Meeting People Where They Are

A recurring theme in this book is that if you want to move people, you need to meet them where they are. The same applies to framing. If you want to move people to think, feel, understand, or do something differently, the starting point has to be which frames would resonate with them in ways that help you. Understanding our audience means more than just understanding their demographics or their immediate concerns. It requires understanding the frames that matter to them. And speaking in ways that make an emotional connection with them.

In Chapter 3, “Words Aren’t Enough,” we saw how Microsoft’s Bill Gates did this when he chose to speak about his house rather than about his software, in the process exciting his audience about the potential for a world with ubiquitous connectivity. We saw it also in Chapter 1, “Words Matter,” in how Apple’s Steve Jobs introduced a whole new category of consumer product with “iPod: 1,000 songs in your pocket.” And in Chapter 4, “Speed, Focus, and the First Mover Advantage,” we saw the Marines do it when they framed the Fallujah mosque incident as an investigation into an allegation of the unlawful use of force, and affirmed their commitment to the Law of Armed Conflict.