Sefton just started watching Mr. Rogers. I asked my mom this week if we ever watched him growing up. She didn’t think so. Oh well, I can start now.
Fifty years ago, Mr. Rogers sat at a table across from a supposedly-pretty-stern Congressman. He needed $20 million for his fledgling, low-polish children’s program.
5 minutes. It took him five minutes to get it. How does he do it?
More interestingly, what caught my attention was how he doesn’t do it. He starts by saying something about a big, ‘philosophical statement.’ Gobbly-gook. He knows it’s not going to get him $20 mil. So he says, ‘I’ll not do that.’ Then he talks about trust. He doesn’t get into tech-speak. He doesn’t try to woo the Senator with big, fancy words. What does he do? Simple.
He tells a story. Then he recites a song.
Boom. Five minutes later he has a hard-ass senator telling him, ‘Looks like you just earned the twenty million dollars.’
If you’ve never seen the video of his testimony, it’s probably worth your 6 minutes and 50 seconds. Good luck fighting back a tear or two…
