Mrs Bigalke was my Standard 7 (Grade 9) Afrikaans teacher.  She was passionate about presentations, or speeches as we called them, and stressed the importance of the opening lines and the title in grabbing the attention of the audience.  She called it “Prikkel Belangstelling”.

Trevor Noah has recently launched a book titled “Born a Crime”. I suspect Mrs Bigalke would have awarded him full marks for grabbing our attention.  Then I think he would have been rewarded a few bonus points for choosing a title that not only grabbed our immediate attention but left a lasting impression.

Searching for a title

Imagine that feeling when reflecting on your book, and searching for a title that suits it, and your reflection results in “Born a Crime”.

This short article is not about Trevor or his life – I have never met him and I don’t know him.  His title did spark something in me.  It sparked a thought of my own life and the title I would choose for my life story.

An obvious one would be something to do with Ripples as we have marketed our programmes under “The Ripple Effect” for 21 years.

Maybe we would choose “Wired to Influence” as a means to give further traction to our powerful business development programme.

“Chain Reaction” came to mind hoping that such an impact could be claimed as a result of small interventions with delegates kick starting series of positive events.

“Baking the Perfect Scone” will resonate with many of the Wired to Influence graduates as we use the scone analogy for exploring cause and effect in business and for the development of cognitive ability in working out what it is going to take to achieve one’s goals.

So far none of these come close to Trevor’s.  What about “Farting Against Thunder”?  The sound of our work competes against the loudest of resistance – thunderous resistance at times that rumbles on and on.  Can’t, won’t, never, but, blame, FEAR, objections, doubts and excuses thunder on in most organisations.

A thunderous voice

This has never got the better of us and it never will.  Our successes develop a voice of their own and as a team we are working toward making the voice of Ripple a thunderous voice with a business community that largely is making life unnecessarily difficult for themselves.

I suspect that Trevor Noah’s book does not end with him being born a crime.  I suspect he will use the opportunity his book has created to celebrate his life and more importantly to use it as a source of inspiration for all of mankind.

I would want “farting against thunder” to do the same.  Yes overcoming the thunder is a challenge but what comes after rising above it is what motivates us.

I invite you now to add your voice – if you are a convert – if you once were skeptical – if you resisted – if your resistance to the basic principles of success and even to training as a catalyst for growth was thunderous – and now you see things differently – please add a comment to this article.

By Louis Gerke

Development Facilitator – The Ripple Effect