Page 162 - The Voice of Authority

layoff of 58 engineers three
Numbers are the lan- years later. Then out of the
guage of business. Unfor- ashes came . . . Well, you get
tunately, it is a boring the picture. . . . Drama. Di-
language when spoken by alogue. Climax. Denoue-
most leaders. ment.
—Boyd Clarke and Set the scene at the trade
show. How many competi-
Ron Crossland,
tors were there? How many
The Leader’s Voice
attendees? Of those, how
many did your booth at-
tract? Why? What was the attraction—or nonattraction?
What did the competitor do to drive you nuts? What kind of
lead follow-up/closing ratio do you have to do after the trade
show to make your competitors eat dust?
Music, lights, camera, action. Facts alone will never feed
the mind—at least not for long.

Create Impact with Stories

Captain Charlie Plumb, a jet fighter pilot who was shot
down, parachuted into enemy hands, and held as a pris-
oner of war for nearly six years during the Vietnam War,
tells a fascinating story. Several years after he was released
from the POW camp, Charlie accidentally ran into the
man who had packed his parachute! His story makes the
point that none of us ever knows the impact we are hav-
ing on the lives of others. And the point is so powerful that
audiences remember it for years—even recapping it to
their friends on the Internet and calling him years later to
tell their own tales.
Whatever your message, stories will make it stronger:
courage, determination, commitment, persistence, cus-
tomer service, vision, caution, change. Consider all the

150 The Voice of Authority