Be Creative in Your Communications, Or Else!
May 18, 2010
creativity counts
creativity counts
Or else what?
Or else be left behind in the dust. These days we can no longer afford to poo-poo creativity. Time is ticking and creativity is the wave of the present and the future.
Those who are still thinking in the past will be left behind in the un-creative dust.
So you do want to be on the wave of the future, don’t you? I’m sure you do.
Being creative in your communications requires thinking outside of the box. Communications is a wide field of expression – everything from print media to video, to public speaking, to billboards.
It is everywhere we go and in today’s fast paced world, we need to use our creative brains to keep up with the pace.
It can at first seem overwhelming, but it doesn’t have, because using your creative brain is actually enjoyable and energy saving. It’s your old, stuck-in-the-rut left brain that’s getting in the way.
your lizard brain
So who is this old brain that keeps you doing the same old same old? I affectionately call him Mr. Lizard and he loves doing the same things over and over again.
Mr. Lizard is the master of repetition, but needs to learn some creativity.
Why? Because he HATES change. He hates being original and he does not want to stand out in the crowd. He enjoys being one of the boring pack.
But do you?
Do you really enjoy expressing yourself like everyone else? I doubt it. You might be used to doing that but it’s probably not what you really want.
Try this test – if you’re tired or bored with what you’re putting out in your communications, then it’s a likelihood that you’re relying to much on your old lizard brain (cousin to your left brain).
Mr. Lizard doesn’t mean to but he enjoys keeping you stuck. So you’ve got to override his ideas and try something different. That’s what creativity really is – it’s the art and science of doing things differently.
Originality is creativity’s middle name.
Thinking outside the box means trying things that you haven’t tried before. And often, those that are most successful, come up with something that at first seems totally ridiculous!
Think of Se
think outside the box
th Godin’s purple cow. Silly right?
Silly but effective. Imagine yourself putting a big purple cow on your website, business card or brochure. You’re probably cringing right?
Well I’m not suggesting that YOU put a purple cow on anything. That was Seth’s original idea. But I am suggesting that you take risks like he does and think outside of the routine.
Here are some ideas to get you started, but feel free to improvise:
- Think in color, that was part of the purple cow’s effectiveness, it catches our eye and is interesting and different.
- Think ‘difference’ – take a look at something that you’ve done and ask yourself, “What could be different about this?” One small change often makes a big difference.
- If you really want to go out on an edge, and I suggest you do, then ask yourself, “What is the last thing that I’d want to do?” You can decide whether you want to do that or not, to do that or not but at least you’ve gotten yourself to think way outside of your usual box.
That’s the idea. Stirring up your creativity is good for you and good for the world, because no one wants to read or engage in your boring, ordinary communications. They just don’t, so don’t kid yourself about it.
be creative
People today, especially the younger generation like things snappy, quick and interesting and so do you if you’re honest with yourself.
Sometimes we’re afraid to make change, try something different and live outside the box. But that is old Mr. Lizard again asserting himself when he should be off taking a nap.
Today wake up Mr. Lizard and try something new. You will be glad you did.
Creativity in communications is everything. It is the wave of the future and I know you want to be on that wave.
Don’t you?
Thanks to my friend Jeannette Paladino of Write, Speak, Sell for inspiring this post!
Cut the Crap & Dare To Be Yourself
October 29, 2009
Schmaltz: Yiddish, shmalts - literally, rendered fat
In my humble but large opinion there is too much schmaltziness in this world and not enough realness. So many people are trying too hard to be experts and guru’s. They are trying to stand out in the crowd and be known, but that is exactly what will make you obsolete very quickly.
Schmaltizness is not what we need now. We live in a world in which time is is speeding up. What we need is not to follow the crowd and do what we’ve always done, but to stand out in the crowd and dare to do doing something different.
Let this begin with you. Dare to take off the mask that you wear because you fear won’t like you if you are yourself. The truth is that many people won’t like you no matter what you do. So give that up as your goal and work instead to be genuine.
Try this in your conversations, your blog posts, even your marketing materials. Yes I’m suggesting that you cut the crap and dare to be real.
Honestly, it’s not easy. The brain and nervous system are wired with a deeply ingrained circuitry that being different will get us killed. The archaic part of the brain perceives difference as a life or death matter. It’s part of the ancient law of the tribe. So to live a full, real life, you have to override that ancient impulse and go in the direction of real life. That is where all the meaning and the juice are anyway.
Be aware that when you begin to do this you may feel scared. You will feel scared in the beginning, scared all the way through and maybe even afterwards. But this is normal. Think of the experience of a roller coaster ride. Personally I feel fear the entire way through. But that doesn’t have to stop you. You’ve got to BE FIERCE to cut through the crap. It doesn’t come easily.
But consider the benefits of really truly, genuinely being yourself. Here are a few of mine, please let me know about yours:
Benefits of Daring To Cut The Crap and Be Yourself:
- You make genuine honest connections with people.
- People come to love you for who you are.
- Those that don’t will naturally drift away and that is good.
- You will be happier and sleep more easily because genuineness is good for your peace of mind.
Today I had an inspiring conversation with my fellow Trainer and Coach, Eva Reiff of Nurnberg, Germany. Eva and I have coached each other every week for over eight years, amazing!
We support and encourage each other to continue to live big and dare to do things that seem scary, uncomfortable or even impossible. And together we have gone much further than we ever imagined.
After our talk today Eva sent me this beautiful note:
I am so amazed at how you have decided to cut through the crap and just be raw and real in the world. I admire your courage to lead the way and to follow what you sense the world needs. You care about real connections, and you use that as a filter to everything. You are ahead of your time. 
Today be fierce in your intent to be honest, real, vulnerable, scared, on-the-edge. Dare to be yourself and live out of the box. You will be glad you did. And besides, you have nothing to lost but your schmaltz, which I’m pretty sure you’d like to give up anyway!
Let this be your motto:
I am willing to cut the crap and dare to be myself!
Let me know how it goes.
Oh and by the way, I dare to tell stories raw and real because I’m pretty sure that’s what the world needs.
Adding Excitement to Your Blog; Communicating in Person
October 28, 2009
From Annie: This is a wonderful post written by my friend Jeannette Paladino of Write, Speak, Sell. She is an expert in all forms of written communication. I love her take on making communication more personal.
I was just trolling through the blog of my friend Annie Hart and I realized how exciting her blog is. She uses video extensively and her writing is fresh and appealing.
Granted, she promotes story telling as a distinctive means of communication so it makes sense to see her in action. But, I thought, don’t people want to see me in action, too, even though I have a much more focused business blog?
That got me to thinking that we’ve all become too attuned, maybe, to communicating through IPhones, Blackberries and online. We don’t have enough personal interaction.
I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve almost been run over on the sidewalks of New York City by a person looking down, totally engrossed in her PDA. And in New York it’s not easy to become oblivious to the throngs of pedestrian traffic.
But that’s what we’re doing – tuning out the personal interaction.
I was sitting in coffee shop the other day and four young women were eating at the next table. Not a word was being spoken as they all exercised their thumbs text messaging, surfing the Internet and playing games.
I honestly find this all a bit scary. As bloggers, we need to figure out ways to add the human touch to our blogs. How about doing a video introduction of your next guest blogger, even though he may be writing a blog and not doing a video or podcast? Or what about a video of yourself on your “About” page discussing your credentials, your goals, your business and your values?
Mind you, I’m somewhat like the cobbler with a hole in her shoes. I haven’t done all this yet, but I do know I need to get more of me in my blog. Annie is going to help me figure it out.
Annie: Jeannette you make a great point. The power of real life personal communication is a precious commodity that we must preserve. And yes we’ll get your blog looking great!
Lead the Way With Story: Creating Trust & Credibility
October 25, 2009
Storytelling, definition by Annie Hart
An effective and congruent communication that embodies your commitment, your beliefs, your values and your vision.
This is part of a series on the use of storytelling in leadership. Leaders need to inspire and motivate others. They need to help people get along, collaborate and go where they haven’t been before. Nothing does this more effectively than the power of story.
Although the word story means many things to me, for the purposes of leadership, I’m going to give it the above definition, so that it will show you exactly how you create connection through story. To illustrate this effectively, I need to tell you a story.
Several years ago I was giving a presentation to a small family business that was not my typical client. One of the owners was a private client of mine who really benefited from my work and she wanted me to do some consulting for them. But I was pretty sure that the rest of the company wouldn’t see me as a natural fit and might not want to hire me.
So what did I do? The first step to building a connection is to get inside someone else’s story to find out how they think, believe and act. To do this I asked myself the question, What goes on inside of their world? This is how you discover the daily problems, frustrations and mindsets of whomever you want to communicate with.
The key to this is to do it from the mindset of sharing and the intention to build connection. When you begin by relating to our common human problems, then we start on the same page.
In business the number one priority is often the famous ‘bottom line’. But the key to a sustainable business is actually not the bottom line at all. People are the most important commodity of any successful venture.
As a leader, relationships should be of prime importance. If not then everything else will go downhill. The bottom line of is not and can never be number one,. Taking care of people comes first.
So by the time I went to give my presentation, I had already put myself in the mindset of the people that I was speaking to. I walked into a group of people that looked harried, distracted and uninterested, but I was prepared for this. So I started by telling them their own story.
I introduced myself briefly and then told them that I would be right back, and I walked out of the room. I returned minutes later, rushing in with a briefcase spilling papers and frantically talking on a cell phone.
I began my presentation all over again, but this time I was speaking at breakneck speed. “Hi I’m Annie Hart and I’m here to….” But imagine this with words flying at 500 miles an hour!
When I looked up they were speechless. Maybe dumbfounded is a better word. I paused and looked at them carefully. I asked, “What was that like for you?’
“That’s exactly like our daily lives!” they said. They couldn’t believe that I got them. I said, “How did it feel to experience me that way?” They unanimously said, “It was awful, very stressful and anxiety producing.” Exactly. Exactly like their daily lives.
This dramatic enactment of their everyday way of being, opened up a discussion of trust and openness, whereas just moments before they had considered me a complete stranger. So how did they accept me so quickly?
I used the power of story, THEIR STORY, to speak their language.
The key to rapport and building connection is to think about others. Ask yourself, what do they need? What are they going through? What are their daily lives like?
It’s not how can I get them to do what I want? It’s how can I understand who they are? This is one of the key skills a leader can have.
Each of you in your own way is a leader. Start today to think how you can get inside the story of others, so that people will want to follow you where ever you go.
And if you’re wondering if I got hired? The answer is yes, and continued to tell stories and build rapport for an entire year. Storytelling is a key to building trust and credibility through creating connection.
The Power of A Good Story to Communicate Effectively
September 25, 2009
I was sitting in the airport this week waiting to get on a plane to Oklahoma, when the desk attendant made an announcement.
In a loud voice he said, “We have to move five to six people to the back of the airplane right away due to weight requirements. We need people to move or your plane is NOT going anywhere.”
Eeek! I looked around the waiting area and everybody looked frozen in place. I knew that I for one wasn’t moving because I had taken special care to get a seat upfront, but as I looked around, it looked like no one else was moving either. Hmm, wonder why no one would want to move?
It’s not that the seats in the back are that unappealing. So what would make the people in the waiting room completely unwilling to go to the counter to change their seats? But before I tell you the answer to this riddle, I’m going to tell you the second part of the story.
Minutes after the first announcement, another desk attendant got up and made a second one. She had a lovely cheery voice and she said, “Good morning everyone. We have a wonderful opportunity for you to have some more space or more leg room in the back of the plane. If you’d like a window or an aisle seat with no one near you, then come up right now and get a good seat. We have room for five or six people to make the change. Again if you’d enjoy some more space on your flight today, come see me now.”
Immediately a handful of people got up and in minutes the plane was ready to load. Hmm, what was the difference in the communication?
Could it be that the power of a good story communicates way more effectively than a chastising command? You betcha.
The first desk attendant reminded us all of our teachers in grade school, our parents, military officers or someone else stern and commanding. And what do we do when we hear that style of communication? We freeze.
The second attendant used the positive power of a good story to communicate interest and generate motivation. People jumped to attention right away because she spoke to what we all want. We all want more room, more space and more comfort. All great marketers know that you need to speak to the benefits. And she did it in a happy uplifted way. She also made a joke out of it and said, “I know I sound like Monty Hall.” And that made us all laugh.
That is the power of a good story to communicate, motivate and inspire. Her words generated internal images, that when sequenced together, moved us towards something good.
The other communication was a story as well. But it was a story that generated uncomfortable feelings and took most of us back to unhappy memories of out past. This type of communication generates breakdowns in action, not motivation.
So when you speak today, think about how you can generate a positive type of communication that moves people towards the benefits. Think of the extra leg room you can provide to those around you by speaking in story in a way that leads people to move forward.
Today, inspire positive action and effective communication through the power of a good story and then be sure to enjoy the flight!
So Why Tell Stories, rather than just blather on in plain ordinary language?
August 11, 2009
So why should we tell stories rather than speak in plain old ordinary language? For many reasons. First of all because telling stories is more fun and we should always have fun when we’re speaking.
This post is dedicated to my new friend Jeannette Paladino, Writer in Chief at “Write, Speak, Sell.” Jeannette is a leader in helping business people to create clear and powerful communication. We share the love of storytelling and its power to communicate, so Jeannette asked me to write on the topic for her blog.
Storytelling is the oldest and most powerful form of communication on the planet. It completely bypasses the rational conscious mind and goes directly into our unconscious, which is the meaning maker of our mind.
This means that stories go in more easily and are more enduring than ordinary communication. If you want to have power in your message, you really need to tell a story.
And here is the good news. The story itself is not nearly as important as the way it is delivered. Believe it or not, that is really true. Yes it’s a good idea to have a compelling story when you can, but the communication is only in 7% in the words. You can tell a very bad story and make it compelling and you can tell a very great story and make it very bad!
The power of the story is in the delivery. If it is a written story than the power of your word is stronger but when I’m writing stories, I try to think of the words as ‘word images’. That is how you bring the power of story to life.
Words by themselves are completely boring. They are just like flat pieces of cardboard with no color on them. To make a mosaic out of them you need to create colorful images in your reader or listener’s minds eye.
So I went out on the street the other day and as stepped out the door, I smelled the taste of roses in my mind.
Now what does that mean? Absolutely nothing. But notice that it created clear images in your mind. Your brain needed to visualize the step, the door, the smell, the taste and roses, all in one short sentence. This is the same way a great story is created, from inside of the memory banks of your mind.
And you can make it up! Alot of my stories are told off the cuff. Don’t be afraid of that. Be more afraid of boring people to death with your plain old ordinary language. Yes seriously, imagine that people will start keeling over right in front of you if you don’t stop boring them with your words!
We need to tell stories for many reasons but the most important of which is that you don’t want to be boring with your words.
Jeannette and I both know that the power of effective communication is essential in the business world. If you can’t communicate clearly, people will misunderstand and have a hard time following you. So especially for leaders this is essential.
Thank you Jeannette for being out there in the world helping others to speak powerfully. In honor of you, here are my top three reasons to tell stories:
- tell stories so that people will listen to what you have to say
- tell stories so that your message will be lasting
- tell stories so that you don’t bore people with your words
Most of all tell stories because they are the most fun and enjoyable way to communicate on the planet. That’s it, enough said. Now go tell a story.
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