In 2005 Steve Jobs spoke at Stanford University for the graduation commencement. He did an amazing job and gave an inspiring speech through the use of his own life experiences. He shared three stories of his life and with it he encouraged the graduating students to go forward with life day by day, work on things they love, and live each day as their last. A few of Larsen's cultural myths were incorporated into Steve Jobs speech to motivate and persuade the graduate students to live life to the fullest. The two persuasion myths I noticed the most throughout the speech are the wisdom of the rustic and the possibility of success.
The Wisdom of the Rustic:
In this speech Steve Jobs was the wisdom of the rustic. He used himself and his life experiences as a tactic to persuade and motivate the graduating students. Steve Jobs shared how he never graduated college, had lost his job at Apple even though he designed the company, and multiple other setbacks he had to face throughout his life. He came to an understanding, however, that with every set back there was something he learned that helped him become the person he wanted to be. He encouraged the graduating students to pursue their dreams although setbacks may stand in their way. Steve Jobs shared his own wisdom that he had acquired throughout his life and his journey to success.
The Possibility of Success:
Steve Jobs was extremely successful because of hard work. As he went through three stories of his life that brought him to where he was he emphasized the hard work he had to input, but with that hard work came success. He shared with the students that he took a typography class because he was interested in it but never knew that it would impact the way he designed computers. Through this experience he learned that following your heart is the most important thing and to trust that the dots will connect further down the road even if they do not make sense at first. Another piece of advice he gave the students is to find what you love and do it and through that will come success. Overall, his speech gave the graduating students hope for the future in that success is always a possibility.
Process Premise:
Steve Jobs speech had a basis of persuasion as he addressed the needs, emotions, attitudes, and consistency of the audience. Steve Jobs acknowledged that the audience he was speaking to was a class of college graduates and that they had a need to go out in the world and make something of themselves. By understanding this he was able to encourage them and give them hope through sharing his own experiences and wisdom to help them. Steve Jobs addressed the audiences emotions and attitudes by keeping his speech inspiring and positive. He was not there to give a lecture or to brag about his own accomplishments, he was there to be uplifting and give hope to the college graduates as they are starting out their lives in the professional world. Overall, Steve Jobs was an inspiring speaker not only because of his own accomplishments but because of how he related to the audience and gave hope and wisdom to all those who listened.
Brene Brown is a inspiring speaker. She uses the behavioral method of BJ Fogg to engage her audience and enlighten them with hope and encouragement. The title of the video I watched is, "Why Your Critics Aren't the Ones Who Count". Throughout the video she uses humor and self experience to help the audience relate to her in order to get her message across. She chose the topic of not letting others bring you down or stop you from trying because it will only slow your own progress. This message is something that everyone needs to be reminded of and to know that it is okay that others will try to bring you down as long as you keep trying and remember the people who are trying to build you up. BJ Fogg theorizes that there are three steps that must occur before people will experience a behavioral change. These three things are motivation, abilities, and triggers. Brene Brown was able to incorporate all three of these things into her speech.
Motivation:
Brene Brown acknowledged that we as individuals would become more self-fulfilling if we did not let the fear of others bringing us down get in our way. Rather we should accept the fact that there are going to be those people in our life, but there are also the people that work hard to build us up. With that being said, the first motivator I will mention is sensation, which comes down to pleasure or pain. The idea of not caring what others think brings a pleasure to each of us because it is a sense of freedom from ourselves and those around us. It is also a pleasure because then we can engage in a life full of actions without fear of critiques. The second motivator is anticipation, which is hope versus fear. Through Brene Brown's speech there was hope brought to light that we can live a more fulfilling life if we acknowledge that there will be people trying to tear us down, but if we prepare for that, we can take on the challenge head strong and accomplish our goals. Cohesion is the third motivator and it is also acceptance versus rejection. Rejection is something we all fear, however Brene Brown exemplified that although everyone will be rejected at some point, it is not something we need fear because there are others who accept us. It is a mystery why we seek acceptance from strangers and are slow to remember those who already accept us for who we are.
Abilities:
Simplicity is key in a behavioral change because we all want the most reward for the least amount of work. Brene Brown's provides the most simple solution to our fear of rejection and critique, not to care and be aware. Honestly just thinking about not caring sounds relieving. This is easier said than done, but if we realize how much we could accomplish if we eliminated the fear of critique it would be worth it. This includes not being so critical of ourselves and letting go of our weaknesses that we think hold us back.
Triggers:
The facilitator is the first of the triggers. This is the context that allows it to happen. In Brene Brown's case her facilitator was the place she gave her speech and the creative people that were there to listen. The second trigger is the signal, which is what makes the context known. This would be how Brene Brown presented her information. She used experiences where she had to deal with critique heavily due to her public position and what she came to understand from those experiences. She also used humor to draw in her audience. The third trigger is the spark which brings people to action. Brene Brown exemplified this through acknowledging the problem and then showing the audience a solution. She used a picture of an arena as the example. Before we go out to the arena we stay on the stairs with doubt and fear of rejection, but in taking that next step it is the birth of hope and experiences that will help us grow even if we fail. We should reserve the seats in the arena for the critics as if we were expecting them to already be there, however we should also save seats for those who support us, because we forget that they will be there.
Process Premise:
Brene Brown incorporates needs, emotions, attitudes, and consistency into her speech to help create a behavioral change in her audience. Brene Brown acknowledges the need to be accepted and our need for reassurance of worth. She identifies to our needs through sharing her own experiences and bringing back to light the fact that we often do have people supporting us that we forget to acknowledge because we get so focused on the people critiquing our work.
Brene Brown uses humor to create happy and positive emotions and attitudes throughout her speech. Her humor is uplifting and relatable because all of us have been critiqued at some point in our lives. She did not dwell on how we were critiqued or how we felt, she kept it positive and focused on the benefits that come from trying even when we know we will be critiqued. This is a successful tactic because inspiration to change can often come from positive emotions and attitudes and the hope that comes from it. Overall, Brene Brown was an inspirational speaker because she applied BJ Fogg's behavior change model.
