Plato would be right at home pitching an idea to a full room of VCs in Silicon Valley. Instead of delivering straightforward instruction, he made dialogue the center of focus for developing his ideas and getting others to see his point of view. Even the Ancient Greeks knew that effective communication does not follow a linear path—it requires us to incorporate the point of view of others as we engage in cooperative, iterative learning together.

In most of Plato’s writings, the protagonist Socrates engages in a conversation with another person. During a back and forth exchange, Socrates makes his “pitch” by learning more about the other person’s point of view. Through nonlinear give and take, everyone comes away better informed.

Transforming one-way presentations into a shared environment for developing knowledge together allows our expertise to come alive. This is crucial for several reasons:

We meet people on the same plane: By adopting each other’s point of view, we communicate on the same page and cut down on misunderstandings and misinterpretations.

We develop our own knowledge further: Delivering information shouldn’t be a one-way street. Pushback by others forces us to refine and sharpen our own ideas.

We go beyond the content at hand: By using our knowledge as a roadmap for jumping off into a dialogue of learning, we avoid constraining the potential of our meetings by simply “sticking to the script.”

Plato understood that the best way to communicate some of our most complicated ideas might be to develop them together in shared dialogue. Focusing on conversation, rather than instruction, allows us to engage all participants in the learning process. When we engage in learning dialogue, we iteratively develop our own expertise to synchronize each other’s perspectives and maximize the richness of the ideas being shared.

William Isaacs’ critical book, Dialogue: The Art of Thinking Together, elucidates this point further.  Isaacs wants us to understand that cogent dialogue isn’t just about passing ideas back and forth. By engaging the collective knowledge of everyone in the group, a truly effective pitch creates synergy that both unifies the group and expands its creative capabilities.

Thus, the heart of effective communication lies in establishing a relationship through which information can be shared. By building a bridge of respect and trust, ideas belong to the group and individual problems become the focus of cooperative effort.

Engaging in nonlinear dialogue adds a personal element to communication, and this is critical. Oren Jacob has spent over 20 years developing and fielding pitches. Between pitching $100 million movies at Pixar, fielding startup pitches as an EIR at August Capital, and now as co-founder and CEO of interactive media company ToyTalk, he knows an effective pitch inside and out. He makes a keen observation: “Your pitch has to be infused with humanity.”

Much of this is really about flexibility. Jacob continues, “You’re at your most human when you can respond off the cuff.” He argues that while stories require structure, they are really a conversation. Navigating the connections that structure the transitions between key points is a subtle, but important tool. Jacob suggests practicing delivering pitches in a nonlinear way to hone this skill, explaining, “It’s only by working the transitions in and out of your key points that you’ll actually get a real handle on the various bridges you can use to get where you need to be.” 


At Vimodi, we are developing technology that helps users have a more engaging, responsive and effective visual discussions and dialogues. Vimodi enables visual mobile discussions for better engagement, motivation, and creativity in meetings and daily communication. Try Vimodi App.

What can we learn from French chefs about getting buy-in for innovative ideas? Actually, quite a lot.

Pan-fried salmon is nearly a staple in most restaurants today. In fact, the dish—pan-fried salmon with sorrel sauce—created a hotbed of controversy in French cooking in the 1970s when first served by the legendary Troisgros brothers at their Michelin-starred restaurant.

During that time, a group of French chefs including the Troisgros brothers began a period of category crossing that led to the creation of the now widely popular “nouvelle” cuisine. How did they do it? By connecting elements from classical cuisine with the new cooking styles to establish a new gastronomic identity.

It wasn’t easy—initially, the chefs that blended elements from classical and nouvelle cuisine were rated more harshly by Guide Michelin critics. However, eventually critics accepted this gastronomic “bricolage” and new gastronomic style was born.

How bricolage helps buy-in

A team of researchers from Stanford, EM Lyon, HEC Paris, led by Hayagreeva Rao found that successful chefs were not the ones that simply produced dishes in both categories, but those that selectively integrated elements of the new style into their old style cuisine. By building off established techniques, the chefs were able to use the existing approach to entice diners to the new cuisine.

Celebrated chef and restaurateur Daniel Boloud and culinary guru Dorie Greenspan write that the Troisgros’ salmon and sorrel dish became a touchstone that truly marked that passage from classical to nouvelle cuisine. They argue that the manner in which the brothers chose elements from classical cooking and blended them in new ways was the key to their success. They explain, “The components of the dish were not the newsmakers—they’d been used singly and in combination for years by chefs in France.” Building on the classical foundation and innovating from it, “It was the way in which the salmon was cooked and the manner in which the plate was arranged that rocked the culinary establishment.”

Bizarre (and connected) is better

The idea that customers and critics will be more accepting of new ideas if they are linked to familiar ones has been embraced by British chef, Heston Blumenthal. His innovative combinations like salmon and licorice have earned him accolades – and three Michelin stars - for his restaurant, The Fat Duck, where the kitchen looks like a chemistry lab. Blumenthal’s take on modern cuisine is built on the idea that novel, atypical category combinations can work, especially when they are connected to things that are familiar (both salmon and licorice have roots in Dutch cuisine).

In research sponsored by Northwestern University Institute on Complex Systems Brian Uzzi and his team analyzed 17.9 million academic papers to uncover what kind of work leads to the greatest scientific impact, and found that the most impactful work had both high novelty and conventionality. In other words, it made unusual combinations of ideas but was also critically grounded in the foundations of existing work. 

This has important implications for getting buy-in of new ideas. For an innovative, groundbreaking idea to be accepted, it’s essential to present the idea in the context of prior work. By linking the old ideas to new ones, audiences will be more receptive and have a better understanding of the new concept. Without the connections, a new idea is likely to be rejected out of hand. 

Our love-hate relationship with creative ideas

Why does this occur? Surprisingly, research at Wharton, UNC, Cornell by Jennifer S. Mueller and colleagues, has shown that human beings actually have a subtle bias against creativity. Somewhat paradoxically, even when people say that they desire creative, exciting ideas, in fact, they tend to shy away from them especially faced with uncertainty. In a recent research study, study subjects who believed they were open to creative ideas evaluated creative ideas negatively if they were put in an uncertain situation.  

What results like these teach us is that people do have a strong desire for creativity and innovation. However, in order to gain their buy-in for novel ideas, it’s important to connect the new ideas to the accepted ones when presenting them. By linking the old with the new, innovations don’t appear as a fad or a flash in the pan (no pun intended), but can be understood as important building blocks in the continuing progress of our ideas.  

Creativity is connecting things

Steve Jobs, in describing the generation of novel ideas, is famously quoted as saying, "Creativity is just connecting things." The lessons from the French chefs and the rise of nouvelle cuisine tell us that generating the ideas is only part of the innovation process. We need to communicate the connections, not only the ideas, for others to accept them. 

Photo* – Edison Light Globes

At Vimodi, we are developing technology that helps users have a more engaging, responsive and effective visual discussions and dialogues. Vimodi enables visual mobile discussions for better engagement, motivation, and creativity in meetings and daily communication. Try Vimodi App.

For most of us, undoubtedly the answer is yes. Just the mention of "your first kiss" brings a flood of memories, easily accessible and not faded by time. It is no surprise, then, that last month Tatia Pilieva’s video of complete strangers kissing for the first time became a viral sensation on YouTube. 

Why was your first kiss so memorable? 

Psychologist Haig Kouyoumdjian explains, "Think about your past school days of having to learn a set of new vocabulary words each week. Now, think back to the first kiss you had or your high school prom date. Most probably, you had to put forth great effort to remember the vocabulary words. In contrast, when you were actually having your first kiss or your prom date, I bet you weren’t trying to commit them to memory."

It’s all about the way that the brain is wired. Of all the sensory receptors in the brain, 70% are located in the eyes, and most of the sensory cortex is devoted to processing visual information. Kouyoumdjian puts it well when suggesting that our brain is primarily an image processor, not a word processor.

Achilles' Ear

Researchers James Bigelow and Amy Poremba at the University of Iowa have conducted a new study dubbed, “Achilles’ Ear.” They had their study subjects listen to recordings of sounds, view images of shapes, or feel vibrations of a metal bar. Each subject was then presented with a second sound, image or vibration and asked to recall if it was the same or different. The authors discovered that subjects were much more likely to make mistakes if they were presented only with a sound rather then images and vibrations. Furthermore, their ability to remember got worse at a much faster rate for sounds than for images or vibrations. The conclusion? We are much better at remembering things when we hear, feel and see them.

There are huge implications for communication here. Molecular biologist John Medina makes the connection clear in his book, Brain Rules. He argues for the need to expand communication beyond just the words on page or the text on the slide. He puts it bluntly: “Professionals everywhere need to know about the incredible inefficiency of text-based information and the incredible effects of images. Burn your current PowerPoint presentations and make new ones.”

How can you translate this knowledge to improve your own communications? Here are three tips:

Visualize data: Present numbers in charts instead of text. To explain that your company's market share growth in Asia is double the growth in Europe, even a simple line graph or pie/bar chart will make a greater impact than text.

Translate concepts to images: Identify a memorable image that easily translates into words and sounds for each point you are trying to communicate. Have a dialog with your audience or customer to bring a sense of sound into your presentation.

Personalize with a hands-on experience: Let your audience "touch" your presentation. When presenting on a tablet, for example, don't be afraid to hand it over and let your audience navigate your presentation with you. 

The idea that we learn and remember more by seeing and doing has long been present in folk history. The Chinese philosopher Confucius is famously quoted as saying, "I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand." 

Confucius may not have been thinking of first kisses when he shared this wisdom, but the basic principles are the same. Images and interaction are the keys to better communication. 

Photo*-Tatia Pilieva via inc.com, PLOS ONE Journal


At Vimodi, we are developing technology that helps users have a more engaging, responsive and effective visual discussions and dialogues. Vimodi enables visual mobile discussions for better engagement, motivation, and creativity in meetings and daily communication. Try Vimodi App.