The Elements of Persuasion

DREAM TEAM II

First a major caveat: The five-element story model is descriptive, not predictive. It can tell you the strengths of a candidate’s story, but it can’t tell you what a candidate will do next. Still, knowing “the elements of persuasion” can help predict which story is likely to prevail in the long term “story war” that is a political campaign, and so suggest smart strategy.

So why would Obama-Gore be “the dream team”?

Because Gore brings the missing element to the Dem story. The one I’ve been waiting for. Awareness. And that can make all the difference. Awareness corresponds to the element air. It is the moment in a story when the Hero understands what they need to do to prevail. It leads to specific actions.

It is one thing to believe in change, something else again to actually know the levers of power well enough to make it happen. Thanks to eight years of carefully politicized appointments the government's bureaucracy is now actively malignant (if it wasn’t before that). Someone is going to have to roll up their sleeves and dive in to fix things. Gore, who headed up the “streamlining of the government” during the Clinton years knows the basic architecture. And he has shown himself comfortable with being in the number two slot. Plus he has spent years working on how to address our biggest problem – the environment – while at the same time stimulating the economy and rebuilding our energy infrastructure so his approach will have focus.

Better yet, from a tactical perspective - which is where the Obama campaign excels - putting Gore on the ticket allows Obama to open up a line of attack on the Repubs that his campaign against Hillary almost closed off.

I’m talking about the classic: “Are you better now than you were eight years ago?” That is the question Dems want voters carrying into the voting booth in November. And Gore personifies it.

So what do you do for Hillary? After her GREAT concession speech she deserves something. My suggestion – the Supreme Court. If there is one position that will allow her to continue her fight for universal equal rights, that is it. Plus, it will be fun to watch Justice Alito’s head explode when he has to argue with her on the bench.

LOOKING AT THE MIRROR

Over at Salon, Gordy Slack has a very nice piece on Mirror Neurons – the physical hardwiring that allows humans to learn by imitation and to accurately anticipate the actions of others. According to Slack, on November 4, a scientist announced that they had finally located an actual mirror neuron. In the cognitive world (and in marketing) this is major. Until now, all we know about these mysterious neurons we know through inference and from studying their effects using MRI brain scans. Ongoing studies are looking at how mirror neurons effect everything from Autism to which commercials work best during the Superbowl. If we can now see how these slippery little buggers actually tick at a neuro-chemical level, it’s a very big deal indeed.

In Elements of Persuasion, we spend a lot of Chapter 5 “Finding Common Ground” discussing how organizations from the Marine Corps to Starbucks to Harley Davidson harness mirror neurons to build team cohesion and ultimately, to make brands. If you haven’t read our book, you should check out this article to get an overview on what Mirror Neurons are. It gets a little tree-huggy, (ascribing all of empathy to the existence of these neurons is probably going to far), but it is a good quick read. One bone to pick with Mr. Slack – exactly where was this announcement made? Science? The Journal of Neurobiology? A UCLA press conference? If anyone knows, please post. I’d run it down right now myself but I have to go do picket duty with the Writers Guild. Where, not so coincidentally I will be using my own mirror neurons as I march together in close proximity with my fellow writers building the WGA brand.