There's so much value in explaining to 4th graders what you do & how you do it, as I did today. 4 important take-aways:
1. COMPELLING SIMPLICITY
You can only keep kids from doodling in their notebooks by explaining what you do in a simple way and concise way without losing the excitement of it.
Many of your prospects and clients are going to have the same attention span and patience to understand.
2. VIRAL BELIEF
If you really, truly believe in what you do, that excitement will transfer to 'the class'.
If you don't believe it's important and exciting, there's nothing you can say or explain that will get them to believe it either.
Again, replace 'class' with 'prospect', 'client' or 'employee'.
3. PROBLEMS FIRST
The 'what you do' that gets kids interested is usually problem solving.
If it doesn't solve a problem, who cares? Certainly not some nose-picker.
• Businesses exist to solve problems for a market of customers.
• Executives* exist to solve problems for the organization.
I can't tell you how many times I see that this is forgotten, with companies & execs trying to serve their own needs & aspirations before solving problems for others.
Customers don't care about your profitability. If you don't solve big problems for them in a smart way, there's little chance you're going to have profitable growth.
Talking to some kids may make you realize that you've forgotten this.
4. OBVIOUS VALUE
If you do this right, they will -- unsolicited -- be teeming with POVs on why what you're doing is so important.
If you have to explain...
• WHY what you're doing is so important...
• WHY the way you're doing it is valuable, or
• WHY the problem you're solving is such a big problem to solve...
...you're probably in the wrong market, business, role, etc.
---ACTION---
(1) Go find a *public* school and make this happen.
(2) Consider how a lack of compelling simplicity, true belief, solving problems first, or clear obvious value is limiting your business.
* All employees, not just executives, exist to solve problems for the organization that employs them.
(3) If your employees act as if you or your organization are there to solve problems for them instead of solving problems for customers, consider what that means and what you can/will do about it.
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