Getting the Point Across: A Lesson in Communication

This seems fitting just after Martin Luther King day in the U.S.

As noted in the book Made to Stick, by brothers Chip and Dan Heath, an Iowa school teacher sent an unforgettable message about discrimination to her 3rd grade students a day after Martin Luther King was murdered.

She got the point across by making the students feel what discrimination was like, in a simple, but brilliant exercise. The students remember the message to this day.

Not to belittle the subject matter by comparing it to business, but there's a valuable point here. If you're trying to sell an audience on something that they may not embrace on their own, think about how you can create a simulation that will make them "feel the message."

Here's the link to the full broadcast in five chapters.


frontline: a class divided: watch the program PBS