It took 7 minutes. In 7 epic minutes, Fred Rogers convinced the US government to increase funding for PBS from $9 million to $22 million.

When American president Richard Nixon was looking to slash funding, he thought of cutting the budget for PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) from $20 million to less than $10 million. The not-so-well-known new guy: Fred Rogers – creator of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, a beloved children’s TV show teaching kindness and emotional intelligence – was sent to the Senate Subcommittee to see if he could change their minds.

Rogers avoided everything others would have done.

Most people would have shown graphs and statistics. They would have presented research data on how public broadcasting is helpful and needed. How it improves literacy rates. How it has economic value.

Someone more adept at being a politician would have drawn a new enemy. And said why PBS is better than some other program, and why it’s better to cut funding from other programs.

They may also have shown how funding PBS would make the senator himself look like a hero.

But Rogers did none of that.

Instead, Rogers narrated a poem that helps kids deal with anger.

• What do you do with the mad that you feel
  When you feel so mad you could bite?
  When the whole wide world seems oh, so wrong…
  And nothing you do seems very right?
• What do you do? Do you punch a bag?
  Do you pound some clay or some dough?
  Do you round up friends for a game of tag?
  Or see how fast you go?
• It’s great to be able to stop
  When you’ve planned a thing that’s wrong,
  And be able to do something else instead
  And think this song:
• I can stop when I want to
  Can stop when I wish
  I can stop, stop, stop any time.
  And what a good feeling to feel like this
  And know that the feeling is really mine.
  Know that there’s something deep inside
  That helps us become what we can.
  For a girl can be someday a woman
  And a boy can be someday a man.

Creating connections with shared commonality

Rogers knew that he had limited time in which he had to persuade a sceptical senator. A senator who believed PBS is a luxury and can be cut. Rogers had to quickly disarm their defensiveness and create a bond. Get the senator on his side.

At the same time, he had to show the senator what his show and PBS were all about: helping kids with their emotional and developmental needs.

So he used something that he and the senator as well as the kids for whom PBS shows were made – had in common. Anger. He showcased a poem that he had written for his show that helped kids deal with anger.

This shared commonality worked. Highlighting shared experiences or events or feelings or desires transcends differences. It creates a sense of unity and instant connection.

The US state department needed negotiation advice.

They were dealing with a terrorist who had taken a hostage. And they did not want the hostage to be tortured no matter what. So they asked expert negotiator Chris Voss for advice. Voss recommends telling the terrorist: “you know their mom is worried about him.”

On its surface, it feels like such a weird sentence to say during a tense negotiation with a sociopathic terrorist! But it worked. The terrorist instantly goes: “his mom knows about this? You tell her he is ok!”

Even the terrorists have moms!

Find the shared symbols

When Nelson Mandela was faced with the tough task of uniting the blacks and the whites after the apartheid had ended, he did it by wearing the Springboks rugby t-shirt. Because whatever the differences, both races loved sports!

When Gandhi had to protest against unjust British taxation, he didn’t protest against land revenue tax that other members of Congress were aiming for. He protested against the salt tax. Because every Indian ate salt!

And when Fred Rogers wanted to convince a senator to retain funding for PBS, he didn’t make a logical pitch. Instead, he used a simple song about dealing with anger, an emotion everyone including the senator has experienced, to illustrate the importance of emotional education. It resonated so deeply that the committee approved PBS funding on the spot!

Action Summary:

• Understand your audience. Audit their dreams and desires and fears. Identify the shared common. A universal experience or emotion.

• Birds of a feather flock together. Show them how you and them are the same, and they will be on your side. Use a relatable symbol or a story that makes the shared commonality tangible.

The 7 minute video: Fred Rogers in front of the Senate committee