Speaking the Cartoon View
I have found Speaking Cartoon to be one of the fastest ways to create mutual understanding, deepen relationships, and make your presence more valued wherever you go.
When we speak from our heads, our message is usually received in someone else's head. It passes through their existing stories, searching for logic, exceptions, agreement, disagreement, and how it relates to their own agenda.
When you speak to the heart through metaphor - the cartoon in the Cartoon View - something very different happens. It's as though Dr. Seuss has just joined the conversation, for those who know of the famous cartoonist that generations of Americans grew up with.
Ten-year-olds suddenly have something to contribute. Adults lean forward. People reach for the popcorn because they want to know what comes next. Metaphor bypasses the argument and judgement in the head and speaks directly from lived experience. People don't just understand what you are saying intellectually; they feel it in their bodies. That's why Speaking Cartoon creates coherence so quickly.
Whenever something feels overwhelmingly complex, imagine you are explaining it to a curious ten-year-old. What is the head? What is the neck? What is the body? What are the legs? What do they all connect to? Every complex system has a surprisingly simple anatomy once you find it. Businesses, industries, relationships, organizations, even civilizations all have a basic structure. Find that structure first, then build upward from there. You'll be amazed how often clarity emerges the moment complexity becomes cartoon.
Try This: Speak Cartoon (about 4 minutes)
Take a situation that feels stuck, and describe it out loud in exaggerated, cartoonish terms. Let yourself laugh at it. Somewhere inside the exaggeration is the grain of truth you could not see while you were being serious.
If you want to convey an idea that is complex, just imagine breaking it down to the most root elements of it. Conceptually, “the head connects to the neck, connects to the body and arms, which connect to the trunk, which connects to the legs, which connects to the feet.” there's always a basic flow in any system. If you're talking about business and you're talking about an industry, it's the same thing. What is its “head”? what is its “neck”? What are its shoulders? What are its most basic functions? See what you come up with and try it on someone else.