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2, 100 verses of scripture in the Bible
pertain to poverty, a number second only
to the number of verses about redemption.
Helms woke up. “Helms listened,”
James Traub later reported in The New
York Times Magazine, “and his eyes began
to well up. Finally the flinty old Southerner rose to his feet, grabbed for his
cane, and said, ‘I want to give you a blessing!’ He embraced the singer, saying,
‘I want to do anything I can to help you.’”
A few years later, as part of a special
issue of Time magazine devoted to the
100 most influential people of the generation, Helms wrote of Bono: “After so
many years in Washington, I had met
enough people to quickly figure out who
was genuine and who is there for show. I
knew as soon as I met Bono that he was
genuine … [He touches] millions … every
day with his music and his heart.”
Every good idea pitch has
an anchor—a word, phrase
or theme that sums up why
your idea matters.
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Make Your Case
Bono established in 20 minutes what it
can sometimes take a lifetime to develop
between people: trust. And he did it by
leaving his presentation software behind
and connecting directly with his audience. Here are the four things
Bono did to make his sale.
1. Be genuine. As actress
Judy Garland once said, “
Always be a first-rate version of
yourself instead of a second-rate version of somebody
else.” At the core of every good
presentation is the person giving it. Aristotle called this the speaker’s
ethos, or character. If you try too hard to
be the person you imagine your audience
wants you to be instead of just being who
you are, you will lose the most precious
of all persuasion assets—your authenticity. So don’t be tempted to put on an act,
as Jesse Helms said, just “for show.”
Instead, focus on your genuine belief in
the merits of the idea you are pitching.
But note something important—
even after you have committed to
being authentic, you still have choices.
You are probably many things in life:
spouse, parent, professional, expert
and sports fan. Which of these should
you bring to the encounter with this
audience? Bono is a former chess champion who can speak like a computer
geek if he wants to, but he is also a real-life, born-again Christian. When the
“expert” voice was not working with
Helms, Bono connected by speaking to
him as a fellow Christian.
2. Anchor your pitch to shared
interests. Every good idea pitch has an
anchor—a word, phrase or theme that
sums up why your idea matters from the
audience’s point of view. Bono captured
Helms’ attention by anchoring AIDS to
the Bible. Similarly, when you pitch your
boss on the idea of telecommuting from
home, anchor her on “enhanced productivity,” rather than your own personal
convenience. And if you are trying to get
your kids excited about a new car, anchor
them on the TV in the back seat—where
they will sit—not on the navigation
system in the front seat.
3. State the problem, then offer the
solution. Bono used a simple structure
to make his pitch: Problem, Cause,
Answer, Net benefits. This template for
an idea pitch—the PCAN model—gets
