CHAPTER ONE: Birth of a Method

NEW YORK CITY — The revelation struck me nearly one decade ago, soon after we moved to Lesotho, the tiny kingdom high in the majestic mountains of Southern Africa. The ethnic Basotho who live there – and are featured here in my photos – suffer some of the worst health indicators of any country in the world. I suddenly realized why organizations should apply some International Journalism skills, strategies and even storytelling styles to their Global Communications.

This moment of clarity was so impactful, it altered my worldview – and career arc. It also sparked the idea that eventually became this huge two-volume project: to share my unique toolkit, which I call The MJ Method. I’d already begun writing about my International Journalism techniques, as you’ll see in Chapter Twelve: Sharing My Toolkit. But in Lesotho, I suddenly saw its applicability to the challenge of Global Communications.

Since my overseas journalism experience was the foundation of all this – and my “first true love” – this book idea crystalized as a two-volume package. Here in Volume One, I focus entirely on presenting a one-of-a-kind, how-to-guide to International Journalism – while making it as applicable as possible to any reader who wants to expand or sharpen their strategic communications. That lays the groundwork for Volume Two: The Global Communication Skills, Strategies & Storytelling Styles to Help You Communicate Impactfully With Any Audience.

I’ll now describe my revelation in Lesotho, as a vivid way to introduce you to “the big picture” of what this two-volume set is really about – and how it might benefit you. Even your organization. For a more complete picture, I’ve contextualized it here with relevant background. The story behind the story.

We arrived in Lesotho in late 2011, as I followed my wife there for her career with the United Nations. I was the so-called trailing spouse. But it wasn’t just me: our three kids joined us, as well. By then, my worldview was already shaped by 17 years as a Foreign Correspondent, reporting from 30 countries, mostly in post-Communist Eastern Europe and ex-Soviet Central Asia. I’d also spent several years preaching what I practiced, teaching students and training professionals in the specialized craft of International Journalism – from New York to Prague to Hong Kong.

Yet now I lived down in Lesotho, in a remote corner of the globe, where the Basotho people suffer from a full-blown health crisis: At the time, they endured the world’s second-highest rate of HIV infection – a mind-boggling 23%. Plus, malnutrition that afflicts and stunts 40% of the Basotho children.

I was touched by what I witnessed – not just the relentless tragedy among innocents, but the brave resistance by so many Basotho activists and communal leaders. Moreover, I felt inspired by the small community of fellow expatriates who lived among us in the lively capital, Maseru: non-profit professionals, activists, diplomats, Peace Corps volunteers, church missionaries. So many were devoted to helping the Basotho, I asked myself how I could contribute, too. What can I do to help make a difference? To deliver impact? Ideally, lasting impact.

With that, I branched into a third professional field: Health and Development Communications. It was largely aimed at domestic Lesotho audiences, striving to achieve “behavioral change” among them – for example, by creating content that subtly offered guidance in how to prevent HIV transmission.

But more broadly, much of the organizational content was also aimed at foreign audiences – whether to raise awareness of these issues, or to prove to donors that their organization was spending donations wisely and impactfully.

In short, Global Communications. I’d apply my toolkit of journalism, storytelling and training skills, then share them as widely as possible. Continuously pitching proposals, I’m proud of how many Consultancies I carried out in Lesotho.

All that said, it was one Consultancy early in my stint there that zapped me like a lightning bolt. This revelation illuminated the stark differences between my brand of International Journalism – evidence-based, character-driven narrative – and the kind of strategic Communications Storytelling that non-profits need.

Years later, I'd write this essay about these core similarities and differences. 

In Lesotho, I now observed how my Communications colleagues focused their content-creation on so-called “success stories.” I considered these to be too shallow, overly PR-ish and easily dismissed by any smart skeptic – like a Foreign Correspondent. More important, though, I excitedly discovered how to bring a fresh perspective to influencing this smart-but-skeptical target-audience: by adapting my skillset to produce more serious, credible content – with what I began to call evidence-driven Impact Stories.

It’s now early 2012, and I’m sitting inside the Maseru office of #UNICEF, for one of my first freelance Communications gigs in Lesotho. UNICEF has hired me to help them write fundraising proposals to their foreign donors in Washington, London, Berlin and elsewhere.

The objective: describe the need, and the on-the-ground UNICEF impact, in order to solicit enough money to support programs that encourage immunizations, reduce malnutrition, and eradicate mother-to-child transmission of HIV. Including, the purchase of several “mobile health clinics.”As part of the project, UNICEF assigns me to a Basotho case-worker to explain the challenges she faces, here in a country nicknamed The Mountain Kingdom. She herself is from the mountains.

As I ask her to describe her caseload, this staffer keeps referring to the “limited access to healthcare” across the nation’s rugged terrain, filled with peaks, valleys and unpaved roads. Yet this “limited access” phrase is terribly vague, even to someone like me, who now lives here. We actually live down in the lowland capital, and haven’t yet ventured up to experience life in the mountains. (Only later would I begin to explore for myself how challenging Basotho life is in the mountains, especially regarding transportation – as you see from these photos.)

Vague terminology is one thing, if I’m the audience. Imagine how vague it’d be for this UN agency’s true target: smart but skeptical foreign donors based far from here. They’d probably never visited Lesotho. Yet, for some reason, they might care about the place. Or, could be convinced to care.

In my mind, then, the ultimate challenge for UNICEF is:

• How can it persuasively prove its work is having positive impact, on the ground here?
• How can it illuminate that donor-dollars are making a meaningful difference
• How can it now convince the donors to send more funds for these mobile clinics?

(Later, I developed my own Communications, storytelling and interviewing strategy to illuminate any organization's impact – which I dubbed "The Fork in the Road." Here's my essay, detailing how the process works.)

UNICEF would surely miss its target – to touch the heart and mind of donors, persuading them to dig deep into their pockets – if the audience is unable to feel, or at least visualize, the reality of needs in this faraway land. I keep pressing this case-worker for more details, politely but persistently. Then it hits me: This is another form of International Storytelling!

I now realize that activists like her, and organizations like UNICEF, need elements of International Journalism to communicate more effectively with the outside world. To connect an interesting, even important situation over here – in some unique corner of the globe – with a smart-but-skeptical audience over there – far from this place, culturally if not geographically – they should arm themselves with journalistic tools. Then, think like a Foreign Correspondent and “bring to life” the reality.

This epiphany excited me, because now I saw my relevance and how to contribute greater value to their efforts. With this UNICEF staffer, I now begin to explain and unpack my toolkit – sharing many of my skills and strategies. (Many of the same techniques detailed in this book, across several chapters.)

I start by guiding her: “Let’s paint a picture of the reality, up in the mountains.

What a challenging reality she painted: The under-developed hamlets, which mostly lack electricity. Paved roads so scarce, the most common form of transport is horse or donkey. For any adult to deliver a sick child or elderly parent from one of these humble villages, to the nearest health clinic – over peaks, through valleys – it could take them hours. Then, the arduous return-trip. Understandably, it might even dissuade some Basotho from the effort of even embarking upon such a sojourn.

These are more than simply “colorful” details. They’re relevant and “illuminating” – shedding light onto the reality so vividly that even someone like you, far from Lesotho, can start to visualize it. Later during my stint in Lesotho, while on assignment in the mountains, I myself witnessed one sick granny’s arrival at a health clinic. She was bundled in a blanket, hand-delivered by her devoted son … in a wheelbarrow. But beyond that, nothing screamed “limited access to healthcare” louder than seeing this old woman and her son act like this was normal – as if they’d travelled by wheelbarrow before.

At this moment, though, I’ve yet to experience any of that. I’m still naïve about the reality. But this Basotho staffer knows it well. So, with my faraway donor-audience still at the forefront of my mind, I encourage her to tell me one or two of the most memorable stories about her beneficiaries – to further illustrate and “humanize” the daily challenges she faces. These stories now provide me more than vivid details – they also serve as credible evidence.

Next, I probe for some of her insights and analysis: How difficult is it to convince a pregnant, HIV-positive woman up in the mountains that one way to avoid transmitting the virus to her baby is to take such a grueling trip, once a month, for clinical check-ups? What do you say to persuade them?

All of this content – and what I began to call “strategic storytelling” – will enable UNICEF to make a stronger argument to donors for how exactly new mobile-clinics will improve “access to healthcare” for so many villagers in Lesotho. Moreover, why it is that UNICEF, specifically, deserves these donor-dollars.

Empathetically imagining our target-audience, the foreign donor who’ll be reading this UNICEF proposal can now visualize a mobile-clinic in action, as an impactful, much-needed solution in Lesotho.

Such “storytelling with purpose” goes beyond the simpler journalistic objective to “better inform and educate the audience.” It aims for more, which is to strategically impact the target-audience: In this case, to change attitudes, ideally even behaviors. Or persuade them to fork over donations.

But back to this interview at UNICEF, with the Basotho case-worker. By the end of our session together, I’m pleased to see that she’s nodding in agreement with me. I’ve gained her buy-in, and she’s gradually embraced the rationale of my storytelling approach.

This UNICEF experience was more than a one-time epiphany of how to apply my International Journalism to Global Communications. It was the genesis for how to present my MJ Method as a hybrid toolbox of specific skills, strategies and storytelling styles to benefit organizations and individuals alike.

Here in Chapter One, not only did I want to share with you the origins of this fusion methodology, but to then show it “in action”: how exactly it works – and why it works as effectively as I believe it does.

Indeed, one of my core principles, as you’ll see throughout this book, is: Show, don’t tell. It’s the difference between uttering mere words – which can be empty and meaningless – and providing our audience concrete, credible evidence. This is how we prove more persuasively that what we say is true.

For example, I could’ve opened this book by diving into the content. However, I respect your intellect – and that you’re likely skeptical of my method. That’s why I opted to show-not-tell from the outset, in hopes of overcoming your skepticism.

In that case, it’s worth dissecting how I did it, as a mini-Case Study of MJ Method effectiveness. First, I laid out the historical background: the origins and evolution of my methodology – which is necessary context to more fully appreciate what exactly I did in Lesotho, why I did it, and how I did it.

Next, I brought it to life with an illuminating anecdote: the story about UNICEF-Lesotho and the Basotho staffer. This revealed my rationale behind why exactly I do what I do, but also demystified the process of what exactly I do for clients, trainees and students. This, too, I did in a show-don’t-tell manner.

Third, this anecdote subtly served another function: it doubled as a piece of credible evidence that my approach actually works, for how it hurdles such Communications challenges. Fourth, this anecdote even humanized me, in action. This is another subtle tactic, to overcome any reader skepticism about me, as author of this book and method. Instead, it boosts my credibility.

That’s why I didn’t randomly choose this opening anecdote. (Or what I call a curtain-raiser. More on that in Chapter Sixteen: Writing the Story.) Instead, I launched this two-volume book by following my own MJ Method – and deployed five core elements that show you, not just tell you, how it works:

1. We should respect our audience’s intellect, to not expect them to blindly believe our words.
2. It’s always more persuasive to “show, not tell” with specific facts, as compelling evidence.
3. Another form of credible, convincing evidence is a storytelling vignette, like my UNICEF story.
4. Stories enable an audience to visualize something crucial – like the benefits of my Method.
5. Such anecdotes help humanize a subject, yet also humanized me and my coaching approach.

Speaking of which, I wanted to spotlight my show-not-tell philosophy, from the outset, as a fundamental component of my teaching style. Especially as I introduce this book and explain how it may benefit even non-journalists. Journalism will always be my first love, yet I’m now a teacher at heart.

So, on the one hand, showing my Method in action hopefully helps to demystify and simplify the process for my target-audience. If you “see what I mean,” it helps uncork the flow of positive benefits.

On the other hand, if I provide you a story packed with value – from the start of this exhaustively detailed book – it subtly promotes all my products and services. Thus, my brand itself. I’ll expound more upon this in Chapter Twenty One: Building My Brand and Chapter Twenty Six: Building Your Brand.

Why Context Matters:

Again, I could dive directly into my skills and strategies, to start providing you “value-added.” But that’d violate one of my cardinal principles: To communicate effectively and persuasively may demand that we present our content with enough relevant context – enabling our audience to grasp its true significance.

Based on my teaching experience, I see my audience is able to more fully appreciate these skills, strategies and storytelling styles once they also visualize the journey of how exactly I learned each. Thus, as my Introduction promised, this is more than a textbook on International Journalism.

In the next chapter, Chapter Two, I don’t present my contextualizing backstory for my own vanity, or as a “memoir.” By laying out my origins and evolution – in logical, chronological fashion – I hope to gain your “buy-in,” too.

Indeed, it serves several purposes. I view the origins and evolution as relevant, necessary context for any story or situation. I’ll explain my “Darwinian” approach to contextual storytelling in Chapter Fifteen: Art of the Interview. This bedrock principle has long guided my knowledge-gathering, and my written, verbal or visual communications with any audience. Especially, a foreign audience.

More broadly, it’s the same answer we give to students who ask: Why should we study History? How can we truly understand The Present, if we haven’t learned about The Past? How to fully grasp where exactly we are today, if we don’t appreciate where exactly we’ve come from? And how exactly we got here? And why exactly do took this path? That’s what I mean by “origins and evolution.”

Once we arm ourselves with sufficient context and comprehension, we can anticipate The Future with greater wisdom: Where exactly might we go from here? And why exactly in that direction?

Context also serves a key Communications function, as one way I solve the recurring challenge I face with all my teaching, training, coaching, advising and so on: How to impact my audience? Especially, how to impact a foreign audience? Or an international audience, about a faraway issue?

We can often assume that our audience – while smart, curious and skeptical – may not be an “expert” on the country or topic we explore. Therefore, if we hope to deepen the impact of our words, we must insert enough relevant context – strategically selected – whether those necessary details are historical, personal, cultural, societal, economic, political, national, regional, global, or anything else.

Again, with this how-to guide, I aim for impact. So, my rationale: If I explain how I learned these skills along my journalistic journey – as a young freelancer who “parachuted” into countries across Eastern Europe; sold my stories to newspapers back in America; then crafted formulas to repeat my success – I have a greater chance to eventually convince you to embrace my approach.

As in: See how it worked for me? It can work for you, too. Or simply: Do as I do.

What’s the teaching alternative? That I exhort you to: Do as I say! Trust me! Or in a patriarchal, authoritarian style: It’s my way, or the highway. No. If I respect the intellect of my audience – as I respect yours – then I must “work hard” to persuade you of my message’s value. No arm-twisting!

This leads to two more guiding principles of the MJ Method, which I referenced above yet are worth repeating, and often, to reinforce their lessons.

First: Show, don’t tell. I could just tell you that all this “relevant context” is important and necessary. Instead, I’ll show you, with my own personal example. That’s a more persuasive mode of argumentation – especially when our objective is to persuade a smart, skeptical mind. (Like yours.)

Second: Humanize. By describing how I developed this MJ Method – as part of my own Journey of Self-Discovery – I hope to make this entire toolkit more impactful for you. Ideally, even memorable.

If nothing else, at least by now you sense how deeply I strategize my style of “persuasive” Communications. Here, finally, is how my journalistic journey began, with lessons I learned along the way.

Now, at least, you know the relevant context, the historical background, the story behind the story. There’s so much more to share with you. Thank you for reading!