Chapter 6 How to Make a Compelling Case for Change 91

fail to address why something is important before we launch into explain- ing how it should get done. I am not interested in the explanation of how until you’ve convinced me why this is important.

I have been subjected to many lengthy PowerPoint presentations when a well-meaning leader introduced a big change. The first three slides deal with why this change is important, and then the next 150 mind-numbing slides deal with how they are going to proceed. If he didn’t grab their atten- tion in those first three slides, he is not going to see a spark of recognition at slide 29. His audience tuned out twenty slides ago.

My Suggestion: Force yourself to give a presentation where you only show five slides. It’ll hurt, but it will build character. It will force you to find other ways of engaging your audience. Like, you might try looking at them. Ask- ing them questions. Things like that.

The Myth That All I Need to Do Is Tell Them

While presenting information clearly is important, simply explaining things does not grab people.

Level 1 is the lingua franca of the modern organization, but it’s not enough. Just giving people facts and figures doesn’t cut it.

It’s as if you are thinking, “They’ve got to trust me on this.” Just because you are the boss and have been around for a while doesn’t meanthat people necessarily trust you whenwhat you say triggers powerful Level 2 emotional reactions. Because we feel the heat from the burning platform, we just assume that others will too.

And because we are so comfortable putting slide shows together, we drown them in Level 1 data.

But it gets worse. According to a McKinsey study, “What the leader cares about (and typically bases 80 percent of his or her message on) does not tap into roughly 80 percent of the workforce’s primary motivators for putting extra energy into the change program.” 1)

My Suggestion: Do what good actors do. Put yourself in others’ shoes and imagine what the world looks like through their eyes. This may seem hard, but I do this exercise with engineers, IT folks, HR specialists, and manag- ers of all stripes, and they can do it just fine. They begin to learn about the