Can’t get enough of Sally Hogshead’s Fascinate? This is part two of a three-part deep-dive on her awesome book and the discussion is too delicious not to share.
EVALUATION PART 1
The Six Gold Hallmarks of a Fascinating Message
Fascinating people and companies don’t just talk at us. They get under our skin and into our conversation. They challenge and move us. They are unafraid to ask questions, and along the way, change the way we think. They earn our business, as well as our trust and our conversations. Instead of getting us to merely notice them, the fascinating ones change us in some way. A fascinating message, like a fascinating person, steps outside the norms in one or more of the following ways.
Gold Hallmark #1: Provokes Strong and Immediate Emotional Reactions
How Do I Do This and/or How Can I Do More of This:
Gold Hallmark #2: Creates Advocates
How Do I Do This and/or How Can I Do More of This:
Gold Hallmark #3: Becomes “Cultural Shorthand” for a Specific Set of Actions or Values
How Do I Do This and/or How Can I Do More of This:
Gold Hallmark #4: Incites Conversation (fascination lives not in your own communication to the world, but in how the world communicates about you)
How Do I Do This and/or How Can I Do More of This:
Gold Hallmark #5: Forces Competitors to Realign Around It
How Do I Do This and/or How Can I Do More of This:
Gold Hallmark #6: Taps Into (or Even Causes) Social Revolutions
How Do I Do This and/or How Can I Do More of This:
How to Use the Seven Triggers
1. Power: Command Over Others
How I Use This:
2. Passion: Desire or Craving
How I Use This:
3. Mystique: Lures with a Puzzle or Unanswered Question
How I Use This:
4. Prestige: Earns Respect Through Symbols of Achievement
How I Use This:
5. Alarm: Threatens with Immediate Consequences
How I Use This:
6. Rebellion: Tempts with the Forbidden, Stepping Outside Usual Behaviors/Habits
How I Use This:
7. Trust: Comforts with Certainty or Reliability
How I Use This:
The Seven Badges/Areas That Explore How — Exactly — You Fascinate Are
1. Purpose: your reason for being, the mission behind why you exist
How This Works for Me:
2. Core Beliefs: code of values and guiding principles, what you stand for
How This Works for Me:
3. Heritage: reputation and history, your “campfire story”
How This Works for Me:
4. Products: the goods or services you provide/produce, how you’re different or better
How This Works for Me:
5. Benefits: the promises of reward for choosing you, why someone should hire you
How This Works for Me:
6. Actions: how you conduct yourself, the ways in which you “walk the walk”
How This Works for Me:
7. Culture: identity characteristics, how you communicate and think
How This Works for Me:
Companies/People/Brands That Fascinate People Over the Long-Term Share Certain Qualities
1. Slaughter the Sacred Cow: what is in place only because it’s the way things are “always done”
How I Can Do This:
2. Awaken Sleepy Traditions: how can you update the same-old, same-old
How I Can Do This:
3. Raise the Stakes: what would you do if your life depended on raising your fascination
How I Can Do This:
4. Avoid Committee Mentality: the most fascinating ideas are often fragile because others can beat them down
How I Can Do This:
5. Earn Trust: your ability to continually earn trust from your peers, the press, and the community
How I Can Do This:
This SMFA Master Class weekly call was recorded on August 18, 2013.
OOooo I love this, tangible work that I can do to really dive into my fascinate factor. Cant wait to dive in!
How’s it going, Alexandra?