The Red Thread Podcast

There are two kinds of change, technical and adaptive, and you need to solve for the right one. Tamsen is working on a book about the Red Thread, and it's been hard to get that change to happen. Michael Bungay Stanier's advice was that she was probably solving for the wrong kind of change.

Find the Red Thread at TamsenWebster.com.

Resources

• Immunity to Change: How to Overcome It and Unlock the Potential in Yourself and Your Organization by Lisa Laskow Lahey and Michael Kegan
• Box of Crayons - Michael Bungay Stanier
• How to Use "Old" Ways of Thinking to Find New Ways Through Difficult Times – EP052

Now that you have a great title, how do you write descriptions for your talk or presentation? Again, it's about framing the ideas for the organizer to say yes, which means using the Red Thread. If we write descriptions so the organizer gets all their questions answered, it'll answer their attendees' questions, too.

Find the Red Thread at TamsenWester.com.

Resources

• How to Write a Conference Speaking or Session Proposal That Gets Chosen Every Time
• Tamsen's Talks
• Can Your Message Survive an Edit? - EP:002

When we're trying to title a TEDx talk, we need to make sure it fits a format the organizer expects. If you look at the top 20 titles of TED talks, you'll notice that none of them use the "Name: Subtitle" format. Instead, they're always phrases like, "Do schools kill creativity?" or, "Your body language may shape who you are."

Find the Red Thread at TamsenWebster.com.

Resources

• The most popular TED talks of all time
• How to Title Your Keynote or Presentation – EP:096

In order to title your keynote or presentation, start by asking what the audience needs to hear. This isn't necessarily what you yourself think is most interesting or compelling. Instead, it's about what your audience needs to say yes to before they can engage with those ideas.

Find the Red Thread at TamsenWebster.com.

Resources

• Focus on the GOAL: Why Your Audience Needs an "Irresistible Outcome" – EP053
• The Irresistible Idea Formula – EP069
• Tamsen's Titles

Long sales cycles make it hard to structure your message and address the right questions. The key is to instead structure a series of messages that answer the right question at the right time. A message format that your organization probably uses is focused on how. In fact, it's common for ALL of your messaging to be focused on how: the features and benefits of your product or service. The problem is that How is only useful to address once the audience when your audience gets to What Now.

Find the Red Thread at TamsenWebster.com.

Resources

• The 3 Types of Messages – EP030
• What is the Shape of Your Story? – EP048
• The 3 Beliefs That Precede Change – EP076
• A 5-Minute Summary Of "The Challenger Sale" Book Your Boss Told You To Read

The ABT method is just about the simplest storytelling structure, but we can make it more effective. ABT, developed by Randy Olson, stands for "And, But, Therefore." Each of those words corresponds to an act of a story. But there's one more thing we can do to make our stories even more powerful. Because in the second act of a good story, there's a Moment of Truth that causes the third act to happen.

Find the Red Thread at TamsenWebster.com.

Resources

• Randy Olson - "The And, But, Therefore of Storytelling"
• Randy Olson Productions
• Messaging Fast and Slow – EP026
• A Shortcut to Business Storytelling – EP042

This week we look at 3 books that will make you a better communicator by making the useful usable. Made to Stick, by Chip and Dan Heath, Peter C. Brown's Make It Stick, and Magic Words by Tim David.

Find the Red Thread at TamsenWebster.com.

Resources

• The Two Learning Styles You REALLY Need to Master – EP022
• The Irresistible Idea Formula – EP069
• Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath
• Make It Stick by Peter C. Brown
• Magic Words by Tim David

Waffle House stays open no matter what, and the Waffle House Index represents their Red Thread. Even though this chain of southern restaurants is committed to keeping their doors open, there are times when a disaster or national emergency makes that impossible. But this is where the Waffle House Index comes into play.

Find the Red Thread at TamsenWebster.com.

Resources

• What Is The Waffle House Index? - NPR
• The Red Thread of United Parcel Service (UPS) – EP 006

Presenting without slides or notes can happen by accident or on purpose, but how do you do it? It's not about memorization, but internalization. With memorization, you're thinking about which word comes next. Internalization, however, is about remembering which concept comes after which concept.

Find the Red Thread at TamsenWebster.com.

Resources

• Building Blocks for Better Talks
• How to Create a Great Opening for Your Presentation or Pitch – EP029
• "Internalize, Don't Memorize" – EP032
• How to Overcome Shyness and Stage Fright – EP082

We're told to use storytelling in business, but why do stories how can you use that? What's crazy: the concept of storytelling in business is, at this point, at least 20 years old, but we don't seem to be getting any better at it. Why not? It goes back to why the pieces of a story are there in the first place.

Find the Red Thread at TamsenWebster.com.

Resources

• How to Use Storytelling to Talk About Yourself – EP:084
• The Persuasion Formula – EP:087
• How to create a "moment of truth"
• Phil M. Jones