!

Michael Schur’s book is different. It’s a book about how to do good, why you’re doomed before you even try, but why you should try anyway.

It starts really easy: “Should you punch your friend in the face for no reason?” I assume you can guess the answer. But make no mistake, it gets tricky immediately after. Yet, in a fun way – which makes sense as Schur is a Comedy TV writer who worked on The Office and created The Good Place.

Indeed, “How to be perfect” is a profoundly fun read. Schur manages what few others have managed: He’s written a book about philosophy for the rest of us with some actually practical recommendations.

And so – without spoiling too much – at least trying to be a better person is an option.

But then again, you look around and see all the mess that’s happening across the globe and you might think: Why on Earth should I even try? As everyone can see with their own eyes and as every media seems to suggest for as along as we can remember, humans are intrinsically selfish and mean.

But are they?

2. Humankind by Rutger Bregman

Rutger Bregman argues otherwise. He’s accumulated quite some evidence that the common view on humankind might not be that accurate. He looks closer at some of the best known arguments which seem to support the view that humans are inherently mean, such as the Standford prison experiment or the conclusions drawn from books such as “Lord of the Flies” and finds some surprising – and significant – flaws.

Bregman argues that no, if left to our own devices, we might actually not be cruel and murder each other for our own benefits. Most of humankind might actually be, you know, kind.

I’m not a sociologist. Neither a historian. So, I can’t really scientifically evaluate most of the claims in the book on either side of the argument. I’ll leave that to more knowledgable people in the field.

Yet, the reason I recommend you take a look at the book is slightly different: Whenever I speak with people about that book, the reaction is a heavy rejection of the idea. In every single instance that I tried, people were lightning-quick to look for reasons that counter Bregman’s arguments and conclude that “No, in fact, humans are not that kind … there must be some serious flaw in his arguments.”

Which might be the case. I’m not here to say who’s right.

But I’m here to suggest that it’s worth to have a look from the other side.

The Pathlighter Gallery

Leaders who light the path often don’t like to be in the spotlight. They care for their cause, not for the applause.

It’s not that they shy away from the spotlight. If the spotlight is what’s required to advance their cause, they will walk on any stage that calls for it. It’s part of the job.

But many prefer not to if they don’t have to.

Which is why quite a number of them fly under the radar. We don’t know nearly enough about them.

And that is a pity. Because their example can serve as an inspiration for others to follow their lead. To do work that matters and tell true stories about it that make us see what they see.

Let’s change that.

Since I’ve published the “Leaders Light the Path Manifesto” last week, quite a number of people have spoken up to bring these leaders to our attention. We’ve learned about Margo who helps businesses market with honesty. We’ve learned about the barber who has delivered one of the greatest speeches in film’s history.

Today, I’m launching the “Leaders light the path Gallery”. A place to get inspired by great leaders who are a role model for this approach like the ones I just mentioned.

I would love for you to help us grow the gallery so that we can all learn from great examples. It’s really easy to nominate someone as a leader who lights the path. Just post somewhere about them and tell us how they light the path. Send us a link to the post to nomination@LeadersLightThePath.com. Optionally, tag your post with #LeadersLightThePath.

If you want a little guidance on how to prepare a post, just download this little cheat sheet (a Word document that you can easily fill out).

Please, help us light the path!

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