I had a communication professor in college who was an absolute genius. He was well into the autumn of his life and retired shortly after I graduated. Ergo, all of the 20 something's thought he was just an old geek. I was in my late forties when I returned to school to finish my degree, and I started noticing a recurring pattern from the prof.
He told great stories. Stories about his old dog, stories about fishin', even stories about his last great meal. Now, I love stories, so I looked forward to going to class. That's about the time I figured out these weren't just stories he was telling for the heck of it. Here's the kicker. With each story he was giving us an example of our upcoming persuasion assignment.
Now I was really intrigued.
I started following his outlines when I prepared my next assignment, and I started getting A's.
Everybody said he was giving me A's because I was older. Nobody figured out the ole genius had a hidden plan in plain sight.
All it took to find it was a little listening.
My wise old professor was telling the stories of his life. Each story was layered with a different form of persuasion, a unique outline, and was filled with everything unique and real in his life.
Really, it just doesn't get much better than that. Because, you see Sharing our true selves is a most precious gift.
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