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On the road with Marco Polo

Laurence Bergreen’s new book is, as one would hope about someone as enterprising as Marco Polo, a page-turner. Marco’s 24-year journey from Venice to China set the bar for adventure that has fired imaginations for over 750 years.

While in China, Marco befriended Kublai Khan (gandson of Genghis and just as feared), and was employed as a diplomat and spy on numerous adventures on behalf of the Khan. As Marco prepared to return to his home in Venice, Kublai asked him whether he would repeat the same tales that he had told the court. Marco’s response is insightful.

“I speak and speak, but the listener retains only the words he is expecting. The description of the world to which you lend a benevolent ear in one thing; the description that will go the rounds of…gondoliers on the street outside my home the day of my return is another; and yet another, that which I might dictate late in life [to a] writer of adventure stories.

“It is not the voice that commands the story: it is the ear.”

Much in marketing is made of finding the right words or the right “voice” to tell a product or service story. Yet it is in the ear and mind of the listener where the story is created and validated and given meaning. Much more in marketing should be made of listening and understanding how our words are received.