If Seth Godin is right, and I believe he is, that we now live in a post-industrial, connection economy, then it behooves us to learn the language of connection.
Think about it: what do you connect with? What makes you feel like you’ve really established a bond with a person or an institution?
For me, it’s the sense that I’ve been listened to and understood.
The sense that I’ve been valued.
The sense that someone is “speaking my language.”
In a business setting, the sense that a product or service or event taps into my most cherished interests and desires.
The impatience to share the experience with others.
But for a great connection to happen, there must be great communication. Someone has to speak or otherwise convey the understanding and the appreciation and the excitement that is going to create a bond.
This usually doesn’t happen in a PowerPoint presentation. Or a white paper. Or a memo. Or a speech. Or a conventional newsletter. Or standard web copy.
Sometimes, but not often.
So where does it happen?
The customary medium of great communication is that of a story.
In a story, as Robert McKee defines it, idea (a truth) is wedded to emotion (what we are most passionate about) and a connection is made between two or more human beings.
Godin further argues that what drives the connection economy is “art.” Works of “art,” broadly defined, are works that communicate ideas that connect to our most cherished, most human interests and desires.
And what’s the paradigmatic human art? Storytelling.
So this is my syllogism:
We live in a connection economy.
Connections are best made through great stories.
The connection economy requires great stories.
So, how are you adjusting to the connection economy?
What are the media you are using to make real connections?
In what ways is it possible for you to incorporate great stories in your media?
If you would like some assistance in thinking through these questions, I’m here to help you. Don’t hesitate to contact me at 571-419-3990 or [email protected].
* The painting imaged above is “Wandering Storyteller with a Magic Lantern” by Alessandro Magnasco (1667-1749).
The difficult part about living in a connection economy is starting out. It’s a time consuming, labor intensive process. But once you get over the tipping point, that’s when it begins to work for the people who were willing to make these thoughtful investments.
You’re absolutely right, S.C. If you’re going to make a real human connection, it has to be done in real time. As I think Godin says elsewhere, the only short cut in the connection economy is the long way around.