The 8 Ball in Your Story

"This is a pattern", I shouted, "This is a pattern! We need a name for it." Jordi, the bald and bearded and big-hearted Catalan risk manager, felt intrigued. He narrowed down all his abundant intelligence. Then, after a long pause, he mumbled, "8 ball."

What do I remember? What do I remember from 11,387 speeches in my first 11 years and four months as a communication coach? So many speeches I listened to! From boring PowerPoint bullets to heartbreaking personal stories. From Stockholm to Madrid, from Munich to Miami. But... What do I really remember?

Above all, I remember 8 balls!

An 8 ball is an object in your speech that symbolizes a higher meaning.

Three examples.

The Phone Cable

In one of my training sessions I held in Munich, we had a tall blond man who was back then the CTO of an internet company. In one of his speeches, he told this story. 

“I remember how my passion for IT started in my young days. I was 11 years old. There was no internet. But there was a forerunner in Germany. It was called BTX, which stood for Balanced Technology Extended Interface Specification or, in German, ‘Bildschirmtext’. I figured out how to access the BTX through a phone adapter like in the 1983 movie WarGames with Matthew Broderick. At that time, in our house, we didn’t have any phone socket on the first floor where my room was. The closest one was in the corridor on the ground floor. So I bought a 16-meter phone cable and connected the socket with my room. I was online! It felt great! But I will never forget the reaction of my parents when they received that first BTX invoice.”

The phone cable is an 8 ball.

The Petit Suisse

In another training in Barcelona, I met Rodrigo from Brazil. He told us about his challenging childhood. He grew up in a humble family. The fridge was empty most of the time. At school, other kids had food every day, and there was this boy who always enjoyed his Petit Suisse from Danone. Rodrigo was starving. He felt envy.

Years later, now an adolescent at the peak of his misery. A big boy didn't like his fair skin and green eyes. He threw him in a bin. Rodrigo confessed, "I felt like a homeless dog. I started to cry." Empty cups of Petit Suisse were shining through the garbage.

Years later, now an adult. The first paycheck arrives. And what does Rodrigo do? He fills up his entire fridge with Petit Suisse.

The Petit Suisse is an 8 ball.

The Tinfoil

The tinfoil is an 8 ball.

Reflect, Uncover, Recover

The phone cable symbolizes the higher meaning of passion. The Petit Suisse symbolizes the higher meaning of perseverance. The tinfoil symbolizes the higher meaning of understanding. All three of them are 8 balls.

Don't you have objects in your life that stand for something bigger? Reflect on them, uncover them, recover them, and add them to your stories.

I forget almost everything; I will not forget the 8 ball in your speech.

Epilog

1. My partner in rhetorical crime, Tobias Rodrigues, and I will make sure that all our future Higher Purpose Pitches will include an 8 ball.
2. Thank you, Jordi, for coming up with this magnificent metaphor. The 8 ball itself symbolizes the higher meaning of winning and losing. It is that one ball that determines your fortune on the pool table. And who hasn't potted the 8 ball into the wrong pocket?