Obituaries As Communication

Here is an excerpt from a book called, The Death of Common Sense by a man called Howard.

What struck me about this was the idea that you could write obituaries for all kinds of concepts: the death of local retail, the death of the family, the death of work ethics and so on.
Read the way he writes it. It is amusing, but makes a great point.

My parents told me about Mr. Common Sense early in my life and told me I would do well to call on him when making decisions. It seems he was always around in my early years but less and less as time passed by. Today I read his obituary. Please join me in a moment of silence in remembrance, for Common Sense had served us all so well for so many generations.

OBITUARY: Common Sense

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape.

He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as knowing when to come in out of the rain, why the early bird gets the worm, life isn't always fair, and maybe it was my fault.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you earn) and reliable parenting strategies (adults, not children are in charge). His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a six-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job they themselves failed to do in disciplining their unruly children. It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer Aspirin, sun lotion or a sticky plaster to a student, but could not inform the parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

Common Sense lost the will to live as the Ten Commandments became contraband; churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims. Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar can sue you for assault.

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.

Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust; his wife, Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility; and his son, Reason. He is survived by three stepbrothers; I Know my Rights, Someone Else is to Blame, and I'm a Victim. Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone. I

f you still remember him, pass this on. If not, join the majority and do nothing.

Mental Math

Try this little activity by reading it out to someone. It doesn't work as well if you actually see the numbers on the page.

Take 1000 and add 40 to it. Now add another 1000. Now add 30. And add another 1000.
Now add 20 to it. Add another 1000. Now add 10. What do you get?

Look down the page for the answer.















If you got 5000 you are with most people. Nearly everyone gets 5000.
But in reality, the answer is 4100, go ahead, check the math, it really is 4100.

How I Would Use This

There are two ideas that come to mind:

1) Always check and double check the details.

2) Once a pattern has been set up in your head it is hard to break from it.

Diamonds Are Forever: Cutting into Communication

In his Monday Morning Memo (online) Roy H. Williams, speaking of advertising, compares ads to diamonds. He suggests that the best ads, like the best diamonds have been cut to perfect angles to show the words and the sparkle off in the best light.

I thought this was a great analogy and think the diamond could be used in a number of ways.
A well cut diamond could be like:

-a well thought out memo
-creating the right tone
-finding the essence of the idea

Diamonds are forever.

Leaning Tower

A great prop is that family game in which your group builds a wooden tower and then proceeds to take turns taking pieces out of the tower. Eventually, someone will take the wrong piece and the whole thing will fall.

I think this would make an effective visual in front of your audience. You could talk and remove pieces from the tower as you bring up your topic, then let teh blocks fall. You could have two people representing sides of the room take the tower apart one piece at a time to see who can remove blocks without breaking the tower.

Whatever you do with this tower there is lots of room for connections.

How I Would Use This

Customer service - represents the last straw that the customer puts up with before he snaps

Downsizing - you can take some of the team away and it will still survive, but take too many away and you have disaster.

Relationships - are built on a series of elements including trust. Take the trust away one time too many and the relationship can't survive.

You get the idea.

Tips to Secure More Sales

I saw this in a little book called "Jumbo Shrimp" by Warren S. Blumenfeld.

I like the way the author promotes his book, which is fairly inexpensive, while having a chuckle with the reader.

The last page of the book invites the reader to tell the author which sections they liked the best, then at the end you read,

"I probably will definitely buy one or more copies of the next Oxymoron book:

__maybe
__firm maybe
__firm maybe
__firmest maybe
__unqualified maybe (be less specifice, if at all possible):
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