Last week, my wife, kids and I attended a farmland tradition in Northern Ontario: a field-burning.
Grass grows tall here, and if it's left to its own course, it will thicken through the fall; flatten through the winter; and smother the new grass in the spring. By May, it's dry, but flat: too flat to harvest as hay, half-rotten, and a fire hazard.
Solution: burn it.
When you burn off an entire field at once, you create massive walls of flame too high to see over; too thick to run through; and too fast to outrun. My kids, of course, stayed at the house; my wife and I were assigned a small but critical corner near a neighbour's house. Ringed with cedar and tag alder, the fire would perform a necessary cleanup, but let out of sight for a few minutes, could quickly become very dangerous. At this heat, fires can "jump" ditches and set off tinder-dry grass across two lanes of traffic. To make things worse: the house next door belonged to the Mayor of our Township, a perennially unopposed incumbent.
The fire went well. The right stuff burned; the right stuff didn't. Then, I met the Mayor, covered with soot. I'd never met him before; I spoke to him for less than four minutes; and I'll vote for him next fall. Here's what I learned:
- If you're in the dirt, get dirtier than anyone else. It's not enough to 'pitch in' - be the last one out of the field.
- Touch everyone once. "I don't think we've met yet. I'm...." Eye contact. Good handshake. Then move on to the next. Don't linger awkwardly.
- Compliment the group on work, not result. "That was a beautiful burn. A perfect burn." That would sound phony - what the heck is a perfect burn? Instead: "That was just hard enough to make it fun."
- Make it clear that you noticed their effort. "Those tag alder could have gone up quick, eh? I saw you stamp a few out."
- Use their lexicon. If you've ever been to an Anthony Robbins seminar, he'll tell you to mirror the posture of your guest and you'll see right into their head. At a fire, it's enough to share slang. Don't be the first one to use the 'f' word, and don't be the first to talk about Jesus. Keep it in the middle.
- Add some context to your connection. "Oh, your wife is Danny's sister? I went to school with Danny...."
- Make sure you leave them with a story in common. "Did you see it when the fire trucks came? I told 'em we'd be out here!"
- Don't dominate the conversation. Just add details. "...yes, that flame must have been 20 feet high!"
- Don't tell me you're the mayor. I know.
You know the rest: make eye contact. High-five the babies. Thank the firemen. Don't be the last to leave. Vote for me in 2011....
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