The day after 9/11 the real question was: "Could this happen again?" The official inquiries investigated the topic of terrorism in depth, but looked at nothing else. I did research for a book and found a number of other causes likely to produce comparable problems and developed innovative ways to handle these problems based on the latest science and technology. All of these problems can be solved, but one of them is now very close and very serious. It is about one year off.

When I try to tell people about the other problems, they become frightened and overwhelmed. They then stop listening. Consequently I am not going to tell you what the next 9/11 class event will be in this article. Those who want to know can e-mail me. Those who do not want to know can keep their heads buried in the sand until it hits. Either way is all right.

What I will write about is how to address the terrorist problem and all the other great problems of this new century. Once you know solutions are possible, you may then want to know what the problems are and how you can be in action of the solutions.

I work with science and technology so I approach the solutions from that direction. As this is an age of technology, all the problems have major technical components and this approach is quite productive. It is our immense good luck that we have the new scientific breakthroughs needed to solve our great problems just at the time we need them.

To solve a major technical problem, you must: (1) face the problem, (2) declare a breakdown, (3) propose one solution, (4) get large numbers of people in effective action, (5) develop other solutions, (6) choose the optimal solution, (7) focus action on that solution, and (8) keep in action. For this article we will look at how to get people in effective action and keep them in action.

When most of us were in school, the human brain was modeled as a bland slate to be written on. This model is now known to be completely bogus. The new model is one of a network of small computers. It is called Modular Brain Theory and has the real advantage that you can now take a large honking scientific instrument, a functional Magnetic Resonance Imager (fMRI) and locate the actual brain tissue that generates specific modules.

One of the modules produces an effect that technical people call buy-in. When it is in play a person takes on an idea as their own, envisions themselves succeeding with the idea, gets into action, and stays in action. This specific module is critical to the solution of all our problems because it can keep people in action on a solution for decades.

All project work depends heavily on buy-in, whether it is building a pyramid or taking a trip to the moon. When President Kennedy sent us to the moon, he was using buy-in though his personal talent, today buy-in is a science based technology. It is now available for our use and it can keep people in action for as long as it takes to reach a solution.

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To enable people to effectively generate and accept buy-in requires a step-by-step process, a formal version of Buy-In. Here are the specific steps in the process for inviting people to buy into your idea as it might occur at a project kickoff meeting:

1. Paying attention - When people arrive at a presentation, they are often distracted by things that happened to them just getting there; the traffic was horrible; the weather is worse, here is my very important excuse for being late. None of this is really important but we do need to get it out of the way. The best way to do this is through language. Get people to talk among themselves before the presentation starts. Get your support people to talk to the audience members a little. Hold a conversation with a few key people yourself. Work the crowd a little. Do not bother to take notes on what is said; just get them to say anything about whatever is in the way. It does not have to make much sense. Like excuses, once spoken the distractive stuff will then fade away into the background.
2. This is important to you - Get the audience to start thinking about how your idea could make them successful in their lives. This starts the Vision of Success process. Be sure they see the presentation as unusual enough to be interesting, but not so unusual as to be dangerous. In this process, connect personally with the audience. Make sure they know that you are inviting them to contribute to the project and become part of it.
3. Present the idea - Here you may use any form of media that the audience will find interesting. These days everything is flashy pictures, which is okay but they will not do your job for you. The presentation must be inspiring and show your personal commitment.

   Here is where the skill of being a presenter and, to some extent, the skill of generating inspiration, come to the fore. They are crafts to be learned and practiced. Make a study of delivering an inspiring presentation. You can do it.

   Examples of how the idea has affected your personal life are usually accepted as important human-to-human communications, but they must be sincere. Over-rehearsed testimonials will put an audience off. Canned jokes and cynical quips can definitely break the development of the idea. If you sound like a TV pitchman or a preacher, then you will be heard as such.

   The presentation must have content, that is, information of real value to the audience must be there. Whiz-bang and flash are not enough. Lack of real content was one of the major problems in the Dot-Com boom and bust. In that boom, technical people demonstrated simultaneously that you can build Visions of Success on pure whiz-bang and that a boom built on this foundation of sand will not last.

   The presentation must have integrity. Human beings have a specific brain module for spotting phonies. This module is hardwired to an anxiety center. It is so astute that advertisements in magazines and on TV must have a recognizable format different from the program content. If the ads look and sound too much like the real content, people will first be fooled and then get very angry. Done poorly, a formal Buy-In presentation comes across as a hidden hard sell, and it will then greatly upset people.

   Most of our integrity problems in life come from our saying one thing and doing another. It is very important to be up front about what you are doing and to hide nothing. Early on you need to find a good way to say that you are intentionally trying to get people into action on your great idea.

4. Invitation to Buy-in - Now stop the fancy graphics, you can leave something on the screen, but it must not be very interesting and it certainly must not be moving around or flashing. The next step must be done in language only. It can be written in text but it is most often spoken. You must assist the people of the audience in generating their individual Vision of Success with your idea. You should then see at least a few eyes light up.

   Make it perfectly clear that it is completely all right if they choose not to buy into your idea, but invite them to do so just the same. They must have free choice or they will later angrily reject the idea.

5. Opportunity for language - Give everyone in the audience a chance to be moved to language. This usually means at least some time for questions and answers, but if the audience is large, you may need to get them talking among themselves for five minutes or send them to dinner in groups. Listen for any version of "I'm for this idea." With young people, it could be as simple as the word, "Cool."
6. Short-term actions - Make sure that there is some opportunity for short-term action. Something is available they can do this week without actually committing to changing their lives. Reference lists to take home and Web sites to surf are great here. It is not necessary that they be able to contact you personally, but a contact possibility with an appropriate organization or discussion group will be most helpful. If they have bought in, they need to have a clear next step to take.
7. Long-term action - Make doubly sure that there is an opportunity for long-term action available. They need to know how they can make a real contribution to the project. These are the actions that get the job done and get the problems solved.
8. Vision of Success in memory - You should suggest that they recall their Vision of Success from time to time. This can take the form of describing your personal practices in this area.

(Excerpt from Tom Riley, Look the Future Straight in the Eye.)

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Recruitment for terrorist activities is an extreme form of buy-in. Given our new knowledge of how buy-in works, we can develop new approaches to stop it and redirect the action. These approaches are non-violent and effective, but will require a lot of persistence and work. I have started this effort, would you like to know more about it? Would you like to participate?

Solutions for all the other great problems of our century require that large numbers of people get into effective action. Buy-in is only one of our major tools to make this happen. Do you want to be part of this action? Do you want to know what's coming at you? Do you want to be on the winning team?

I can be reached through my book Web Site:

Look the Future Straight in the Eye

http://www.charm.net/~jriley/book.html

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About the author John Thomas Riley: Best known for web site, Woodware Designs. Providing plans for low-stress computer furniture.

Email: jriley@charm.net

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