John Marshall Roberts' "A Persuasion Manual for Visionaries" is more than just a smart, funny book on communication - it's a call to arms, says reviewer Andy Mannle.

In Igniting Inspiration: A Persuasion Manual for Visionaries, John Marshall Roberts draws on a sophisticated, highly practical framework of basic human archetypes to describe what inspiration is, how it works in all of us, and how to design effective, authentic communication strategies for these different audiences. This book is not only very thought provoking, it's also chock full of practical ideas for both generating and evaluating messages. You'll start to see your friends in a whole new light, look at commercials in a new way, and gain a new understanding of what's really going on beneath all that political rhetoric.

Roberts disputes the common communication flaws that plague mass media, depicting people as largely all the same, alternately appealing to our shallowest desires and deepest fears:

"We rarely design media that respects our audience as a group of complex, multi-dimensional, spiritual beings with the same deep hopes, dreams, and problems as ourselves."

Perhaps that's because designing authentic, inspiring messages for diverse, complex audiences is much harder than simply cranking out pretty pictures, and catchy slogans. But what if we could understand what inspiration is and use it as a tool?

In Part I of the book, Roberts discusses how all people are alike. In the chapter "The Anatomy of Inspiration" he outlines our sensory, mental, and spiritual dimensions, and shows how real transformation is achieved by leveraging the energy of these three aspects of ourselves. In the next two chapters he shows how to engage the filter's we all carry around at each of these levels. To capture an audience's attention through the senses. Keep them interested by occupying the mind with compelling stories, resonant metaphors, or framing the situation in a unique way. If you want to impress an audience, there are plenty of tools here.

But true inspiration comes from a realm beyond thought. To overcome an audience's spiritual filter, to transport them, you have to appeal to their deeper nature, their larger selves. And you have to do it from a place of absolute authenticity. As audiences become more savvy, they become less tolerant of inauthentic, manipulative messaging, and communicators must keep up.

The good news is that once you've peeled away all those filters, what's left is inspiration. It's in all of us. Ever been entranced by a baby? Moved by a piece of music? Had a conversation that lasted hours, fallen in love, connected with a stranger in crisis?

"These are just a few faces of inspiration. It's infinite in fact, it's the literal experience of infinity, of that unbounded spiritual dimension that each of us carries innate…Is it hard to imagine that you could incorporate this kind of experience into your everyday life as a duty-bound adult? Yes, perhaps-but that doesn't mean it's impossible. Not only is it possible, but it's necessary and it's inevitable.

When Roberts says it you believe it because it make so much sense, but also because you want to believe it. It's a great example of exactly the type of inspiration he's talking about, of course and the kind of trick that makes the book such a fun read.

We live in a mind-blowing time where a critical mass of people are becoming disenchanted with old ways and are actively seeking new ways for living....We seem to be craving something deeper and more sustainable, not just in terms of our outer environment, but also our inner environments.

After demonstrating how inspiration works in all of us, Roberts turns to what he calls "an updated map of human nature" to show how we meaningfully differ.

Drawing on mythic archetypes and developmental psychology, Roberts describes eight ways of being human. As a former jazz drummer, he calls these “musical notes on the scale of human experience. Wonder what people see in Sarah Palin? Wish you could captivate an audience like Barack Obama?

Roberts' description of the emergence of human consciousness gives you an amazingly simple, yet very practical way of understanding of how people think, which values they cherish, and the metaphors they live by. These thinking systems advance through tribalism and heroism to absolutism, individualism, humanism, and systems thinking.

Each one is identified with a color, so that Absolutist Blue is blue-collar, Ronald Reagan, and the religious right; while Individualist Orange is Donald Trump, survival of the fittest, and agnostic. Most inspiring though, is his description of how the global challenges we face, and the global tools and technologies we are using to solve them are spurring humanity to a new level of consciousness.

Mass emergence of the systemic/yellow thinking system is the ongoing breakthrough of our times, says Roberts. Think the sustainability movement, cultural creatives, yoga, organic everything, Google, Richard Branson, and yes, Barack Obama.

This new thinking system is our greatest tool for creating new, inspired communication systems and leadership platforms that can move us out of collective global deadlock and towards a future where hope is celebrated.

If this sounds like the 2008 election, it is. The reason this book is so important right now because it describes exactly what's happening in our time.

Inspiration. Hope. Change. These are not just campaign slogans. They are signs that society is undergoing a massive shift, and John Marshall Roberts has given us a powerful tool for bringing it on.

__________

Andy Mannle is senior editor of Arcwire.org, a site dedicated to sustainable policy, innovations, and solutions. He also serves as a communications consultant for a variety of green businesses, media outlets, and environmental organizations.