In my Intersectoral Leadership class at USC, Professor Callahan asked each of our groups to choose a different article from the readings, analyze it in light of the theory presented by another article, spend 20 minutes planning a presentation, and present to the class.
I asked that our group focus on an article that exhorted the US to stop trying to create democracy in Afghanistan, and focus instead on making government function, while accepting that Afghanistan is hardly a unified state. I was interested because of my own experience teaching science in Afghanistan.
While preparing, Kiyomi, a friend and colleague of mine from Senator Steinberg's office, suggested we try to make our presentation "Sticky." Professor Callahan is a devotee of Malcolm Gladwell (as am I), and encourages us to incorporate insights from his books into our presentations, leadership style, and everyday thinking - which I think is a great idea. Gladwell's "Sticky" concept is something close to how memorable an idea is - how likely someone is to hold on to, and pass along, an idea.
I thought we could easily make our presentation Sticky by incorporating some personal story from my experience in Afghanistan. I thought about what story might be a good illustration of the points in our presentation, and finally thought of an excellent experience from a travel office. So I began our presentation with this story:
"I have gone to Afghanistan twice to teach science, and will never forget my experience there. One thing in particular that I remember is when we walked into a travel office to buy tickets back home. There were clocks on the wall displaying different time zones. The four clocks were labeled Paris, London, Tokyo, and Kabul."
I had drawn a row of four clocks without hands on a presentation pad beforehand, and I continued:
"The hour hands for Paris, London and Tokyo all looked something like this." I drew each, pointing up and to the left.
"The Kabul clock, on the other hand, looked like this," I said, as I drew in Kabul's hour hand, pointing down and to the right - in the opposite direction.
"Afghanistan," I continued, "Is on a different track from us. It isn't a westernized country like Japan or Germany that we can rebuild into a democracy. It's totally different, and we have to accept that when we are doing work there."
At the end of our presentation, Professor Callahan said, "Okay, stop. In my twelve years of doing this exercise, I have never seen so good a first presentation. The way Nick started with that story about his experience in Afghanistan grabbed you, and made you want to know more. Normally, I have the groups present right after each other. But I want all of you to take three to five minutes back with your groups to talk about how you can do what they did to make your presentations Sticky."
My personal story made our presentation stand head and shoulders above other presentations.
I asked that our group focus on an article that exhorted the US to stop trying to create democracy in Afghanistan, and focus instead on making government function, while accepting that Afghanistan is hardly a unified state. I was interested because of my own experience teaching science in Afghanistan.
While preparing, Kiyomi, a friend and colleague of mine from Senator Steinberg's office, suggested we try to make our presentation "Sticky." Professor Callahan is a devotee of Malcolm Gladwell (as am I), and encourages us to incorporate insights from his books into our presentations, leadership style, and everyday thinking - which I think is a great idea. Gladwell's "Sticky" concept is something close to how memorable an idea is - how likely someone is to hold on to, and pass along, an idea.
I thought we could easily make our presentation Sticky by incorporating some personal story from my experience in Afghanistan. I thought about what story might be a good illustration of the points in our presentation, and finally thought of an excellent experience from a travel office. So I began our presentation with this story:
"I have gone to Afghanistan twice to teach science, and will never forget my experience there. One thing in particular that I remember is when we walked into a travel office to buy tickets back home. There were clocks on the wall displaying different time zones. The four clocks were labeled Paris, London, Tokyo, and Kabul."
I had drawn a row of four clocks without hands on a presentation pad beforehand, and I continued:
"The hour hands for Paris, London and Tokyo all looked something like this." I drew each, pointing up and to the left.
"The Kabul clock, on the other hand, looked like this," I said, as I drew in Kabul's hour hand, pointing down and to the right - in the opposite direction.
"Afghanistan," I continued, "Is on a different track from us. It isn't a westernized country like Japan or Germany that we can rebuild into a democracy. It's totally different, and we have to accept that when we are doing work there."
At the end of our presentation, Professor Callahan said, "Okay, stop. In my twelve years of doing this exercise, I have never seen so good a first presentation. The way Nick started with that story about his experience in Afghanistan grabbed you, and made you want to know more. Normally, I have the groups present right after each other. But I want all of you to take three to five minutes back with your groups to talk about how you can do what they did to make your presentations Sticky."
My personal story made our presentation stand head and shoulders above other presentations.
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