May 11
31

The Power of Words

Historia de un letrero or The Story of a Sign



An original video in Spanish however the message is powerful. In case you miss the translation of writing on the sign it says "Have compassion I am blind". Watch it to the end simply beautiful. Made in 2008.

Thanks to Mandy Smith one of our Kili 2007 Climbers.

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Posted in Bulletins by John 1 Comment

1 Response to "The Power of Words"

  • John says:
    June 1, 2011 at 9:13 am

    Hello Folks,

    Several of us have seen this message, felt its appeal through a lump in our throats or swelling of emotion, and then thought how it might apply to Rotary. How does one create that lump or swelling in response to Rotary? We all get it. The point is how do we promote that to those “others” who don’t? It boils down to standard marketing: often it is not the rationale of the product that sells, but it is our emotional response to it. The idea of Rotary and Rotarians “doing good in the world” is a rational no-brainer. But rationale is not sufficient. The key is to “tap the passion” that leads to the emotional response of “doing good.” This is true in recruiting members as well as in retaining them once they put the distinctive cogged wheel on their collar or lapel. Touch their hearts and their minds, bodies and generosity will follow.

    The key concept of the video is how to promote passersby to identify personally with the blind man. People contribute due to their emotional connection with his need not simply due to their cognitive recognition of it. Once that connection is made, they give for reasons of the heart: in response to THEIR needs to give, to help and to make a difference. The man in the suit (in the Spanish version) or the woman in the dress (in the English version) phrased the man’s blindness in a manner that promoted each passerby’s emotional identification with the loss of vision: the rephrasing tapped THEIR needs to help more than the blind man’s need for help. The difference is subtle but significant.

    There is a lesson here for Rotary in the larger sense. But it’s not as if that lesson is completely lost to R.I. The “Humanity in Motion” series is an example of how this is being done for PolioPlus. The lesson needs to reach the District, club and Fellowship level. For a Fellowship like ROTI, how would this concept apply? People join, participate and continue their involvements in a Fellowship, or club, for THEIR reasons and needs more than because Rotary and/or Fellowship needs them. They do not participate due to appeals to their manhood, their wallet, or the needs of starving babies. They participate because their need to be needed is touched: their personal identification with the service to which they are called.

    Then, one or several of us will say: “Yeah! Somebody should do something like that for Rotary,” or a club, or ROTI, or some other Fellowship. Well, who is “somebody” anyway? What needs in that “somebody” can be touch to promote their participation? Conversely, what is being done, or is not being done, that discourages participation?

    Onward and upward,

    Jon Deisher, PP, MPHF
    Anchorage Rotary/D5010
    Anchorage, Alaska