From the course: Influencing Others

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Create your from-to influence story

Create your from-to influence story

From the course: Influencing Others

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Create your from-to influence story

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- I worked with a leader named Derek at a tourism company, who tried to persuade the CFO to adopt a better customer software system. Derek presented compelling data and analysis, but the CFO said no. He'd seen plans that looked great on spreadsheets become disasters in practice. What should Derek do? Tell a story. Tell a From-To influence story. That's a mental movie that spotlights the gap between today's reality and the better future your goal makes possible. A great From-To story does three things. One, it paints pictures. Don't just tell, show. Use vivid before and after snapshots to illustrate the tangible value your proposal will create for stakeholders. Contrast the pains, costs, or losses of the current state with the savings or gains of your proposed improvements. Show how your solution solves their problem and eliminates the obstacles they need to overcome. Make the current state hard to accept. Make the future state impossible to ignore. In our example, Derek compiled real…

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