By Peter Jeff
The Leadership Mints Guy

Here’s an idea to help you gain greater understanding of complex issues. Reading time: 2:52

The toy train whirls around the track. Choooo. Choooo. The wisp of smoke bellows overhead. You turn the orange knob on your electric transformer. Your toy train speeds faster and faster.

And then suddenly your nose is assaulted. A bleach-like chlorine smell pervades.The sparks flying on the track have broken down the bonds of oxygen molecules in the air. You’re now smelling ozone.

Using an electric train’s transformer to recreate a familiar smelling experience is the way scientist Carl Sagan taught us to better understand ozone and its chemical properties in his book Billions & Billions.

Sagan’s analogy is an example of how the most effective leaders bring abstract ideas alive – like a sense of smell—so that audiences can more fully relate and understand the concept.

Here’s how you can be just as persuasive in bringing abstract concepts alive. Ask SAM.

SAM is an acrostic for Simile, Analogy and Metaphor. Continue reading “Ask SAM: Transforming Your Train of Thought” →