Warning: harsh language.
Chuck Daly boasted, "I'm a salesman." We all are. We effect change. We change strategy, we change personnel, we change motivation. Kevin Eastman says it another way, "do it harder, do it better, do it with different people." Then, "#$&@, it ain't working."
UNC Women's basketball coach Sylvia Hatchell asked her players to place a hand over their hearts during her halftime speech. "Does anyone feel it beating?" Her team rallied to win.
Acquire tools to become more convincing, more powerful, more effective. Use the power of rhetoric, taught only at the finest schools. 19 of the last 50 British Prime Ministers were educated at Eton. That is no coincidence.
To succeed, we need our team's trust. We layer logos (logic), pathos (emotion), and ethos (character/credibility) into our appeals. Sticky ideas invade the emotional hub of the brain, not the overrated periphery.
Use threes. Three has magic. Rhetorical 'tricolon' uses groups of threes. The Holy Trinity. Primary colors. Tripartite government. "Government of the people, by the people, for the people..." "Duty, honor, country." "Veni, vidi, vici." Offense, defense, special teams. The three-point shot. "Good morning, good afternoon, goodnight" (baseball for 1-2-3 strikes).
Breathlessness. Apply emotion. "We can do this, we have done this, we will do this..." building to a crescendo. "We win at home, we win on the road, we win at neutral sites."
Repetition. "Are you with me, are you with me, are YOU with ME?" "We have the TALENT, we have the SKILL, we have the WILL." (Also takes advantage of rhyme). "On this team we fight for that inch."
Balance. "We will win on offense, win on defense, win on the glass." "Attack the basket, attack the ball, attack from the time you step on the floor." "Either we heal now as a team or we will die as individuals." This also employs losing as a death metaphor. People attach credibility to balance.
Metaphor. "Play like wild dogs." "Let loose the wolves on the boards." "Play like your hair is on fire." "Soar like eagles."
Hyperbole (exaggeration). "I don't want them to gain another yard." "You find out life's a game of inches." " "Stop crawling; start sprinting (you're not babies)." "I am the greatest."
