21st Century Selling, Influencing, Leading

I have a business friend who once observed that when she hears something new, she considers it of some interest. When she hears it twice, she thinks it is a little more interesting. But when she hears it a third time, she realizes it is indicative of a coming trend and she capitalizes on it for business.  I have been very pleased to see how the business community has gradually embraced what I have been espousing for years: the need to strategically use metaphors and analogies in all communications to sell, to influence,and to lead for getting results anywhere anytime and on any platform.

Ten years ago…. When I was writing “Metaphorically Selling,” I came across “The Attention Economy,” an excellent book which focused on how difficult it is to get a message heard in an Attention Deficit world, where people are bombarded by upwards of 3000 messages a day. The book illustrated the need for ways to cut through this info barrage. It also re-affirmed my belief in the need to move from left brain data dumps in communication to right brain use of metaphors and analogies which, for a number of reasons as readers of my books know, are the best ways to drive a point home. 

Three years ago…  I began to notice an explosion of websites such as www.vizthink.com devoted to the power of good visuals in presentations  to increase understanding and impact in messaging. When I would discover one of these sites, it led me to another which led to another which led to another, etc. I discovered a world of people out there who were visual evangelists.  They, too, re-affirmed my instinctive belief in the need to shift the way we communicate from the left to the right brain to create an impact in any situation.

This year…  Recent best sellers like “Made to Stick” and “Switch” are variations on the theme of the need to be visual in order to create results.The Harvard Business Review periodically runs articles on the need for more right brain metaphoric thinking as does the popular business press.

Coming Full Circle                                                                                                                                                                                                                        This week I was asked to speak at two events, one to CEOs in Connecticut and one to speechwriters in WDC, and the theme in both cases is communicating in a digital world and getting into the “knowledge of flow” (a term that comes from a hot new book called “The Power of Pull” which is about the different way business needs to communicate in the 21^st century).   When I suggested I talk on the need to shift from 20^st century left brain over-communication to 21^st century efficient visual right brain communication to create change in today’s world, both organizations were thrilled. 

Yes, it was a little bit like watching grass grow, but it is very gratifying to finally see that what I was espousing ten years ago is increasingly the hot topic of today’s articles, books, and conferences..