I’m going to be honest with you. I’d really love to change the world. This seems mundane to me. Doesn’t everyone want to change the world? You end up with a better world. This seems like it should be the biggest selling point ever for anything.
“What does your widget do?”
“It changes the world.”
“Oh wow, I’m going to have to get me one of those.”
That should be how that conversation always goes. Often, it can take a different route.
“It changes the world.”
“Ya right. (looks to someone else for validation) Get a load of this whack job.”
If you do not believe you can change the world, you’re correct. If you do believe you can change the world, whether that’s even a consideration of whatever you’re doing or not, if you’re at least open to the idea of it, then it is possible.
What goes me on this train of thought was this blog post from a few years ago that recently popped up in my social media stream: 5 Ways To Pitch Like Ron Howard, based on a 2007 interview of Ron Howard at USC Speaker Series.
The points the author culled from the interview could also apply to changing the world. Ron Howard builds fictional worlds, but his process is real world.
Before Ron Howard pitches a movie, he first decides that he wants to make the movie he’s pitching. Likewise, before you can convince someone to change the world, you first must realize that you have already started changing it by putting the wheels in the motion.
1. Questions
Introducing your idea to the world is only a first step. Asking others what their ideas are is the next step. You need to make room for your listener to invest in the conversation. It’s the difference between saying “Here’s what I want you to do” and “What do you want to do?” The latter will get a better response.
2. Open Environment
You need an environment in which the best ideas are generated, recognized and employed. Ideas need to be made welcome.
3. Involving Others
Every great step forward was the result of many people taking many little steps forward. Turn yours listeners into contributing participants.
4. Simplicity
No one is as interesting as you in your way and you’re not as as interesting as anyone else in every other way. The language we use to communicate ideas must be simple and straight-forward.
They might not fit every scenario. But if you want to convince someone to change the world, asking them how they want to change the world, giving them the freedom to color outside the lines, building a community around the effort, and making the whole endeavor not feel daunting seems like a worthwhile path.
