Food or security

A great video that shows the ever lasting and ever relevant great theories of Harlow and Maslow in action...

Fish in water

Each day we hear thousands of phrases and hundreds of a words. But we remember only a fraction of what we hear. Research suggests that we remember only 1/10th of what we hear every day. I suspect it is lot lesser than that... it's more like 1/25th for me!

So, with so many messages flying around and so much visual stimulation keeping our minds busy each day, how does one convey a strong message and most importantly how does one make sure that the audience remembers the message?

The trick apparently is to make your audience visualize your words by using stories and metaphors. Stories offer a consistent message with a clear beginning and an end and therefore is easy for the brain to comprehend and remember. Our great ancestors realized this centuries ago and encoded their messages in the form of fables. Story telling is a brilliant way of conveying messages - as anybody with kids would know the power of using fables to convey emotions and morals to young minds. You don't have to believe me, see it for yourself here...

 https://www.ted.com/topics/storytelling

Story telling is a difficult skill to master and if you can't think of a story quickly, you can substitute it with a metaphor! Metaphor thinking provides a way to present complex information using simple examples.  Metaphors provide specific frames or lenses for understanding the world and are central to the way we read, understand, and shape organisational life.

One such metaphor that has stuck with me is "Fish in water" - a metaphor used by one of my professors to describe how we limit our thinking. A fish in water swims happily in it's own world and tends to do the same things everyday without realizing what is happening beyond the fish tank. He used this metaphor to describe how we sometimes limit ourselves and limit our thinking. We tend to repeat the same actions and expect the same results. Every action reinforces the cognitive bias and strengthens the forces that tend to support the stereotype - of being a fish in the water. But then, the fish cannot live outside the water. So, the trick apparently is to jump above the water every so often and look below at the water we live in - then adapt accordingly. This by far is one of my favorite metaphors.

Metaphor thinking can help create powerful images and help solve complex problems. Several authors have written about metaphoric thinking. Here are some interesting books that talk about metaphoric thinking.

1. Images of Organizations - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Images-Organization-Gareth-Morgan/dp/1412939798

2. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Metaphors-Analogies-Power-Teaching-Subject/dp/1571107584

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P.S - Next time, I'll be cheeky and rewrite this post as a story :)

Inspirational speeches

One of my favorite inspirational speeches... the true power of storytelling.

"I have a dream" by the great Martin Luther king is yet another favorite. You can find them here...

http://www.diresta.com/resources/articles/how-to-give-a-motivational-speech/