Smart Pastor

On Saturday I challenged us to consider asking questions versus making statements in our sermons.  Today I stumbled upon a piece that was sharing methods to tell a story like Malcolm Gladwell.  (Author of the new book, Outliers as well as The Tipping Point and Blink.)

They gave 7 methods, but this one was my favorite….

5. He makes us curious

Gladwell tells Flom’s story without revealing exactly why he’s an outlier:

“Joe Flom is an outlier. But he’s not an outlier for the reasons you might think…

Then Gladwell sets the curiosity trap:

“By the end of this chapter…we’ll see that it is possible to take the lessons of Joe Flom, apply them to the legal world of New York City, and predict the family background, age and origin of the city’s most powerful attorneys, without knowing a single additional fact about them.“

That’s compelling – Gladwell has given us a mystery and promises to unravel it for us.  (Source and the other six tips over at the Speaking about Presenting blog)