Recorded at | February 10, 2010 |
---|---|
Event | TED2010 |
Duration (min:sec) | 05:46 |
Video Type | TED Stage Talk |
Words per minute | 225.78 very fast |
Readability (FK) | 59.56 easy |
Speaker | Omar Ahmad |
Country | United States of America |
Occupation | politician |
Description | Mayor of San Carlos, California (1964-2011) |
Official TED page for this talk
Synopsis
Want your local politician to pay attention to an issue you care about? Send a monthly handwritten letter, says former mayor Omar Ahmad -- it's more effective than email, phone, or even writing a check. He shares four steps to writing a letter that works.
1 | 00:15 | One of the things that | ||
2 | 00:17 | defines a TEDster | ||
3 | 00:19 | is you've taken your passion, | ||
4 | 00:21 | and you've turned it into stewardship. | ||
5 | 00:23 | You actually put action to the issues you care about. | ||
6 | 00:26 | But what you're going to find eventually is | ||
7 | 00:28 | you may need to actually get elected officials | ||
8 | 00:30 | to help you out. | ||
9 | 00:32 | So, how do you do that? | ||
10 | 00:34 | One of the things I should probably tell you is, | ||
11 | 00:36 | I worked for the Discovery Channel early in my career, | ||
12 | 00:39 | and that sort of warped my framework. | ||
13 | 00:41 | So, when you start to think about politicians, | ||
14 | 00:44 | you've got to realize these are strange creatures. | ||
15 | 00:47 | Other than the fact that they can't tell directions, | ||
16 | 00:49 | and they have very strange breeding habits, | ||
17 | 00:52 | how do you actually work with these things? (Laughter) | ||
18 | 00:56 | What we need to understand is: | ||
19 | 00:58 | What drives the political creature? | ||
20 | 01:00 | And there are two things that are primary in a politician's heart: | ||
21 | 01:03 | One is reputation and influence. | ||
22 | 01:05 | These are the primary tools by which | ||
23 | 01:07 | a politician can do his job. | ||
24 | 01:09 | The second one -- unlike most animals, | ||
25 | 01:11 | which is survival of the species -- | ||
26 | 01:13 | this is preservation of self. | ||
27 | 01:15 | Now you may think it's money, | ||
28 | 01:17 | but that's actually sort of a proxy | ||
29 | 01:19 | to what I can do to preserve myself. | ||
30 | 01:22 | Now, the challenge with you moving your issue forward | ||
31 | 01:25 | is these animals are getting broadcast to all the time. | ||
32 | 01:29 | So, what doesn't work, in terms of getting your issue to be important? | ||
33 | 01:32 | You can send them an email. | ||
34 | 01:34 | Well, unfortunately, I've got so many | ||
35 | 01:36 | Viagra ads coming at me, | ||
36 | 01:38 | your email is lost. | ||
37 | 01:40 | It doesn't matter, it's spam. | ||
38 | 01:42 | How about you get on the phone? | ||
39 | 01:44 | Well, chances are I've got a droid who's picking up the phone, | ||
40 | 01:46 | "Yes, they called, and they said they didn't like it." | ||
41 | 01:48 | That doesn't move. | ||
42 | 01:50 | Face to face would work, | ||
43 | 01:52 | but it's hard to set it up. | ||
44 | 01:54 | It's hard to get the context and actually get the communication to work. | ||
45 | 01:57 | Yes, contributions actually do make a difference | ||
46 | 02:00 | and they set a context for having a conversation, | ||
47 | 02:02 | but it takes some time to build up. | ||
48 | 02:04 | So what actually works? | ||
49 | 02:06 | And the answer is rather strange. | ||
50 | 02:08 | It's a letter. | ||
51 | 02:10 | We live in a digital world, | ||
52 | 02:12 | but we're fairly analog creatures. | ||
53 | 02:14 | Letters actually work. | ||
54 | 02:16 | Even the top dog himself | ||
55 | 02:18 | takes time every day to read 10 letters | ||
56 | 02:20 | that are picked out by staff. | ||
57 | 02:22 | I can tell you that every official that I've ever worked with | ||
58 | 02:25 | will tell you about the letters they get | ||
59 | 02:27 | and what they mean. | ||
60 | 02:29 | So, how are you going to write your letter? | ||
61 | 02:31 | First of all, you're going to pick up an analog device: a pen. | ||
62 | 02:36 | I know these are tough, and you may have a hard time | ||
63 | 02:38 | getting your hand bent around it, (Laughter) | ||
64 | 02:40 | but this is actually critical. | ||
65 | 02:42 | And it is critical that | ||
66 | 02:44 | you actually handwrite your letter. | ||
67 | 02:46 | It is so novel to see this, | ||
68 | 02:48 | that somebody actually picked up an analog device | ||
69 | 02:50 | and has written to me. | ||
70 | 02:52 | Second of all, I'm going to recommend that | ||
71 | 02:54 | you get into a proactive stance | ||
72 | 02:56 | and write to your elected officials at least once a month. | ||
73 | 02:58 | Here's my promise to you: | ||
74 | 03:00 | If you are consistent and do this, | ||
75 | 03:02 | within three months the elected official will start calling you | ||
76 | 03:04 | when that issue comes up and say, "What do you think?" | ||
77 | 03:07 | Now, I'm going to give you | ||
78 | 03:09 | a four paragraph format to work with. | ||
79 | 03:12 | Now, when you approach these animals, | ||
80 | 03:15 | you need to understand there's a dangerous end to them, | ||
81 | 03:18 | and you also need to approach them | ||
82 | 03:20 | with some level of respect and a little bit of wariness. | ||
83 | 03:23 | So in paragraph number one, | ||
84 | 03:25 | what I'm going to tell you to do is very simply this: | ||
85 | 03:28 | You appreciate them. | ||
86 | 03:30 | You may not appreciate the person, you may not appreciate anything else, | ||
87 | 03:32 | but maybe you appreciate the fact that they've got a tough gig. | ||
88 | 03:34 | When animals are going to make a point, they make the point. | ||
89 | 03:36 | They don't spend a lot of time dicking around. | ||
90 | 03:38 | So, here you go. (Laughter) | ||
91 | 03:40 | Paragraph number two: | ||
92 | 03:42 | You may actually have to just get very blunt | ||
93 | 03:44 | and say what's really on your mind. | ||
94 | 03:47 | When you do this, | ||
95 | 03:49 | don't attack people; | ||
96 | 03:51 | you attack tactics. | ||
97 | 03:53 | Ad hominem attacks will get you nowhere. | ||
98 | 03:55 | Paragraph number three: | ||
99 | 03:57 | When animals are attacked or cornered, | ||
100 | 03:59 | they will fight to the death, | ||
101 | 04:01 | so you have to give them an exit. | ||
102 | 04:03 | Most of the time, if they have an exit strategy, they should take it. | ||
103 | 04:06 | "Obviously, you're intelligent. | ||
104 | 04:08 | If you had the right information, | ||
105 | 04:10 | you would have done the right thing." (Laughter) | ||
106 | 04:12 | Lastly, you want to be the nurturing agent. | ||
107 | 04:15 | You're the safe place to come in to. | ||
108 | 04:18 | So, in paragraph number four, | ||
109 | 04:20 | you're going to tell people, | ||
110 | 04:22 | "If no one is providing you with this information, let me help." (Laughter) | ||
111 | 04:26 | Animals do displays. They do two things: | ||
112 | 04:28 | They warn you or they try to attract you | ||
113 | 04:30 | and say, "We need to mate." | ||
114 | 04:34 | You're going to do that by the way you sign your letter. | ||
115 | 04:36 | You do a number of things: you're a vice president, | ||
116 | 04:38 | you volunteer, you do something else. | ||
117 | 04:40 | Why is is this important? | ||
118 | 04:42 | Because this establishes the two | ||
119 | 04:44 | primary criteria for the political creature: | ||
120 | 04:46 | that you have influence in a large sphere, | ||
121 | 04:49 | and that my preservation depends on you. | ||
122 | 04:52 | Here is one very quick hack, | ||
123 | 04:54 | especially for the feds in the audience. | ||
124 | 04:56 | Here's how you mail your letter. | ||
125 | 04:58 | First of all, you send the original to the district office. | ||
126 | 05:01 | So, you send the copy to the main office. | ||
127 | 05:04 | If they follow protocol, they'll pick up the phone and say, "Hey, do you have the original?" | ||
128 | 05:07 | Then some droid in the back puts the name on a tickler | ||
129 | 05:09 | and says, "Oh, this is an important letter." | ||
130 | 05:12 | And you actually get into the folder | ||
131 | 05:14 | that the elected official actually has to read. | ||
132 | 05:17 | So, what your letter means: | ||
133 | 05:19 | I've got to tell you, we are all in a party, | ||
134 | 05:22 | and political officials are the pinatas. | ||
135 | 05:24 | (Laughter) | ||
136 | 05:29 | We are harangued, lectured to, | ||
137 | 05:31 | sold, marketed, | ||
138 | 05:33 | but a letter is actually one of the few times | ||
139 | 05:35 | that we have honest communication. | ||
140 | 05:37 | I got this letter when I was first elected, | ||
141 | 05:39 | and I still carry it to | ||
142 | 05:41 | every council meeting I go to. | ||
143 | 05:43 | This is an opportunity at real dialogue, | ||
144 | 05:46 | and if you have stewardship | ||
145 | 05:48 | and want to communicate, | ||
146 | 05:50 | that dialogue is incredibly powerful. | ||
147 | 05:52 | So when you do that, here's what I can promise: | ||
148 | 05:55 | You're going to be the 800 pound gorilla in the forest. | ||
149 | 05:57 | Get writing. | ||
150 | 05:59 | (Applause) |