The Foundation is Why

I believe it is important to lead with the why or emotional reasoning to hook in the audience in embracing change.  This alone will not be enough without the facts to back up the emotions.  It is the combination of both the emotions and facts that can promote major change.  In the video The heart of Change, John Kotter says you cannot bring about change without winning over the hearts and minds of people. I think of every time I make a big purchase, like a car.  If I go directly to a car lot, a car salesman may be able to tug at my heart strings at this amazing car, especially after a nice drive.  But that alone will not convince me to buy a car if it doubles what my budget is, or extremely unsafe.  The combination of the two is what leads us to drive positive change.  If someone makes a big purchase recklessly without aligning their needs to the purchase, they will have regret and eventually return the purchase.   I believe this is how all change through emotions occurs.  It will get a group motivated, but not completely committed until there is support for reasoning.

In general, many people focus on the mind because it is easier to gauge and prove.  Leading with the audience’s emotions is a powerful strategy but unpredictable.  An audience’s emotions are harder to track, predict, and record, where research facts can be conclusive and provable.  In “Why Ted Talks don’t change people’s behavior, “Tom Acker mentions the difference between facts and truth.  The truth is what we think about happens.  And he says we only support the facts if they align with our personal truths.  Exactly!
The way to change in a permanent way is through intrinsic motivation.  Short term change can be motivated by external factors or short-term gains.  But for an environment or person to completely change long term, motivation within is key for sustainable change. When you can answer the question why you have been able to reach to the root of the issue.  Exposing the why you can have a much deeper understanding of the purpose of change and it becomes personal to you.  When someone can relate to an issue or situation and make something about them instead of an idea, it is much more possible to motivate long-term.
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