Leaders amplify their message through the media. Sound bites have the potential of conveying a message that can speak to the latent needs of an audience and mobilize support for the leader. Frequently, a charismatic leader’s message is reduced to a slogan or truncated to a rallying call. I remember when Jesse Jackson announced his candidacy for the President of the United States with the catchphrase, “We’re going from the poor house to the White House”. In the historic election of Barack Obama, his watchword that stirred a whole nation was “Change We Can Believe In.” His answer to all the doubts and cynicism was a confident “Yes We Can,” a well repeated battle cry. When the nation believed Obama with their votes, the newly elected President responded in his acceptance speech, “Change has come to America.” All the sound bites were but signatures of a message meaningful to voters who believed and responded in action.

Winston Churchill asserted that the difference between mere management and leadership is communication. Effective communication is the ability to exert influence through social media. More often than not, the message is encapsulated in attention grabbing phrases. These sound bites are short, catchy sayings that are developed as headlines or fleeting news clips. Like advertising, sound bites are disdained in certain quarters as “symptomatic of a superficial approach to life, wanting information like fast food, taking it in quickly without substance… Truncated communication is not authentic; it is devoid of any evidence of reflection or consideration of its impact on the listener.” Unfortunately, that is to underestimate the persuasive power of sound bites. Just because bad messages are communicated does not make the vehicle of communication evil. We must not throw the baby out with the bath water.

Sound bites can provide an instant recall of a set of ideas or feelings. What makes sound bites effective is a shared context. When the contexts of the speaker and the audience are shared, the most effective communication takes place. In such situations, sound bites work best by creating a link to the shared meaning without the need to repeat the context. It becomes a signature, or a representation of a bigger, meaningful message, a larger context, and a purposeful cause. The catchy phrases carry the power of meaningful symbols.

Symbols contain both cognitive and emotive components. Both are required for action, which is what leaders hope to achieve. Leaders recognize that while ideas are critical, we can be slaves to ideas when they do not change reality for the better. Agreement with information does not make life any different, no matter how committed we are to the ideas. Changing reality requires a passion that leads to action. Ideas have consequences only when those notions are translated into deeds. When both the cognitive and emotive come together in a powerful symbol, they inspire revolutionary actions that lead to the transformation of societies. While the mind looks for evidence, the heart looks for passion. While the mind weighs the facts, the heart acts on faith and takes risks. While the mind looks for purpose, the heart seeks meaning. Symbolic sound bites that arise from a shared context of a deep desire for something different and better are powerfully persuasive in changing reality.

Jesus was a master of symbolic catchphrases. In a discussion on miracles, when the people pointed to God’s provision of manna in the desert to their forefathers, Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life”. The context made His declaration clear. Jesus meant to focus on Himself when He underscored: I, even I, can satisfy the deepest human hungers. If people acted on His promise, “he who comes to Me will never go hungry, and he who believes in Me will never be thirsty” – the consequence of acting on a sound bite promise based on a shared context is exponentially fulfilling! At the funeral of Lazarus, Jesus told the deceased’s sister, Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life.” Jesus spells out the result if a person believes His promise: “He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in Me will never die.” His challenge to Martha was “Do you believe this?” This was not just a pretty idea, or an oratorical ornamentation. This was an actionable proposition with real consequences.

Sound bites are powerful vehicles that befit only potent and critical messages. We denigrate sound bites because there are very few worthy messages whose contexts are vital and shared. Truth, especially eternal truth, is a message worthy of a powerful vehicle. Because truth liberates and transforms life, we need the urgency of a slogan that captures our attention and imagination. Because truth urges responsive action, we need clear and terse instructions that do not perform verbal gymnastics. Because the difference is between life and death, we need the compulsion of urgency. All of those can be captured in the symbol and signature of sound bites.

Now that Barack Obama has been elected the 44th President of the United States, the world waits with bated breath to see if he can deliver on all he has promised. There is no guarantee he has the ability to deliver. In any case, there will be those who will be disappointed. We hope there will not be too many of them. But with Jesus, there is absolute certainty He will fulfill all He has promised. Should God’s people then not be even more creative in coding His message in sound bites that grab attention, stab the conscience, spell the consequence, and compel action?

References:
Moore, Thomas. Care of the Soul. NY: HarperCollins Publishers, 1994.
John 6:35
John 11:25
John 11:25-26

Peter Chao is the Founder-President of Eagles Communications.

The New International Version of the Bible has been referenced.