I had lunch with a surgeon recently. Salad, hummus and small talk. Then he announces, “My boss wants me to be on Twitter. He wants me to Tweet.  You know, become a Twitterer.” The sarcasm was palpable.

Here’s the problem: Nobody can make someone participate in a conversation. They can try, but it won’t work. We have to come into public dialog because we want something that’s there.

I’ve never met a physician who sustainably used a public network because they were told to. Conversely, I’ve never met a consistently engaged doctor who hadn’t found some kind of value in that public presence. If a superior were interested in his team going public, he might build the case for why Twitter, or any platform, might be good for an institution or one’s career. Better yet, he might build the case as a role model.

We often miss the mark in our presentations and workshops. Presentations from highly spirited evangelist physicians often focus on shiny objects. Yet the reason so few of these presentations convert listeners is that they fail to demonstrate how any of this can make things better. In our excitement, we fail to build the case in a way that our audience can relate to.

What you can do is good; what you can get is better.

So whether you’re a boss, speaker or friend at lunch, make your approach about value.

This hilarious/idiotic ‘stock photo’ is part of a promotional campaign for Unfinished Business.