Making noise, making a point, and making a difference are different actions.
Where we run into trouble is when we conflate the results of all three and then use those results (and that conflation) to determine what our story will be to the market.
Telling a story to the market that resonates with certain individuals in the market requires three acts:
The first act is to be intentional. Just as we are intentional with our peacebuilding efforts, we should be intentional with our storytelling efforts.
The second act is to be incisive. Being incisive requires being self-aware enough about our own story to do some critical surgery and to cut out what doesn’t matter so that we can focus on what does matter—for the audience hearing the story.
The third act is to be persuasive for others rather than to be persuasive enough to convince ourselves that we’re right and the market is the thing that needs to change. Being persuasive is hard because it’s a skill that requires empathy (which is underrated), self-awareness, and intentionality to be operating all together at the same time.
There are more opportunities than ever for people to make noise.
There are fewer meaningful opportunities for people to make a point.
There are the same number of opportunities there always were for people to make a difference, though not always at scale.
We should be sure we what story we are telling, to whom and why.
