Bury the lead, but only if you’re famous!

Everyone, including me, has been guilty of “burying the lead” i.e., naming the topic too late. It can happen if you start with a story and wait too long to show its relevance. Of course, this rule does not apply if you’re as famous as, say, Malcolm Gladwell!

In a 2004 TED video Gladwell explains how the invention of variations in spaghetti sauce is a parable for making people happy by understanding their diversity. However, he waits until he’s halfway into a 17-minute- speech to connect “sauce” to “diversity”. Up until then it is an engaging story about a hero of his who discovered what people really want in their food choices, and the subsequent invention of Prego Chunky-Style Sauces. Up until 9 minutes 30 seconds, I thought the topic was the design of line extensions in the food industry or, perhaps, the reason to rethink the assumptions that drive all market research (not just food).

Don’t get me wrong; I was totally charmed – Gladwell is a brilliant speaker – but I was thinking of all the “regular folk” (e.g. my corporate clients) who would never get away with holding back the real topic for that long.

Tip: connect your story to the topic quickly. People will relax, reassured that your story has a point.

In ABCaP, A Guide to Getting to the Point, I recommend you introduce your topic as a “burning question” that will hook your audience, and then tease them with a short answer. They’ll stay tuned to hear how you expand on your answer. I’d like to suggest a different start for Gladwell’s speech – Forgive me, Malcolm! This is for teaching purposes, only! – “How is the way we treat cancer today connected to spaghetti sauce? The connection is what a man named Howard Moskowitz learned about diversity when he researched people’s taste in sauce…”

There are three ways to integrate a story with your burning question…

• Option 1: Start with both the burning question and short answer, and give context to both with a brief story.
• Option 2: Start with the burning question on its own, expand on it with a brief story and then use your short answer as a punchline of sorts.
• Option 3: Start with a brief story and use both the burning question and short answer as the punchline.

For example, I used Option 1 at a speech I gave at a Conference Board of Canada event on the value of using “creative conversations” to sustain an innovative mindset in the workplace. I started it like this…

Good morning. I work with managers and teams in the trenches everyday on the topic of creativity and innovation. I hear the same query over and over. (Burning Question:) “How do you keep innovation alive, day to day, with every person on your team? We have so much on our plate!” (Short answer:) I ask: do you grab 5-minute chats with your people: in the hall, the elevator, the coffee room? If so, you can use these casual chats – let’s call them “Creative Conversations” – to focus and inspire the creative process. It’s not difficult to do. (Story intro:) I learned the habit as a child, from my father. He was an engineer and a creative problem solver who always talked through his process out loud…

Option 3 is best used if your audience can easily connect the first few words of your story to the topic, and/or if they know you as a gifted storyteller who always makes stories relevant.

I invite you to share successful ABCaP-style openers with me, per the “creative conversations” example above. I’ll collect them and use them as examples in future posts.

Click here to see Malcolm Gladwell on the TED network