Bad PR Solved By Thinking Hat

Late last night while lying in bed I started thinking about using Edward de Bono's Six Thinking Hats as a tool for good PR.  The Six Thinking Hats allow you to see an event from six different perspectives.  This can be useful in PR when things have gone wrong and you need your audience to see events from a different angle.

So today I tried writing some copy using the six thing hats as a starting point.

Event:  Not Getting Funding From My Local Education Authority

My local education authority turned down my appeal for a discretionary grant.   I felt cheated and angry.  The worst thing was that this decision meant I had to find an extra £10,000. The good thing about it was that it pushed my fundraising abilities into overdrive.  I seem to prefer the more adventurous paths in life; I love the road less travelled! Now I am grateful that that one decision allowed me to develop my financial capability, entrepreneurship and creative thinking abilities.

And another attempt:

Event: The Twin Towers

In 2004, the World Trade Centre was destroyed by terrorists flying two hijacked planes.  Watching the event on TV, I felt sickened and saddened.  What depths had humanity sunken to now?  The worst thing about it were the thousands of innocent lives lost.  Despite this, heroic rescue attempts were made and people helped one another in extraordinary ways.  Suddenly the West started to question its relationship to the Middle East.  Were we really these untouchable, super-power nations, or just wealthy shysters with vulnerable Achilles heels? This one event changed the way we live our lives in the West, and forced us to remember that our commercial 'celebrity' nations are not so popular the whole world over.

Well, what do you think?  It seems to work, huh?

This could be a great tool for use in speeches, debates, negotiations, the press and even essays. Like the great genius mathematician, scientist and painter Leonardo da Vinci said, you should always see things from at least three perspectives. 

I think he and Edward de Bono are right.  Thinking about things from multiple perspectives allows for reasonable presentation of facts, feelings, good and bad without ego getting in the way.  I am definitely going to use this more often when communicating to an audience.

Hey, send me your attempts to write or communicate in this way!

You Gotta Give To Receive

Not long ago, a friend of mine called Kees was stopped by a homeless guy near Liverpool Street.  

"Here y'are, mate!" said the homeless guy, and gave him a penny.

Kees laughed his head off.  "What's this for?" he asked.

"I'm an alternative beggar," said the homeless guy.  "I'm giving you a penny."

Kees thought this was the most hilarious thing he'd heard for ages.  Of course, he dug his hand in his pocket and gave the guy a few pounds.  

What does this example teach us?

Free stuff is irresistible, isn't it?  Remember when you were 5?  Did you manage to get your parents to buy the cereal with the free toy inside too?  Seth Godin did. His books, "The Big Moo!" and "Free Prize Inside!" are all about doing something different and giving away a special free gift.

For Kees, the free gift wasn't the penny.  He didn't need the penny!  It was the special feeling he got from this experience.  He was shocked, he was surprised, he was entertained - and he had a great story to tell to everyone he met.  THAT was the free gift.

Seth Godin has a great list of those 'free gift' experiences right here on his blog.

And for the homeless guy, what did it cost him?  A bright idea, a couple of minutes and just one penny.

What can you do to make your target audience feel that free gift feeling?