Summary
Highlights
The speaker shares a common frustration: a brilliant idea with clear arguments is often dismissed by a naysayer. This annoyance escalates when the naysayer holds the power to implement or reject the idea, leading to mediocre ideas being chosen over innovative ones. The speaker believes the world would be better if more great ideas were implemented.
Some individuals consistently elicit a "yes" (or even better, a "when?") instead of a "yes, but." These are 'super communicators' who effortlessly persuade people. We admire them, follow them, and buy their products (like iPhones). The speaker reveals that these super communicators don't have a secret, but rather a habit related to 'humanity' or the 'human factor'.
Super communicators prioritize the human element in their communication. This means stepping out of their comfort zone focused on facts, arguments, and data, and instead focusing on the wishes, needs, dreams, hopes, and passions of their audience. They place the audience's interests above what they personally want to convey.
The speaker illustrates how super communicators completely reinvent their message based on the audience's relevance, rather than just adding a 'sugar coating' of relevance. They understand what their audience's 'favorite cake' is and bake it from scratch. This requires active listening to understand what the other person needs.
Charismatic communicators give us the feeling that what we want is important. A key habit of super communicators is discerning what the other person needs and providing it, not with facts, but with the right feeling. The speaker provides an example of asking for a raise: instead of just focusing on your achievements, consider how your boss wants to feel when giving you a raise (e.g., generous, a shrewd negotiator, or part of a thorough process). This emotional understanding allows you to frame your facts more effectively.
The speaker highlights Steve Jobs as a super communicator who understood emotional appeal. Jobs famously described interface buttons by saying, 'These buttons look so cool, you'll want to lick them!' This demonstrates how deeply super communicators leverage emotions to sell ideas or products.
Super communicators utilize an ancient rule: 50% of your message is visual (how you look, carry yourself), 30% is vocal (the sound of your voice), and only 7% is the factual content. While super communicators have excellent 7% content, they understand that these facts are dependent on the emotional context surrounding them.
The speaker concludes by presenting a mathematical analogy: Effect = Content * Human Factor. This means if the human factor is zero, your content's effect will also be zero, regardless of its quality. However, even a small increase in your human factor can significantly amplify the overall impact of your message. This approach can be practiced in small, everyday interactions.