Det er uden tvivl svært at komme udenom det amerikanske præsidentskifte i medierne i dag. Vi har i den forbindelse været en tur i gemmerne og fundet et ældre og relevant indlæg, der handler om, hvordan en tidligere præsident skabte resultater ved at holde sit budskab simpelt.
Postet er på engelsk, så Donald Trump også kan følge med. God fredag!
It’s the economy, stupid!
Is a well-known phrase in American politics and refers to Bill Clinton’s successful presidential campaign of 1992. Clinton was known for being a political nerd that knew every nitty-gritty detail of many policy areas, which he wanted the voters to understand. But they didn’t get it.
It got too complex and the good intentions were lost in too many messages.
That’s when his campaign strategist James Carville introduced ”the economy, stupid” as one of three simple messages to focus on to beat George Bush.
The elephant was cut down in little pieces, and the economy was the first bite to eat.
This illustrates the initial success of any change or innovation project: Beat it down in pieces and focus on the simple core that you want, people to buy in on, to be inspired by or develop on.
Imagine if Kennedy had said “Our main purpose is to become market leader in the space industry through focused high-end technical skills and second-to none aerospace activities”. A man on the moon would probably still be the wet dream of any large state leaders if Kennedy had gone CEO-style back in 1961. By saying “To put an American on the moon and return him safely by the end of the decade”, kept it simple and emotional and made the idea tangible, concrete and doable.
So for all you geeks, academics and strategists out there – keep it simple.
Inspired by the book: Made to stick: Why some ideas survive and others die. Authors: Chip and Dan Heath
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