Peter Beck Kim’s Other Blog

for more than Tweets, less and less formal than www.MedicalRecordShow.com
 

The Seatbelt Video: Tears, Verklempt, and Influencing 101

Quite simply, this YouTube video is perfect.

As of this moment, this public service announcement has been viewed 9,610,576 times. And as a model for influencing behavior, it hits all the right buttons:

  1. It's a video, so extremely easy to consume and spread to others.
  2. It tells a story, and bypasses many of the usual filters that oppose dry facts ("Car crashes without seatbelts take lives").
  3. It tells its story wordlessly, so further bypasses the remaining left brain defensive linemen.
  4. Anyone can place themselves in the storyline, so everyone boards the story train.
  5. The storyline hits with a potent, emotional punch -- more credible, memorable, and understandable than verbal arguments.
  6. It closes with a call to action to channel that empathic, emotional response.

Influencer: The Power To Change Anything by Petterson, Grenny, et al, points out that the best influencing experience is walking someone through the story in person. Clarence, from It's A Wonderful Life, had nearly everything right, though he left out the key call to action.

Luckily, George was smart enough to take the right steps, but that's not always the case. And you probably don't have the resources his guardian angel did. Storytelling done well hits the sweet spot between a high quality output and a low cost input.

Filed under  //   influencing   It's A Wonderful Life   Seatbelt Video  
Posted July 4, 2010
// 1 Comment
 

Saw this video in our medical leadership group, came home to my wife watching it on YouTube.


Not only is Daniel Pink the man, whomever did the marker drawing is pretty frakkin' amazing, too.

Doctors: motivated by money? Change their behavior by carrots and sticks, alone? Not nearly so much as you'd think -- witness the still low rates of adopting electronic medical records, despite major subsidies and financial incentives.

But publish their achievement scores over time where they and their colleagues can see them? How good they've been at improving, and how they compare to their office mates? Watch the curves bend!

Most physicians are intrinsically motivated by an internal standard of merit, with scorecards built into their DNA. Who survives 4 years of grueling pre-med undergrad work, 4 more years debt-building med school, and 3-9 more years of residency training at ridiculously low wages? Not folks motivated by money -- you've got to be able to survive and thrive on how you score and perform.

We've all pursued things that made no sense from the standpoint of basic loss and gain. This video -- a 10 minute snippet summary of Pink's book, Drive -- explains why.

Filed under  //   Daniel Pink   Drive   influencing   YouTube  
Posted July 1, 2010
// 2 Comments
 

A Good Source Of Protein for lunch, Eclipse, and Influence

Instead of dropping 2 lbs. this past week, I gained a pound -- not surprising, after being bitten by the dreaded Starch Monster. Dastardly fiend, his werewolf countenance and six pack abs have left me yearning for all manner of white fluffy carbs.

So it's back to the protein plates and chamomile tea from Starbucks.

Speaking of beasts, have no expectations about the third Twilight film, Eclipse, which the family and I will be seeing shortly. Am hoping to be pleasantly surprised. The 1st movie was phenomenal, even with its lower production values, the 2nd less so -- an example of how storytelling trumps...pretty much everything else.

That's an awfully powerful lesson for anyone interested in innovation and spreading that innovation around. Storytelling is practically hardwired into us; as social creatures, we have no defenses against engaging tales.

Tell a good enough story, and you can get people to stop abusing their wives, lose weight and quit smoking, cut HIV transmission by 25%, and part with $2000 for an online business course. You can convince them that change is possible, worthwhile, and desirable RIGHT NOW.

Or that you can lose 19 lbs. in 3 weeks and drop your BP 30 points :)

Anyhoo. Tea and work beckon.

Filed under  //   Eclipse   influencing   innovation   Starbucks   storytelling   Twilight  
Posted June 30, 2010
// 0 Comments