I recently heard a wonderfully funny and impactful metaphor. A client of mine had commented to his boss that if Donald Trump won the election, he would “eat his sock”. Sometime later after Trump had won the election, my client and his boss were on a business trip and hosting a client dinner. His boss, never one to forget a comment or miss an opportunity, had taken one of his colleagues socks to the restaurant and secretly arranged for the restaurant to stuff the sock with food and cook it. He then proceeded to make his colleague eat (at least some of) his sock! I only wish I had been there, it must have been hysterical.
So that’s the story, but where is the metaphor?
Storytelling is one of the most powerful ways to make your point. When a story is personal it has even more power because the storyteller “owns” the content. When we own the content it is vivid; we often reconnect with the sights, sounds and emotions of the time we are speaking about. This creates authenticity and allows us to take our listeners on a journey. It is no coincidence that many of the most successful people are good storytellers.
Metaphors are a specific type of story designed to parallel a situation without creating a conscious connection with the situation itself. Metaphors allow the storyteller to bypass the potential resistance that may exist to a message by retaining the listeners attention. If we try to address an issue directly, people will stop listening and become defensive or start generating their response if they don’t agree. With a metaphor, you reduce the chances of this happening.
My client was in heavy industry. The objective of his presentation was to position the companies new strategy effectively with their clients. My challenge to him was to create a story line that would make his presentation more compelling.
My challenge to you now is, before reading the rest of this blog, take a few minutes to consider how you could create an impactful metaphor from the sock story that addresses the clients stated objective…
It’s not easy is it! However, every scenario has a golden nugget of a story or metaphor waiting to be unveiled. You just need to know how to do it.
The client told the story of the sock as part of his presentation on the companies new strategy. He then delivered the punchline; “When we say we will do something we do it.”
Linking eating his sock back to the principles of reliability and integrity was masterful. Anyone can say that their company is a reliable business partner with strong ethics. However, if you can find a story that can be used as a metaphor to show how you demonstrate the traits you want to exemplify, the impact of your message will be tenfold.
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