Yesterday the Georgia Center for Opportunity (GCO) and the Georgia Public Policy Foundation (GPPF) hosted Arthur Brooks, the president of the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), for a talk on the power of storytelling. Brooks contends that all the facts and figures in the world don’t resonate the same way that an individual story can. Coming right off of primary season, the message was perhaps particularly resonant.
Both GCO and GPPF, led by former AJC columnist Kyle Wingfield, focus extensively on their belief that conservative policies can make a biggest difference in the lives of the lower income and unemployed. Randy Hicks, president and CEO of the GCO, opened up the breakfast talking about their mission. “Our focus is on human flourishing,” said Hicks. Their mission is to allow and encourage individuals to advantage of the free market and achieve their highest potential. This is the heart of Brooks’ message.
Besides his work at AEI, Brooks is also the author of a number of books, most recently The Conservative Heart: How to Build a Fairer, Happier, and More Prosperous America. The themes of this book were the basis for his discussion Wednesday morning.
“The reason I’m in the free enterprise movement is human dignity,” said Brooks. He aims to be “a warrior for the people not in this room, the people that can’t be in this room” – meaning lower income and struggling Americans. Brooks spoke about how much of his work involves speaking to colleges around the country and this specialization in crowds that are not receptive has allowed him some unique insight into what works and what doesn’t when speaking to audiences that may not agree with a certain point of view.
Brooks mentioned an example from the work of Uri Hasson, a neuroscientist based at Princeton University. His research focuses on human communication and storytelling and how it impacts the brain. Hasson uses functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI) to record the activity in the brain as people are relayed information. When people are told a personal, real-life story, their brains “align” and show the same activity on the FMRI. This causes the listener to be more receptive to the message and lean in to the speaker.
Brooks’ suggestion for the political world is to tell stories about real people and real situations. These are what people connect to. Without them, the audience may not even give the speaker a chance. Deborah Small is a marketing professor at Wharton who does research on fundraising and nonprofits. Small and her team helped to develop the theory “1 is greater than 10 million.” The example used to demonsrate the theory goes that fundraising for a natural disaster or third world country, think Feed the Children, is more effective when focused on an individual story. Relating the story and showing the picture of an individual child is more effective than talking about the millions displaced or going hungry.
Brooks, being a Catholic in good standing, closed with some advice from Pope Francis that he gave to the Conference of Bishops. “The shepherds need to smell like the sheep,” said Francis. You can’t preach from afar or connect with a community you’re never in.
With a number of elected officials in the audience, certainly something to take away.
