Yesterday I read a very clear and succinct excerpt from this book, given as a reading assignment by an earth sciences professor. For me the ABT approach cut through all the communications theory I was given over a 22-year long USAF career that included an associates degree in communications, numerous undergraduate college courses, and several military leadership schools–all of which only helped me to become no better than an average communicator.
AND these programs were correct in what they taught, BUT the approach was almost cookie cutter and as a result I could not grow much beyond the basics. I certainly did not understand how to build a narrative for my work. In this book, Colson presents the ABT framework. ABT is an acronym that means AND, BUT, and THEREFORE. It is the method he selected to prevent boredom and confusion, and to “activate the narrative part of the brain.”
The ABT method builds a narrative by sharing a situation (AND), showing a conflict or a problem with the situation (BUT), then promoting a solution to the problem (THEREFORE). As an illustration, Olson analyzes Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address on pages 106-108 to show that Lincoln’s speech conformed with ABT.
The result of Lincoln’s narrative is that hardly anyone knows who the featured orator was at Gettysburg (not Lincoln), or what he said; however, Lincoln’s Address has become of the most important pieces of prose every written. THEREFORE if ABT can be used to frame Lincoln’s speech in simplistic terms to show why he was so successful, perhaps I need to give the ABT approach a shot…