How to Change Things

How do things get the way they are? How do we change them? This site is about some of the key techniques everybody uses to shape public events. Ask the right questions and you can change the way things are:

1. What's the problem? "War is unhealthy for children and other living things" may be a little broad. Break it down. What will winning look like? Be specific.

2. Who has a finger on the button? Who makes the decision? A public official? A CEO? Who could do what you want, if they were motivated? And had the resources? Take names.

3. Who influences the button pusher? Peers? Career? Voters? A regulatory agency? A board of directors? Whom must the "decider" listen to? Understand his or her environment.

4. What channels reach the influential? What media and person-to-person channels are accessible to you? Focus: How do the people you need to reach get their credible information?

5. What's in it for them? Your policy solution and advocacy strategy are designed to shift calculations of risk and reward. What makes inaction more costly, change more attractive?

6. What message fits the channel? Most people come up with the bumper sticker first. But in reality, your audience tells you what the message needs to be. And the channel that will carry it determines the precise form it takes.

See? It's not obvious, but it's not rocket science either. The world as you know it is made up of organized groups asking these exact questions and running the strategies that result. You can, too. With experienced advice, you can do it even quicker.

Hint: Run through these questions more than once. Every iteration will refine the answers and bring you closer to an action plan.