Not Far from the Tree

A Guide to Using Personality To Build Your Business

February 6, 2009

Issue # 10

The Wasted Wit of Winnie The Pooh

Every week, my wife Teresa volunteers in our daughter Charis's second grade classroom. Teresa was a literature major in college and, inevitably, she often works with the reading groups. Recently, she was working with the second best reading group in the class. These are good readers but ones that still stumble over some words and tend to be a little wooden as they read.

This week they were reading the Winnie the Pooh story, "...In Which Kanga and Baby Roo Come to the Forest, and Piglet has a Bath". Now, you must understand, that my wife and I are enormous Winnie the Pooh enthusiasts. Within days of our first date, Teresa and I discussed my copy of Winnie the Pooh that she had located on my bookshelf. In fact, I still have my Winnie the Pooh bear from when I was three and have shared that with my children.

We know and love our Winnie the Pooh. One might even say that we are Winnie the Pooh experts.

So Teresa was suffering a bit with the wooden reading of the story:

NOBODYseemedtoknowwheretheycamefrom,
buttheretheywereintheForest:KangaandBabyRoo. WhenPoohaskedChristopherRobin,"Howdidtheycomehere?" ChristopherRobinsaid,"IntheUsualWay,
ifyouknowwhatImean,Pooh," andPooh,whodidn't,said"Oh!"Thenhenoddedhisheadtwiceandsaid,
"IntheUsualWay.Ah!"

No pauses, no breaths, no subtlety, no wit, no humor. At which point my wife interrupted. She had to point out the humor.

Teresa: "Do you see how this is funny? Winnie the Pooh says the Usual Way and it's capitalized. Isn't that funny?"

Group: Blank stares

They continued their reading. After being interrupted several times, Rabbit finally speaks, "Here-we-are," said Rabbit very slowly and carefully..."

Teresa: "Why do you suppose Rabbit was talking slowly?"

Group: "Because he wanted to let Winnie the Pooh talk?"

Teresa: "No. You see Rabbit is mad and so he is talking slowly. Do you see how it's funnier than you expect it to be?"

Group: "Ahhhh! I see." Then they nodded their heads twice.

They continued reading.

"Aha!" said Pooh, practicing. "Aha! Aha!...Of course," he went on, "we could say 'Aha!' even if we hadn't stolen Baby Roo." "Pooh," said Rabbit kindly, "you haven't any brain." "I know," said Pooh humbly.

At which point one of the better readers in the group (we'll call him Jeff) raised his hand and said, "Mrs. Board, I don't think these jokes are funny."

No matter how much Teresa knew about the wit and humor of Winnie the Pooh she couldn't communicate that knowledge to the second best reading group in Mrs. Dorion's classroom. They didn't care and nothing she said was going to help them understand what she knew.

She was not communicating to her audience in words or ideas they could understand or even wanted to understand. She was trying to dictate what they should care about as she communicated her message. It didn't work.

Herein lies today's lesson. You can't make your newsletter audience care about something they don't already care about. You may be the foremost expert in your field, but unless you can find a way to communicate what you know in a way that your readers can hear, it won't matter.

Bottom Line: Whether you are a fishing guide, an adventure tour operator or a financial planner, you've got to know your audience and communicate in a way they can understand. Study your audience and think about the questions they are asking you, not what you want to tell them. If you don't know what your audience wants to hear, when you ask the question, "Isn't that funny?" all you are likely to hear is a resounding silence.

Thanks,
Chad

P.S. Here is my favorite quote from Winnie the Pooh, "Christopher Robin was sitting outside his door, putting on his Big Boots. As soon as he saw the Big Boots, Pooh knew that an Adventure was going to happen, and he brushed the honey off his nose with the back of his paw, and spruced himself up as well as he could, so as to look Ready for Anything."

Please click on the contact form and let me know what your favorite Winnie the Pooh moment is.