What you say matters!

September 20th, 2012 by user

You might have seen the video of the blind man sitting in front of the downtown office building with a tin can and a sign “I am blind. Please help”. A few occasional contributors stop and add some change to his can. Then a woman comes by and rewrites the sign, and suddenly the number of givers increases so that almost everyone is putting in money. After watching this sudden shift in contributions we see that the new sign reads, “It’s a beautiful day and I can’t see it”.

WOW, what a difference words make. And what a great reminder that if we tap into others’ experiences, and communicate in ways others can relate to emotionally, our message will be so more compelling. In this case, it wasn’t just that he was blind, it was that the new sign, “It’s a beautiful day and I can’t see it” resonated with sighted people who could experience the beauty. It was more content-rich. It made the message personal. It reminded others how fortunate they were compared to him. And it stirred their basic human compassion.

How we convey ideas, thoughts, experiences and feelings makes all the difference in the response we get. True in all forms of communication — whether you’re sharing a story with a friend, writing a resume, sending a sales letter, making a presentation, or striking up a conversation with a random stranger. If you want your audience to engage, to think a certain way, to do something…put yourself in their shoes and consider what’s going to get below the surface and reach them emotionally…that will reach their hearts and souls.

2 Responses to “What you say matters!”

  1. October 17, 2012 at 1:06 am, Melina said:

    Super infomriatve writing; keep it up.

    Reply

  2. November 06, 2012 at 9:22 am, Caleb said:

    Hi, of course this article is actually pleasant and I have learned lot of things from it regarding blogging.
    thanks.

    Reply

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