Joshua_8_I

Simmons' comment on intelligence in regard to storytelling & story retention really drove home for me the importance of storytelling. While there may be no statistical data on this topic I certainly agree with her. I'm sure that we all can agree that knowing and sharing stories makes an individual more interesting and engaging; more well-rounded.

I also liked that Simmons switched it up in this chapter and focused on listening. If you think about it it is just as important as storytelling. If you tell a story and no one's there to hear it, does a tree fall on a mime in the woods somewhere? Anyway, I think you get my point. The chapter was a nice change of pace.

Group #3 - Survery Questions

Met with Mary Watkins at Yorktown High. She suggested we survey students.

Yorktown Middle and High School potential survey questions regarding media use vs. real interaction listed in comments.

Erik_7_1

I think that the "unwilling" is a bit of a misnomer...

I think that listeners can be unconcerned, but unwilling is almost impossible. I think that it is almost impossible for people to totally unwilling since people inherently want to listen to a story. Storytelling is the oldest form of conveying a message... anything with a beginning and an end and something of a change in the middle is a story. And people naturally listen to them.

For this reason, I think it is very hard for people to not listen to a story. Does everyone agree or do you think people can zone out of a story?

Team 6 update

Meet Bethany L. Richards at 11:00-12:00 a.m. Thursday, Oct 4.

Storer Elementary
3211 W. Mansfield Drive
Muncie, Indiana 47304
747-5360

Sam_7_I

A story to the Unwilling, unconcerned, or unmotivated? No need in Taiwan. Like the environment policy, the Taipei government severely carrying out the law that:
1. No convenient stores give away plastic bag, if you need one, buy it.
2. No mall/supermarket give away plastic bag. Customer need to prepare their own bags.
3. All trash need to be categorized into dump, plastic, glass, paper and be recycled in different days during the week.
4. Trash bags for dump need a special kind of bag and need to be purchased.

Sometimes, things just need to be executed.

Matt_7_Q

The author really grabbed my attention when she was talking about bringing out the good and not focusing on the evil. And, in somewhat of a reply to previous posts, I can't help but wonder, do you think that it would really be more effective to focus on the positive rather than point out the negative. Using the "Incovenient Truth" documentary, for example- would there have been as much hoopla about it if it had focused on things that are being done to save the environment? Or would people not even have given it the time of day (or a second thought)?

Brandon_7_I

“We tend to cast ourselves as the hero or heroine and paint those denying our requests or obstructing our progress as villainous. It is easier to imagine our adversaries as dumb, stubborn, or lazy than to consider they probably believe they have a “good reason” for not cooperating with us and may even think we are the dumb, stubborn, or selfish ones.”

I think this is a good point. However, when we need to influence somebody to get them to say what we want them to say, I think there are other factors involved.

Portraying ourselves or our ideas as the hero may not be the best way to go all the time. The consequence of this may be the thought of us coming off as cocky or pompous.

I think that when we are in a communication situation where we somebody is trying to influence us, we naturally try to find a reason to oppose the person’s arguments… playing “devil’s advocate.”

So, when we want to influence somebody, a tactic might be to say the opposite of what we want them to say, just so that the person will play “devil’s advocate” and say the opposite of what we said, which is what we wanted them to say in the first place. I hope that’s not too confusing.

The same tactic is used when somebody is “fishing for compliments.” For example, I have a painting that I did that I think is great. Jane also has a painting. I approach her and tell her that I think her painting is better. Out of politeness, or by her playing “devil’s advocate,” she disagrees and tells me that my painting is better. I win. Sign on the dotted line.

I think the same type of tactic could be applied in a business situation, to a degree. But it cannot be overdone. Being able to “read” people plays a big part here. Each person that we communicate with must be dealt with in their own custom manner in order to sell them our idea.

Luke_7_Q

I was very skeptical when I picked up this book, not having found much useful in the past 4 chapters. The title of Chapter 7 set me back. "Influencing the Unwilling, Unconcerned, or Unmotivated." I felt like she knew a little more about me and how I was feeling(about reading her book). It opened me up to the story she told in the first pages that then opened me up to what she had to say in this chapter. I really liked what Simmons had to say, until she started contradicting herself. On Page 167 she starts building the very boxes that she spent the last couple pages tearing down. I find it fascinating that I'm using her previous words and lessons to analyze what I'm reading of hers currently. Ideas or similar occurances?

Brian_7_I

Let me start off by saying this, my dad is an urban terrorist.

This is a story I could reflect in class but may as well put it here since it ties into this chapter so well.

On page 159, Simmons talks about adversarial relationships describing another of us vs them sort of situations. One rang very true of a situation I've lived for a good part of my life: "or a neighbor who continues to let her dog poop in your yard...".

My old man is a salty ex-hippy, with 20+ years as a Cleveland Iron Worker...he's worked with the worst type of folks in the world. These are the sort of guys that'll smoke a crack-rock before holding the rope you're father is dangling from while he's welding iron in -10 degree weather at 300' in the air. These guys don't do stories, they do revenge and my dad was the master.

So back to the neighbor with the dog. When I was about 12 they built an extension on our street with homes costing 250k...making our original part of the road looks cheap @ 130k. Mostly young professional families with fast cars and no regard for the children that played in the regularly quiet road moved in. It spurred a you vs me mentality between a lot of us, basically bridged only by the willingness of each groups children to play together.

One of these new neighbors had two large dogs. Originally they'd bring them down to my house near the intersection and they'd shit in our few acres of side yard. Not a big deal except that this yard was basically a playground for the neighborhood children. So my old man makes the calm suggestion that the guy pick up his dogs crap. Being an ignorant young rich guy he basically told my dad to go chase cars. So my dad took to shooting golfballs at the guy while he walked his dogs. A rather good tactic until the guy started sending down his wife instead...in my dad's words...'she needed the exercise' and would gently remind her of that from time to time. She was a snarly old biatch so my mom didn't complain at his level of sexism.

Eventually he confronts them both by stopping his car in the road and not letting them pass. They get into an argument and he makes the point that all the kids play in that yard and he's a f-ass for letting the dogs shit there. Instead of being rational, the guy peels into our yard and passes my dad's truck. I assume he went home to beat his wife...steroid-heads like that always do.

That point forward they'd have the dogs shit in my parents front yard near our house when my dad would leave for work. I'd catch them sometimes and since I was a surly little shit they would also avoid me like the plague. Anyways, we'd come home to little landmines in our yard from time to time.

So I setup a hidden camera system, caught them in the act, and filed charges with the community organization. The family started getting heat from others and their visits were less frequent. My dad didn't quit. He found their property was split between a commercial and a residential zoning lot and made them jump through hoops to keep their house and costing them a ton of money in legal fees.

Finally in a final act of revenge, my dad organized a crew of neighborhood children (with me quietly leading much of the cause of course) to clean all the poop out of the side yard and leave it for the neighbors as a present. Their driveway was nearly impassable so when the wife got home for the day she pulls up to the driveway and gets out of her car screaming. All the kids as well as myself are hiding in the woods near the home chuckling to ourselves. Her husband, who had already driven through the pile staining the entire driveway, came out calm telling her to just drive through it. She continues screaming, he approaches, she slaps him telling him that this whole thing was his fault.

She moved out about a week later, him to follow the next spring.

Morel of the story, don't let your dog shit in the yard where the kids play or you're going to end up divorced and living in a motel.

Brian_7_I

I felt really good about some of the points she raised in this chapter. She put down some ideas that jive really closely to my world view.

In the "truly evil" segment, she points out that people are easy to put into a box and villify. But as soon as you view them as a [gasp!] fellow human beings, you start to realize that they aren't that bad.

I also loved the "think positive" aspect of this chapter.

I really enjoyed this chapter more than some of the earlier ones. I think she hit this one out of the ballpark.

Martin_7_I

I am ever the cynic and it is pretty difficult for a person's story to get through to me. I think I'm just a product of where I grew up. I grew up in East Chicago, Indiana and if you know anything about Indiana politics, then you know how horribly corrupt EC politics have been. The Indiana Supreme Court had to finally step in and stop Mayor Robert Pastrick from stealing yet another election back in 2004. The corrupt jerk had been in office for 32 years, during which EC fell apart becoming a crime-ridden urban squalor.

It's not enough for somebody to talk about their good intentions. They've got to prove it through their actions. When it comes to politicians, I'm not even sure that good storytelling would work for me.

Josh_7_I

This post builds upon the post by JJ below:

I agree that environmentalists, Al Gore in particular, paint a pretty dismal picture of the future. I also agree that they should try a different approach. Former Sierra Club president, Adam Werbach, recently teamed up with Wal-Mart because he felt his environmentalist peers weren't getting anything done. The outcome of his relationship with Wal-Mart is a broad reaching plan for the transition of the mega-chain, from mega-wasteful to mega-green. The plan he helped foster will have a global impact when completed. The grumbling of his peers fosters little to speak of.

JJ mentioned spinning the positives, instead of the negatives. I have to agree with him. [This is where I start trying to tie this into Chapter 7.] Businesses are just beginning to realize that being green can make them money. This positive has encouraged many businesses to make an effort. The more this positive is promoted, the greater the effect will be.

As storytellers, we have to keep in mind that our first attempts might not always be successful. Given the near certainty of the arrival of such a situation it is also good to keep in mind the possibility of trying a different approach. If you started out with the negatives, try the positives.

JJ also mentioned responsibility in his post and ultimately that's what a lot of things in life come down to. Sustainability could just as easily be called responsibility. Architects have a responsibility to create efficient buildings. Storytellers have a responsibility to disseminate vital information. We all have a responsibility to the future of our planet.

[Here's where I really start to drive the point home.] In Chapter 7, Simmons talks a lot about persuasion, but she doesn't say much about responsibility. Simply being able to persuade someone isn't the point. The reason behind the persuasion and the responsibility of the storyteller should be the point.

P.S. Anyone interseted in the inadequacy of the LEED standards that JJ alludes to and the Letterman building flaunts can click here.

Han_7 I

I don't whether it is true or not, but I assume being positive is the best way to be a good stryteller. Why are we talking a story? It is possible that we need to convince some people to believe our stories. Let us say in this way. If we are always whining about everything or being negative to many things. How can we give a resourful information to other poeple? Just like the stories in the book talks about fighting with the monster. That boy just give the monster some apples and he save the village. Why? Because he is smater than other poeple or he is stronger than others? He has a positive mind and his belief.
He doesn't think the ways other people used were wring and his was correct. He just has a simple mind for saving his village. I think it is why he won.
When poeple try to convince others, they usually think they are right and others are worng. Therfore they can't listen to other poepl's opinions and they just insist theirs. The more we insist our opinions, the less we can influence others. If we don't respect other poeple's opinions, how come they need to accept ours? It is both side.
If our purpose is to make some one believe our stories. We must know more about them and try to understnad what they want. If we can't have apositive mind, we might fail on it.

JohnJ_7_i

So if you haven't hear by now there is this thing going around in the architecture department. Its called sustainability. Ya its that thing that made your building what it is.
I have rejected joining the sustainability movement and after reading this chapter I know exactly why.

Has anyone seen Al Gore's movie the Inconceivable Truth? It was by far one of the downer movies I've ever seen. His story of the end of the world is near, is repeated over and over by some may lecturers, professors, and environmentalist. I don't want to be told over and over again that by the time that I am 40 that we will have no food, no water, not be able to walk ten feet without running into a natural disaster.

What they should have sold to me are the positives.
The preservations to leave a site untouched except right where the building will be, the way any architect conceives a building in the first place. The use to get natural light into a building, because we all love working under florescent lights all day. The ability to not have to change a light bulb every 2 months but only once every 5 years. The better air quality of the air instead of the photos of lung cancer. or not the last ... The better looking products of wood instead of metal or plastic laminate.

We as architects also have a problem of explaining why we choose to make decisions we do, and its from storytelling that we need to find a way.

Kyle_7_I

By this time Simmons has demostrated a mojority of the uses of narative. This chapter is no different, however the type of the audience is rather the focus. Knowing how to speak to hostile audiences and about negative topics is so critical when it comes to be a leader and manager in business. Your audience or sphere of influence does not have to be hundreds or thousands, the majority of our careers we will be influencing 5 to 10 people at a time. All of these storytelling techniques and methods translate just as well to 10 as they do with 10,000. I love her ephasis in this chapter on the power of being positive. In my expirence there is nothing more motivating then a positive story.

Jessie_7_I

So I have this "friend" who frequently accuses me of smiling "too much" and she is not joking when she says it. She is possibly the most negative person I have ever met and employs every one of the negative emotions discussed in the chapter on a pretty regular basis. We're in an organization together and I can honestly say that the other members of the group and I have tried everything we can to improver her disposition and nothing has worked.

This girl was very suspicious of me for a very long time. I'm really a very cheerful person (you're all shocked, I know) and she didn't see how someone could be that cheerful without having some dark motive. After knowing me for a while and not seeing any dark motive appear she concluded that I am, in fact, an idiot. I'm going to let you all in on a little secret, I am not an idiot, just annoyingly cheerful. And honestly, if she just wanted to think I'm an idiot I would have been OK with it. But she started treating me like an idiot despite all the effort I put into being nice to her and that made me mad. I was still nice to her, but I started looking for ways to knock her down a peg or two. I had developed that dark motive she was looking for. When I realized what I was doing I had to take a step back and re-evaluate my relationship with her. I decided that I just had to stop dealing with her all together on a personal level.

As much as I enjoyed this chapter I feel that it really needs to warn the readers that there are just people like her, people you just aren't going to be able to get through to without drugging them into submission. When I was growing I always heard this saying, "stop throwing good after bad." I really think that there comes a point when you just have to accept that someone is unreachable and you have to stop wasting your resources on them before they drag you down with them. I would really be interested in Simmons' "professional" thoughts on when that point occurs and how to deal with it once it does.

Iris_chapter 7

Here a few quotes that stuck out to me:

p 163:
The goal is to spread emotions that create action and hope in the people you want to influence
- we want to motivate the kids to do something and realize that even small things can inherit a major change (see p 175)...if all people do tiny things all over the place they change the face of the earth...yes they are just a nut or a bolt in the huge machine but they have a purpose! We "grown-ups" tend to make children feel small and insignificant, we don't take them serious and we often label their ideas as "illusionary", "far out" or just "stupid".....

p 164:
If you are going to connect to and activate the good part of humans, you will need to stop obsessing about the "evil" part.
You want to bring out the good? Then enforce the good!
See the good things that the school kids are already doing and support them.....

p 164: ...you may discover you are the one who doesn't understand, isn't willing to change, or won't listen.
- a big problem: talking next to each other not with each other! Very often arguments are caused by misunderstandings and especially misinterpretations, sometimes it is better to reconfirm in a question how you interpret the person's points and ask the person to explain what they really mean. We have to put ourselves into the other's situation and mindset.


and just because I like it so much:
p 158:
....and the monster smiled back with enough warmth to convince even the most cynical of the villagers that this monster was now a blessing to the village rather than a curse.

...a lot of the stories that Simmons includes in the book are stories that either show somebody solving a problem in an "outside-the-box"-way or show how an event/a fact can be seen in a totally different light...it shows me that we either have to fight the patterns we are stuck in or have to use them in a certain way to improve and change.

Self talk

Liz 7: Q

Which one are you? What is the big picture story you tell yourself?

a. Cynic b. resentful c. apathetic d. jealous e. hopeless f. greedy

Don’t know why, I’ve built patterns of “hopeless” into a running sound track in my self talk. Even though, I’ve paid for every dime of my schooling by working. My perception is when I succeed, the power to effect positive change still seems to elude me. Perhaps it’s because I look too often at temporal values, things that don’t really matter. Maybe by broadening my perspective I could see that being content with small influence is enough. The Inner Game of Tennis was great in helping me rewire some of these erroneous self talk loops. Maybe it’s not all about being an influencer but being influenced at times. So which one are you?

Chad_7_I

A judge once told me: "In my years on the bench, I have seen some, but not a lot, of bad people. I've seen some, but not a lot, of evil people. I've seen a lot of people who have made bad choices."

(Author's note: I was not on the wrong side of the defendant's table when I got this comment.)

Simmons suggests "The Truly Evil" are so often the invention of people trying to rationalize their own choices by villifying others. It's a handy trick, although a damaging one. Creating a villain not only chalks up the position of the opponent to nature; it also protects the person on the other side of the argument. After all, there's no dealing with true evil, outside of divine intervention.

Simmons also suggests the best way to deal with this type of argument is to "recreate 'them' as 'us.' "

Useful, but I'd take it a step further. Erase the concept of evil altogether, when making judgment calls.

Shakespeare paraphrase: "Nothing is either good or bad, but thinking makes it so."

Chad_7_Q

Ever since our discussion on the importance of nonverbal I have been reading this book while imagining what gestures and expressions would best suit each new concept. The transcriptions of stories are especially fertile for this sort of treatment.

This afternoon I read about the carpenter who joined two neighbors' properties with a bridge. I thought about hearing this story live and decided it would be more influential in the frame of a live teller-live audience situation. As of now it's just transcription, meaning, it's words translated to the page. The words might not have been meant to be translated to the page, after all ...

Tim and I were just talking about Marshall McLuhan's idea that the medium is the message. In Simmons' case, I believe it is. Does anyone else feel like the stories, though interesting, are beginning to stale in this regard?

Tim_Chapter 7_I

In chapter 7 we read more about using stories to influence. But the author concentrates on using stories to deal with people who don’t want to be influenced. She talks about people who may have a different view than yours and how to use a story to soften them up. Yes it’s back to feelings and emotions being influenced through story.
I think it comes down to getting your audience all on the same page. I often tell my news students that if they don’t care, why should the viewer? This chapter brings up a lot of difficult situations where people are so steadfast in their views that it is hard to win them over. Simmons says it is about hope. If you can make your listener have hope, then you have made them care about your cause.
I mostly agree with this idea, but there are some topics you just can’t win with everyone. I was surprised Simmons brought up abortion. That is a subject to avoid. I suppose if you were enlisted to convince one side to listen to the other that you could. But listening might be all you accomplish. I imagine that it was similar when talking about slavery before the civil war. For me, sure I have an opinion, but I’d rather stay out of the argument.

Group #1 Action Update

Today we captured both video and audio of the 2007 CROP Walk in Muncie. We acquired interviews with an organizer and two young participants in addition to some great natural sound of the event.
We expect to gather more assets on Thursday.

Actiongroup#3 update

Meeting Thursday 10am in Yorktown with Mary Watkins.