The Five Spurs of Engagement is the shape of an asterisk, which in most fonts will have five points, one for each spur. The five spurs are also an acronym of Spurs: Shared, Prompt, Understanding, Response and Sensibility.

The shape itself, although an asterisk, looks like the spurs from cowboy boots, certainly something that when pressed into the skin draws a reaction!

I contend that one cannot ‘get people engaged’, but must instead change the verb from get and simply ‘engage’. We can also see what each spur motivates, and what obstacle it overcomes as a result:

  1. Things that are shared, which overcomes ambivalence,
  2. Things that prompt, which overcomes forgetfulness,
  3. Things that are understood, which overcomes confusion,
  4. Things that draw a response, which overcomes inertia
  5. Things that are sensible to engage with, which overcomes apathy.