There is always a story
As a journalist I used to get impatient with people who were chaotic and could not tell me what their story was about until I realized that it was my job to find the story and establish facts eventually.
There is always a story but people are not necessarily professional storytellers. Most of them are not. In addition they might be busy, chaotic, nervous etc. But you have to take some time down with them to connect. Be patient, be curious, slow down, let things happen, look for clues.
I had not thought about it much until being challenged by a student while delivering a talk at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) couple weeks ago.
How to get insights
The student, a girl, asked me how she could approach people living on a coast impacted by global warming to get insights for her project. What can homeowners do if they have a property threatened by rising sea levels? Have I heard of success in petitioning city government to build levies? Can homeowners somehow water-proof their basement?
A lot of questions. Initially I felt overwhelmed by them. Neither am I a water expert, nor had I quick answers at hand. But I tried to design my response. What would I do if had such an assignment to tackle with? What the storytelling building process would look like?
My idea would be to spend significant time with the people affected by the problem even if they were in denial at the moment that such a problem exists. Volunteering in helping running their beachside hotel; or any other opportunity to spend significant amount of time with them. Trust building and listening. Taking notes, looking into small things, being mindful. Those were my first thoughts.
Look for specifics
It is not the people’s problem to deliver insights. Some of those circumstances of crucial value to a researcher, an investigator or a journalist might not be known to them at hand because they might be too obvious or even misinterpreted by them. It is the interviewer’s job to find insights. I would look for specifics, small things. I would approach different issues from different angles, and eventually I would look for a story.
There is no need to focus on a solution to the problem (levies?) without hearing the stories of those affected. Do not solve people’s problems without them. Seeking a solution WITH those affected participating is a core designing principle. This is the place where empathy steps in. It is so obvious in theory but much harder to spot in real life. People do not have to be professional storytellers but mostly they want their voice to be heard and it is your job to find the voice. If you want to make a social change (how to cope climate change) have the people on your side, then think what kind of story you are going to tell to have an impact. Whether we are journalists, activists or policy makers, learning how to empathize with our stakeholders would be always beneficial. My goal would always be to do the homework first, get the data, reach out to the people, listen to their stories and then make assumptions eventually. Then challenge your assumptions.
What I have always tried to stick to in my job was not to get biased and partisan. Marty Baron, the editor of The Washington Post once said that „we [journalists] are not at war, we are at work” (yes, those words have been so extensively quoted everywhere that they will surely be engraved on his tombstone).
This kind of attitude creates true room for a change. It involves grass-root work which is not sexy, flashy and immediately rewarding. This is the reason why this approach is not much popular among politicians. For politicians the easiest way to pretend that they are pursuing a change is to always regulate something using law — those are great publicity moves but not necessarily attitudes helping to solve social problems. Build a wall, impose a travel ban — and social problems will be solved. Not that easy.
Find a walk around
What if you research a story but no-one wants to talk. It is easy to drop it because “there is no story”, right? Wrong. Investigative journalists would say that this indicates that there is indeed a story. The deeper hidden, the better story.
It happened that a few days after being challenged at MIT I was attending an event at the Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School. One of the panelists was Jane Mayer, a renowned The New Yorker journalist and she said such a brilliant thing: “I was doing a piece on Mike Pence and he never agreed to talk to me so I went to his hometown and had coffee with his mum. That way I heard some great stories.”
There is always a story and a method to get real insights (not only googled ones). Instead persisting stubbornly on one solution (calling Mike Pence’s office repetitively) try a walk around (coffee with his mum). And then be humble, be patient, empathize. Stick to details, look into small things while at the same time keep your eye on a more strategic perspective and your final goals. Function always follows form.
A similar issue popped up when I was talking to a senior startup mentor from Boston whom I met attending an event in one of the most startup dense places which is Kendall Square, the MIT’s neighborhood in Cambridge. Steven mentioned that startup pitching is a pain. Most startups have only one official pitch which they use to pitch everyone and everywhere, not caring about specifics, places, ambience and audience. In addition, those pitches are badly structured starting with technology involved, products etc., instead of expressing clearly what kind of a problem they are going to solve. “What is in it for me?” — as Steve bluntly said.
Therefore storytelling matters. Listen to your audience, always tailor, personalize, design and curate your message. Empathize with your interlocutor. It is not about your complacency and flashy words. It is about connecting truly with the other side.
This post was inspired by a talk I gave on October 11th, 2018, at MIT Water Club in Cambridge, Ma. (USA).
