One of the great freedoms of being an American is our right to self-determination.  Sometimes those freedoms lead to poor decision making such as choosing not to wear a seatbelt or walking through poison ivy with shorts on.

When I was a child everyone believed in the power of vaccines. Every child in school put on a brave face, lined up and received their booster shots. There was no question, you got vaccinated to protect yourself and others.

When the polio vaccine arrived people rolled up their sleeves and gladly waited in line. Images of iron lungs were fresh in their minds.

With Covid arriving in the midst of a deeply divided country, where the pandemic not only devastated families but also drove a wedge as it was used as a political football, the timing couldn’t be worse…

Now, in late summer the Delta variant is causing more cases than ever. The unvaccinated are filling up hospitals. How do we change the minds of people who are adamant? How do we get them to change their minds and step up to help their neighbors?

One thing we can do is “listen” to what they are saying. In recent years we have stopped listening to each other.

Why is listening important?

In his book “The Catalyst” Jonah Berger shares the story of Florida’s teen anti-smoking campaign (known as the Truth campaign). After years of having one of the highest rates of teen smokers, the governor appointed Chuck Wolfe to turn the tide. Instead of blindly setting out and repeating the same unsuccessful tactics and using worn out slogans like “don’t smoke”, Wolfe decided to spend time looking at all the previous attempts.

Wolfe assembled a teen summit and laid the facts out for the teens and listened. Instead of preaching and “telling” they let the teens feel a sense of control in solving the problem. Instead of the psychological phenomenon known as “reactance”, the teens created the most successful program in history cutting teen smoking by 30,000 in a few months. Nationwide it prevented over 450,000 teens from smoking in the first four years.

The other day I asked a fellow board member of a charitable association I served with if he was vaccinated. When he said, “No” I asked him why not? He shared that a friend of a friend “has not been the same” since getting her shots. When I asked him which vaccine she received he said, “You know the one you inject…” Clearly, he has no idea what he is talking about and his reflex response proves there is a long way go.

Changing minds is a matter of laying out the facts and helping people make the best decision for their families and their communities. Telling is “anti-persuasion”, asking and listening is the opposite.

Try assembling a summit at your health department and invite everyone. Lay out the facts and listen. You may be surprised.