The key to holding the attention of the world.
Most people do what obviously makes sense. This is why most people are boring. Delight cannot exist if there is no element of surprise. Swap out the word people with advertisements.
It’ll be fun, I promise.
Day one, Roy warned us: “At the end of day 3, students often beg for just one more day. Yet if this coarse was any longer, no one would come.”
Humans are finicky.
It would make sense to have a five-day coarse as most business schools. The content would be easier to consume with two more days. Roy knows that flying on Sunday feels wrong; even if I’m heading to toasty Texas from the centre of winter. Understanding decision-making can be threaded through every interaction.
Every interaction.
Tonight, glugging a fantastic glass of Stuhlmuller Cab with old friends meeting new friends, I learn Austin is dubbed as “the most interesting city in North America.” Perhaps I should be drinking Dos Equis.
I believe it.
Home of #SXSW Film & Music Festival and self proclaimed live music capital of the world, Austin is a cool place to visit.
Not surprising, music is the focus for learning at the Academy.
Canadians love hockey, so my patriotism stood tall when Roy used Gary Glitter’s NHL anthem ‘Hey!’ while drilling the concept of Third Gravitational Bodies.
Rock n’ Roll Part 2 was released in 1972 and still generates over $250,000 per year in royalties. Regardless of the controversy over Gary’s convictions, many recall this as one of the best sports songs of all time.
We rhyme off songs without ever meaning to learn the words.
Many songs we don’t even want to know the words to. R-E-S-P-E-C-T. MMMbop. Mambo No. 5. Good Vibrations. Hey Jude. Smells Like Teen Spirit. Pretty Woman. I Can’t Get No Satisfaction. I Will Always Love You.
Roy made it his personal mission to find the one common thread in every major hit single. Sounds tedious. The answer?
Deep breath.
They all contain a third gravitating body with a high degree of divergence and an explicit moment of convergence. Third Gravitating Body is a term that astrophysicists have used for years to mathematically describe gravity; or as it’s commonly known as, the ability to attract.
It screwed my mind the first time I heard it.
In layman terms, hit songs all contain two dualities (sounds or instruments) and a third quirky bit that doesn’t belong but somehow fits. They diverge early in the song, and then at an explicit moment, they all come back together. If the convergence is not intense enough, it’s merely random and there will be no surprise when they come together.
Listen to the ‘Hey!’ song. A marching beat and clapping hands. Two dualities. People wouldn’t normally clap with a marching band, let alone scream. They’re all very unique to each other. At :45 into the song, there’s a short divergence—or pivot—before they all explicitly converge. This is where stadiums have erupted with excitement for decades. Notice that the vocal ‘hey’ is screamed by a variety of people and it’s off beat. It doesn’t belong — yet it somehow fits.
Another example: ZZ Top La Grange.
#1 Drum sticks on the edge of the drum. #2 Guitar… two dualities. #3 ZZ Top’s voice is unique on it’s own. At :35 the song diverges and then explicitly converges together, with full drums.
This is very tricky.
Think about it next time you see someone really well dressed. Black & White suit? Boring. Add a colorful pocket square? Money. The next time you have an incredible meal. Something tastes amazing! It’s Maple Syrup.
But random? Irritating.
In neuroscience, Chaos Theory proves that unpredictability is extremely attractive to our minds. In business, attraction is extremely important to selling product and making money. We can all make more money by learning how to be unpredictable.
Our next exercise: Roy gathers the stack of papers containing the one silly sentence that would cause a room full of people to turn around. He hands them back out to the class at random. I read the line given to me and I’m irritated. I’m expected to use this sentence as the first line in my ad?
To sell motorcycle helmets?
I have 15 minutes.
I unfold the paper and reveal the line I’m supposed to use: “Did I tell you about the time I farted in church and the pastor glared at me?”
This isn’t even funny. It’s stupid.
The first line of my ad to sell motorcycle helmets? “Go anywhere you wish in the Tower, write your ad. At the end of 5 songs, we’ll ring the bell.”
I’ve been in this spot before. Panic. Write. Crumple Paper. Return to desk.
My turn. I walk up to the front of the room. Grab the mic. Now let me clear my throat. Cue Larry the Cable Guy southern accent for full affect. I am, after all, farting in church. This has to be believable.
“Did I tell you about the time I farted in church and the pastor glared at me?
There ain’t a prayer in heaven that could have saved me that morning. I sure as shit wished I was wearing my full-faced Arai Corsair helmet, you know — the one with the tinted visor? That thing repels e’rethang. The glare of the sunrise. Check. The glare of that daggum pastor!
Come to think of it, he should’a been wearing the helmet. At 200mph you can’t hear a crappin’ thang with that lid on. So the next time you’re sitting in church with a case of the rumbles, you’ll remember Arai Helmets.
And You’ll Be Saved.”
The laughs and roaring applause from the students threw me back to growing up searching for approval. Work hard. Fight through. But the best part was once the applause silenced. I had returned to my seat by this time and Roy reached over as if to touch my head with a sword…
“I dub you genius.
You were able to take a ridiculous opening line, transition to a story that surprised us, and then bring it full circle to a closing line that connected us with the reason to go to church and the reason to buy a helmet. Genius.”
Maybe I can do this after all.
