- While watching Heffernan’s talk, one thing that is noticed is how she speaks on the future and the unlearned traits of the world. In her rhetoric argument she talks about how we should use our minds and imaginations to explore the problems of the world and how technology is setting us back in time. I find it interesting how she depicts modern day problems and shows the audience how they were solved by using ingenuity and imaginative solutions. She leaves the audience something to ponder on and every time she asks them a question she answers it. She indicates the talent and potential that could be implemented if we simply use our skills. However, if we hone our abilities we have the power to turn the future into whatever we wish. She notes how many problems the world has today but shows us that we have the potential to accomplish anything. Not only was this an inspirational speech but she tapped into the audiences capacity for improvement and tells them that not only has she seen change happen before but she knows that they are capable of it.
- In Jason Fried’s speech makes an argument on how although offices are created in order for people to come and do work it isn’t the space in which the most productive work is done. He presents his findings on how the best work productivity is never done in the office because there is never enough time to create new ideas or complete tasks well. He provides evidence on this and explains how he asked a group of people where they get the most work done and they all either said at home, in an airplane or even at a coffeeshop but none of them said at work. He compares trying to complete a full day of work to being interrupted in the middle of sleep, you cannot fully complete the task if you are always being stopped halfway. I find it very interesting that he presents this question and then he provides 3 tactics on how to avoid these interruptions and increase productivity within each office.
Writing and organizational cultures
Mikayla, I also found Fried’s rhetorical style or “tactics” as you described them very interesting. The point that resonated with me the most was when he described work basically as an equal equivalent to sleep. For us to be able to progress to the later, deeper stages of sleep (and gain its benefits), we first and foremost require uninterrupted distractions. The same principle, Fried draws out, applies with working. Meaning, in order to get to that deep level of productivity all companies desire, we have to realize and limit any interferences that stop us from doing so. Following this logistical narration with his ‘look at it this way’ approach makes the argument relatable and hard to discredit.
Analogies can be a hugely valuable rhetorical technique–helping us to understand something complex/abstract by connecting it to something more concrete that we already understand pretty well.
Fried’s Ted Talk hit me like a ton of bricks. I basically spend my days on conference calls from 8:30/9 in the morning until 5 pm every evening. This means that making a choice as to whether to spend those hours dialed into meetings actively engaged, or attempt to multi-task. Some days I’m more successful at multi-tasking than others. Ultimately it means a lot of time spent after hours catching up on email etc..
As I watched Fried’s talk, I began to suspect that someone from the senior leadership team at my company must have seen the talk as well. About a year ago, the SVP decided to implement a “meeting-free zone” each Friday. Lasting 90 minutes from 10AM ET to 11:30 ET, it’s meant to provide us with the time needed to wrap up on the week’s work and get us ready for what’s to come the following week. This proved so popular, that we’ve now rolled out a monthly “meeting-free day”. I can’t overstate how awesome this is! A whole day where I can take training, catch up on email, clean out my inbox, research solutions, etc. I love it! That’s why I was so surprised to hear someone refer to it as “dictatorial” during the latest all-hands meeting. Seems that someone wasn’t thrilled with the idea that they were meant to not scheduled meetings during that time-slot. To each their own I suppose!
Interesting to hear your experience, Mike–there’s definitely such a thing as Zoom fatigue, but the multi-tasking exhaustion (and the need for blocks of focused work time) is a very real concern, as well.