Matt Abrahams: observation

Transcript context

…Yeah. And so- I text myself. Yeah, right, exactly. Yeah, no, I'm old school. I actually put it on a piece of paper, but the point is that we're not wired that way. Our brains are actually wired for story, for connection, a logical connection of ideas. So it's about connecting those pieces together. So a structure is nothing more than a beginning, a middle, and an end. A package of information. The structure that almost everybody listening in is familiar with is one that comes from the world of advertising. Most advertisements are set up as problem, solution, benefit. There's some problem in the world, here's how we solve it with our product or service, and here's how you benefit from it. That's a structure. It's a logical beginning, middle, and end. These items have a connection. So by finding a structure that you can rely on when put on the spot, it halves your burden. When you're put on the spot, you have to think about what to say and how to say it. The structure tells you how to say it, and then you just have to think about what to put into it. So it's like having a recipe. If I have a recipe and I have good ingredients, I can cook a good meal. So there are lots of structures. The whole second part of the book Think Faster, Talk Smarter is specific structures for specific situations, introducing yourself, making an apology, giving feedback. And I'm not saying every time you give an apology or give feedback that you have to follow these structures. It just gives you a place to go when you're in that moment where you're like, "Where do I go? How do I start?" Cool. So we're going to talk about those examples. One of the structures that I liked that I wrote down is called prep, which is make your point, give a reason for making that point, give an example. And then what's the last one point again? Yeah, restate your point. Review it. Restate your point. That feels like something that say in product teams can come up a lot is just like, here's what I think, here's why. Here's an example and then let me just remind you again what the point I'm making.…

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