Tag: SellingIdeas

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The Lasagne Pitch – start with the shape of it

I struggle to follow recipes that pile straight in with a long list of instructions without giving me an idea of how the recipe works. 

Take lasagne. If it just starts with, ‘heat the oil, fry the onions, celery and carrot, then after a bit add some garlic…’ I find the information goes in one eye and out the other.

I need to know the shape of things to give me scaffolding for the details. For example, 

‘a lasagne is a dish consisting of alternative layers of pasta sheets, red sauce and white sauce. First you will make the red and white sauces separately, then layer things up and bake it. The pasta cooks in the moisture from the sauces…’

Give me all that and then I’m set for the details about frying the onions and turning on the oven.

The same can be said for pitching design ideas and engineering concepts.

In my workshops on pitching design ideas, I find participants are often too ready to get into the detail of how they are going to do something before giving us the overall logic. Without structure, the details don’t add up to create a picture.

If you hear me say, use the lasagne pitch, now you know what I mean. Start with the layers, then worry about frying the vegetables.

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I’m an engineer, I feel your pain and I have a plan

This little refrain is my version of Aristotle’s three artistic truths for making a convincing argument. Aristotle proposed three things were needed to win people over. The first is ethos – or trustworthiness. Is this person someone I trust. The second is pathos – or empathy. Does this person have a shared sense of pain. And the third is logos – or logic. In other words, what’s the plan. 

As engineers we often start with the plan. But the plan won’t work without trust and empathy. Hence the refrain. Showing up as a professional can build trust. Feeling the pain might be the hardest part, because it has to be genuine. Then, we get to the plan, which is probably the part we started off with.