The Elements of Persuasion: The Five Key Elements of Stories that Se by Dickman Robert & Maxwell Richard

Author:Dickman, Robert & Maxwell, Richard [Dickman, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: HarperCollins e-books
Published: 2009-10-12T16:00:00+00:00

As we mentioned before, hero is the second of our five story elements, and is related to the ancient Greek element Earth. It has a lot to do with defining your territory and markets. That is one reason that our oldest cultural heroes were kings and the founders of empires. The hero is the story’s point of view personified, and our guide through it. Every story needs a hero. Creating (or more often finding) the right hero is one of the most important tasks you, as a corporate storyteller, need to do. In most stories, choosing your hero is the first decision you will make.

If I am telling you the story of the stock market, I know what you’re passionate about—making money. That is what makes the story hot. And if I don’t deal with that—or you’re not interested—we won’t have much of a conversation. But past those first thirty seconds when we establish we both want the same thing (to get rich), I need to find a way to make my story connect with your world at a broader level. I need to find a common denominator, a place that you and I can both equally understand and get behind.

The key is finding that sense of equality with your listener—always difficult in business relationships, where we tend to divide things into winners and losers. Buffett is famous for maintaining equality with the shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway, whom he prefers to talk of as his “partners.” This is one reason why, despite being one of the wealthiest men in the world, he keeps his salary at a very modest $100,000. As he said in one annual report to shareholders, “Charlie and I can’t promise you results. But we can guarantee that your financial fortunes will move in lockstep with ours. We have no interest in large salaries or options or other means of gaining an ‘edge’ over you. We want to make money only when our partners do and in exactly the same proportion. Moreover, when I do something dumb, I want you to be able to derive some solace from the fact than my financial suffering is proportional to yours.”

We trust a guy who says that, means it, and backs it up with years of actions. Who wouldn’t? And because we trust him, we’re not constantly shifting capital in and out of his stock (Berkshire is your classic buy and hold bargain), so Buffett doesn’t have to worry about his own stock price and can focus on doing his job. This is one more reason for you to find the right hero for your story. Having the right hero in your story builds trust and lets your boss or your client relax and stop micromanaging, so that you can do your best work.

Warren Buffett may seem to be all things for all investors, but we didn’t choose him for our hero by looking for the lowest common denominator. That sort of race to the bottom is almost always a loser.

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