Friday, February 24, 2006
Pink Elephants for Changing Others' Beliefs
If University of California at Berkeley linguistics professor, Dr. George Lakoff
had his way,
the Kerry campaign would have run a commercial attacking the
"baby tax."
He wanted to divide the interest on the national debt
by the number of Americans born each year. In his suggested
advertisement, a newborn would be handed a bill for $85,000,
the infant's portion of the debt to be paid.
Then the baby would start to cry.
That, Dr. Lakoff says, frames the issue in a way that people can't
ignore. Lakoff is the author of the surprise best-seller
*Don't Think of an Elephant! Know Your Values and Frame the
Debate.*
He wants to offer the Democrats a road map for going forward.
You can use Lakoff's techniques for other situations where you
want to sell your ideas or products.
Every manager, parent, teacher, or other would-be leader can get practical insights from his book and from a great companion to it, Robert Cialdini's all-time classic, *Influence: Science and Practice*
.
the Kerry campaign would have run a commercial attacking the
"baby tax."
He wanted to divide the interest on the national debt
by the number of Americans born each year. In his suggested
advertisement, a newborn would be handed a bill for $85,000,
the infant's portion of the debt to be paid.
Then the baby would start to cry.
That, Dr. Lakoff says, frames the issue in a way that people can't
ignore. Lakoff is the author of the surprise best-seller
*Don't Think of an Elephant! Know Your Values and Frame the
Debate.*
He wants to offer the Democrats a road map for going forward.
You can use Lakoff's techniques for other situations where you
want to sell your ideas or products.
Every manager, parent, teacher, or other would-be leader can get practical insights from his book and from a great companion to it, Robert Cialdini's all-time classic, *Influence: Science and Practice*
