MIKESTOPFORTH

I really enjoyed reading an article recently forwarded to me by Aiden called ‘Entertain. Inspire. Empower. How to speak a teen’s language, even if you’re not one.’ He found it at ChangeThis.com – a fascinating site that “is creating a new kind of media. A form of media that uses existing tools (like PDFs, blogs and the web) to challenge the way ideas are created and spread.” (read the ChangeThis manifesto here).

Josh Shipp, the author, echoes the sentiments of many of us who have something meaningful to share with younger generations but loose effectiveness somewhere in translation. He suggests a few pointers that will help you get your message across:

Entertain

Josh believes we need to earn the right to be heard. To the average teen, what you’ve achieved, how much you earn and what floor you work on means squat. When you get up to speak, or engage them in conversation, you start from scratch. They will listen when they trust you, and trust comes from you being authentic and unique – being yourself in other words. Teens will smell a rat faster than you can say ‘dubya’ if you’re not being authentic.

Inspire

We have long been taught that our mistakes show weakness. That if our kids see us fail, they’ll lose respect for us. However, teens learn more from mistakes and failures than successes, provided they’re authentic of course.

As an individual engaging teens, be prepared to share your story, with all its warts. As a company wanting to engage teens, be prepared to share your story, with all its warts.

Empower.

Listen. Pay attention. Be accountable. They’re smarter than you think they are.

Please take a look at the complete manifesto here. Shipp’s website can be found at www.joshshipp.com.