Why Stir?

About five years ago,  I heard someone say they like stories that STIR them.  I immediately wrote it on my white board wall where it stayed for several years...just an idea lingering there, but one I couldn't quite put down.   That idea of STIRRING someone with a good story and what it really means.  What is that feeling-- you know when it you feel it-- when something has connected all the way through your heart and mind and soul.  It seemed like it was the condition precedent to action and engagement.   At Participant, where I was an EVP at the time, this was a critical thing with which we struggled every day.   Every film we would ask "What do we want people to do."   The answer always seemed to be an unsatisfying list after the credits of a great film.  It seemed an obvious question to ask, and indeed would seem to be the heart of a film having real impact-- lots of people doing something.   That's change, right? 

What I realized is that we were asking the wrong threshold question.    We couldn't start with "What do we want them to do."   We had to start before that, and ask something more fundamental.  The change we sought was at social scale, but that change had to start at the opposite of "scale", with one person.   One mind.   One heart.  One soul. 

To work, a great story has to engage your emotions-- you have to FEEL something before being willing to invest in the next stage.   Feeling the story fires up your curiosity and concern to KNOW more.   Then, and only then, might you be willing to DO something.   

FEEL, KNOW, DO.   To me, Stir represents the effort to do all three of those things.

Stir is also about bringing together different sectors and mixing them-- the private sector, non-profits, government, foundations, philanthropists, media.    We know that the big problems facing the world can only be addressed when all these sectors come together in some way.   

This is also about mixing up the definitions of these sectors, and we are fortunate to be in an era when old definitions are giving way to new ones, often propelled by digital innovation but also by the reality that we are collectively thinking differently about the world now.  That means that corporations like Unilever and Blackstone are including social impact as part of their strategy while foundations are looking to make social impact-driving investments.   It also means that there is an increasing awareness that telling is part of the doing-- that reaching someone with a great story about change is incredibly important and worth the investment. 

Stir means many things, all of them about change and movement and growth and collaboration and imparting energy to create something new and better.    It's a time to STIR up something great!