Discussion Topics #2 — Ideas: Communicating, Being Heard and Persuading Others
Here are a few questions, books, and quotes you can discuss with your mentor, protégé, or peer partner. You may want to focus on only a few of the topics or recommendations.
Questions:
- What is your idea?
- What is your story? (Hint: This is not the idea but the why & emotion that support the idea)
- Is your idea succinct? What is the "sound-byte" or "bumper sticker" you want your listeners to remember?
- Is your idea sticky? Can listeners relate your idea to their situation or area of interest?
- Can you articulate the "why" behind your idea rather than focusing on the "what"?
- Do you have a simple and easy to understand visual representation of your idea?
Books You Can Discuss/Consider/Read:
- Tell to Win: Connect, Persuade, and Triumph with the Hidden Power of Story - Peter Guber © 2011
- Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions - Guy Kawasaki © 2011
- Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High - Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan and Al Switzler © 2002
- Crucial Confrontations: Tools for Resolving broken promises, violated expectations, and bad behavior by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan and Al Switzler © 2004
- Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die - Chip Heath © 2007
- Influencer: The Power to Change Anything - Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, David Maxfield, Ron McMillan, Al Switzler © 2007
- The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs: How to Be Insanely Great in Front of Any Audience - Carmine Gallo © 2009
- The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures - Dan Roam © 2008
- slide:ology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations - Nancy Duarte © 2008
Quotes to Discuss:
- “Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life - think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success, that is way great spiritual giants are produced.” - Swami Vivekananda
- “An idea that is developed and put into action is more important than an idea that exists only as an idea.” - Buddha
- “Don't worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good, you'll have to ram them down people's throats.” - Howard Aiken
- “Often the difference between a successful person and a failure is not one has better abilities or ideas, but the courage that one has to bet on one's ideas, to take a calculated risk - and to act.”- Andre Malraux
- “The ability to convert ideas to things is the secret of outward success.” - Henry Ward Beecher
- “New ideas pass through three periods: 1) It can't be done. 2) It probably can be done, but it's not worth doing. 3) I knew it was a good idea all along!” - Arthur C. Clarke
- “If you want to kill any idea in the world, get a committee working on it.” - Charles F. Kettering
- “Nearly every man who develops an idea works it up to the point where it looks impossible, and then he gets discouraged. That's not the place to become discouraged.” - Thomas Alva Edison
- “You don't make progress by standing on the sidelines, whimpering and complaining. You make progress by implementing ideas.” - Shirley Hufsteddler
- “A mediocre idea that generates enthusiasm will go further than a great idea that inspires no one.” - Mary Kay Ash
- “Your paradigm is so intrinsic to your mental process that you are hardly aware of its existence, until you try to communicate with someone with a different paradigm.” - Donella Meadows
- “A powerful idea communicates some of its strength to him who challenges it.” - Marcel Proust
- “Leaders must pick causes they won't abandon easily, remain committed despite setbacks, and communicate their big ideas over and over again in every encounter.” - Rosabeth Moss Kanter