I’ve shared this quote before:
If you want to learn about a culture, listen to their stories. If you want to change a culture, change the stories.
Avoid the point-counterpoint stories.
One way to change the stories is to get out of a defensive posture. Any boring politician or statistician can do that, and it persuades no one.
You will face resistance when you make public claims, no matter how safe you think the topic is. Infrastructure projects can generate hot debate and brutal press coverage.
It’s natural to enter a defensive posture when someone lashes out at your design ideas. Your instincts tell you to protect your ideas.
Here are 5 examples. I’ve said all of these things more than once over the years:
- “Well no, see it’s not really a war on cars.”
- “No, I don’t think every American is going to start bike commuting 20 miles to work.”
- “No, you won’t be that late to work.”
- “No, I don’t think we should let America’s bridges fall down.”
- “No, I don’t hate America.”
Those are painful memories. Learn from my mistakes!
A defensive posture means you’re responding to attacks before formulating a position statement. You’re reacting to the opposition’s anecdotes and biases rather than creating your own. People watching will assume the burden of proof rests on the person defending the new ideas.
So tell new stories. Create your own heroes and conflicts and resolutions. Be the storyteller everyone else reacts to.
Here are 5 ideas for making a new narrative, again related to infrastructure projects.
- “Imagine if our kids could safely walk to school.”
- “My neighbor works at the florist two miles away. She’d like to walk, but there’s no safe path.”
- “I want to ride my bicycle more. Half of my car trips are less than three miles from home.”
- “The retail center employs dozens of people who don’t own a car. Let’s make it possible for them to get to work with some dignity.”
- “This is America. Let’s repeal the prohibition on walking and bicycling.”
You know where you can find the best storytelling tips? Watch stand-up comics. I watch an absurd amount of stand-up comedy. It helps me improve in two ways: (1) getting to the point faster, and (2) timing.
Getting to the point faster is not about speeding up your delivery. The key is removing unnecessary clutter from your story. Timing is about delivering your punch lines -funny or serious- to maximize impact.
Remember, put a new twist on old ideas and avoid the defensive stories.