Selling

I was blessed during my career to function at various times as an in-house consultant. I had no real authority and the only way I could add value was to "sell" my advice to the people who did have authority.

Since being an in-house consultant is a great gig, I made a study of "selling". Not just so I could add more value but because I realized that the product that I sold the most often was the idea that "Joe is a great employee who always adds value when he is hired".

Who holds the switch?

I quickly realized that the organization chart only represents the flow of authority. It does not tell you who is the pivot man when it comes to "who makes the decision" regarding some aspect of a project.

The pivot person could be the boss, the boss's boss, a trusted worker, the bean-counter, a supplier, the trucker who delivers items, some times is was a maintenance person who could just make it happen... Any sales pitch you make must address their needs or your product will not be accepted.

The sales points that I consider most compelling might be unimportant to the decision-maker. My job as a consultant was to learn what attributes mattered most to the pivot person and customize the solution so it also addresses their priorities.

What is in it for me

If you are a boss and you are selling a change-in-behavior, then you could just say "I will discipline you if you don't do it the way I tell you to do it". 

That only ensures compliance when they think you are watching.

A more effective way is to also paint a word-picture, a scenario, where a generic employee does it the wrong way and there is a bad outcome.

"We need to stay within the lines of the pathways when traveling across the factory floor. I know that sometimes people are might overstay their break and take shortcuts through the material stacks to get back to their workstation when the line starts. The problem is that the material delivery people use the break-times to take material to the lines and they cannot stop if you suddenly pop-out from between two stacks of pallets."

If you ever worked in an automobile factory, you know exactly the scenario I am talking about.

Key points in the scenario: Most people can relate to the story. Marc wanted to finish a joke in the smokers shed outside. You need to get back to the line (which is a virtue). There is a very strong temptation to cut through the material stacks and you tell yourself "Just this time won't hurt"...

Your audience can visualize themself as the person in the story.

That meme

Decisionmaker: The mother carrying that child is the decision-maker and she is getting pummeled with advice. Sometimes it is the father of that child. Sometimes it is the mother of that father (yeah, actually happens all the time). Often it is from the "cool girls" in her posse. It is difficult to resist getting swept away by the waves of advice.

Visualization potential: Most of us avoid visualizing situations where we are powerless; in a cave, in a submarine, in a sleeping-bag with a broken zipper...in a womb. Attempting to create empathy for her unborn child is an uphill push if you try to create an empathy bond and your model is something she actively resists.

However, most young woman can relate to getting on an airplane and flying to Cancun or Hawaii. Those are aspirational goals. She can also envision some amoral lunatic blowing up that plane (the aluminum womb in the sky) and is horrified by the prospect.

A lot of moral behavior is driven by "Yes, except for the grace of God, that could have been me."

Is the meme sticky?

The image that serves as the background for the meme is memorable. We see planes every time we look upward on a clear day. Only time will tell us if the meme is sticky and provides another frame-of-reference to mothers confronted with circumstances that pressure them to kill their baby.