This Season, Gift Rap Your Presence

My 24-year-old son, Zac, was in town for Thanksgiving weekend and, on Monday morning, needed me to take him to the airport for a 6am flight back to Chicago.  We left the house at 4am for the 50-minute commute to DIA, and in the dead quiet of the morning—with no distractions—finally had a chance to talk.  The kind of conversation that is impossible with other people around.  The kind of conversation topics you dare not bring up until your children are fully emancipated successful young professionals.

For whatever reason, we began swapping incredibly detailed stories about some of the idiotic things we had done in college and the trouble we had both managed to get into during those formative post-secondary years. Even though my stories were about 25 years older than Zac’s, my level of stupidity matched his prank-for-prank.  (He’s quite lucky, however, that the news he had blown up his dorm room toilet using powerful M-80 firecrackers never got back to me when it happened five years ago.)

After the laughter died down from each story, though, something unusual happened without prompting.  Regardless of which one of us had told the story, we finished it explaining the lesson(s) we had learned in the process and how it had made us wiser or better off. Although it was never formally concluded as such, I think my son would agree that each of us had received the most effective, profound, and beneficial part of our university education when we weren’t being students.

Our talk reminded me about how a good movie pulls us in and captivates our attention through the awesome power of a story. Even non-fiction books are more compelling when wrapped within a story or metaphor (remember Who Moved My Cheese?). Nothing can teach us more—or touch us at a deeper level—than a story.  In fact, we feel cheated when we come to the end of a story only to discover there is no relevant moral.  We want something that we can apply to better our own lives.

After 23 years as a full-time keynote speaker and seminar leader, I am 100% convinced that each and every person in my audience will only allow into their brain those parts of my presentation that come riding in on the back of a finely-crafted, well-told story. My stories are the Trojan Horses that burst through the invisible walls people erect to protect themselves from the uncertainty of new ideas or the fear that they may need to make uncomfortable changes to their attitudes or behaviors.

Delivering usable information that is factually rooted in research and statistics is important, but being a good teller of stories is crucial. An audience of managers, executives, or business owners will discreetly disengage from a presentation that isn’t relevant or entertaining, while students will revolt and leave carnage in the wake of their mass exodus. As a veteran of more than 1,000 presentations to teenage audiences, I have a few battle scars remaining from those days when I wasn’t at my best.

So, are stories an important part of keeping Gen Why engaged? No! They’re a prerequisite. And if the stories are not over-the-top hysterical, tear-jerking, gut-wrenching, or all of the above, Gen Why will quickly turn off the listening switch. For proof, you need look no further than how video games have transitioned from arcade-style games (PacMan/Astroids/Space Invaders/Donkey Kong) to complex theatrical scenarios where every character is profiled in minute detail and each scene is clearly laid out before the game even begins.  Gen Whys don’t merely play these games; they become one with them. And if you want their hearts and minds to also be ‘at one’ with you and your business, you’ve got to go beyond providing information and instruction to them— you’ve got to tell them a story.

Their willingness to actually learn what you want them to know and perform to the best of their ability is in direct proportion to their core level understanding of why it is relevant or important.
Information, training, and instruction that are wrapped in a good story break through their walls so that the information can be assimilated and internalized.  When this happens, connections are made, and uncaring, robotic young employees are transformed into committed foot soldiers prepared to go all in for the cause.

Concept into Action

• Tired of warning them about being late to work?  Don’t just
  threaten them with the rules and consequences; instead, sit them down and tell them about the time your tardiness cost you an audition/interview/seat-on-the-plane and what it took for you to learn the importance of being punctual.  Better yet, ask them to tell you about a time when they were let down by a friend or a coworker who failed to show up on time for a significant event. Or, instead of illustrating the negative, research a relevant story about someone they idolize in sports or music who has a reputation for arriving many hours before early in order to prepare for a  game/concert, etc. (e.g. Payton Manning, Beyonce’, Jim Carrey, etc.).
• Make them one with their training by incorporating actual
  scenarios they will encounter, and show them how the skill they’re learning is crucial to the outcome.  Bring it to life with a cast of credible characters, each with a distinct name and personality. Provide an opportunity for the trainee to become the hero of the story (win the game) once he or she demonstrates mastery of the skill.
• Don’t merely tell them to clean up the food prep area so it's spic and span; illustrate what happens when invisible germs and bacteria are spread in an unclean kitchen.  Relate a true story or, at the very least, a realistic scenario of what can happen, and when their expression changes as if they’ve just taken a bite of a sour lemon, you’ll know your Trojan Horse has broken through.

Summary

Gen Why doesn’t enter the job pre-wired to follow your instructions just because “you said so.”  They require some semblance of relevance or validity; that’s the downside.  The upside, however, is how well they can and will perform once they’re engaged in their work.

And the key to engagement may be as simple as sharing a good story.

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Have a wonderful, blessed holiday season!

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