Lincoln’s Wit/Wisdom 221

'The lady bearer of this says she has two sons who want to work. Set them at it if possible. Wanting to work is so rare a want that it should be encouraged.'

- Abraham Lincoln

WHAT, IF ANYTHING, WOULD YOU CHANGE IN THE FOLLOWING?

How do you get your listeners to remember what they decided to do as a result of what you said?

I gave a break-out session at the Toastmasters International District 39 Spring Conference entitled, “Lead Like Lincoln.” Toastmasters are into public speaking, into influencing behavior. I thought, “What can I get them to do so they’ll remember the commitment they’ll make after this talk?” After all, nothing becomes real unless/until it’s written down - “when you think it, ink it.” That is, the talk would be more memorable if audience members actually committed to do something as a result of what they heard. Initially I thought of saying, just before the very end, “Take out your cell phones; here’s my number, now text me the following: ‘I will…’ and finish the sentence with what you intend to do as a result of attending this session.” The problem: everyone except the very first caller would get a busy signal!

I think I stumbled onto a great idea. I bought 150 8 ½” X 11” phosphorescent yellow cards and cut each one almost in half [8 ½” X 5 ½”], and put a full card on each chair before they arrived. Then at the beginning I told them, “I’ll be asking you to write out what you intend to do as a result of this talk, but do it twice. You’ll leave one of the two halves on your chair for me and the other you’ll take home. You’ll have the whole talk to think of what you’ll be committing to.” Bright yellow, heavy-duty card stock, so they’d remember, and a written commitment to a stranger [namely, me] - that’d be two [admittedly small] reasons they’d actually do what they said they’d do.

The good news is, I got 70% to do what I asked!

Here are a few examples:

·      I will share the credit and [if necessary] take the blame.

·      Appreciate and thank people around me.

·      Develop my public speaking ability to positively affect people’s hearts and minds to encourage them to achieve their goals and aspirations.

·      Be a better listener to make sure my people understand the issues.

·      Thank my people for all they do.

·      Lincoln is the best we’ve ever produced – I’ll consciously choose him as a role model rather than settle for some second stringer!

·      Put more effort and energy into my leadership role as president of my local Garden & Arts Center.

·      Be a better parent.

·      I will thank my team more often.

·      Praise those around me.

·      Get ready.

·      Meet my staff members on their turf rather than mine.

·      As Area Governor I am going to visit my difficult clubs one more time, but with open ears this time.

·      I will master the art of persuasion.

·      I’ll stand taller.

·      I’m going to make my career the best career possible. [this person actually included his business card!]

·      I will thank at least one person every day.

·      I will not be afraid of

v Project management

v Writing summaries for the Medical Director

v Asking for help.

v Measuring performance

v Other people’s credentials

So, what do YOU think? Is the text message idea a dud? Or, is there some other strategy to impact more effectively my listeners so that change actually happens? Or, to refer to a Jack Nicholson comedy of a few years back, is this as good as it gets?

Lincoln’s Wit/Wisdom 220

'The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battle field and patriot grave, to every living heart and hearthstone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.'

- Abraham Lincoln, First Inaugural Address

The Real Estate of the Stage

How do you make use of the speaking area? Do you hold forth just standing there like a wooden Indian? Or, equally silly, do you pace back and forth like a caged tiger? The one strategy is as mindless as the other. Be aware: the real estate of the stage is a vastly valuable, and under-utilized, resource!

Instead, make your movement parallel the organic development in your spoken content. So, why not try this? You're telling a story to illustrate your point, and it's chronological. So start at stage left at "when I was in diapers;" then move a few steps toward the center at "I wasn't much better as a teenager;" and another few steps for "Fast forward 15 years." [Be careful that you don’t move back, say, to center stage unless you’re referring to your teenage years again.] When your story is finished and it's time for "And here's my point," MOVE FORWARD A FEW STEPS!

Your audience may not realize how you did it but they'll be captivated - and all you did was tell the three paragraphs of your story in three parts, each told from different points on an imaginary straight left-to-right line, then you stepped forward from that line to make your point. In other words, you will have made it easy for them, literally, to follow you.

Get it?

Lincoln’s Wit/Wisdom 219

The President wrote to General Grant a few months before the war's end: 'Please read and answer this letter as though I were not President, but only a friend. My son, now in his twenty-second year, having graduated at Harvard, wishes to see something of the war before it ends. I do not wish to put him in the ranks, nor yet to give him a commission, to which those who have already served long, are better entitled, and better qualified to hold. Could he, without embarrassment to you, or detriment to the service, go into your military family with some nominal rank, I, and not the public, furnishing his necessary means? If no, say so without the least hesitation, because I am as anxious, and as deeply interested, that you shall not be encumbered as you can be yourself.' Grant replied that he would be glad to have his son 'in my military family in the manner you propose.’