can you learn how to presude?

Photo by Neuibe

A few days ago I finished reading “The 7 triggers to yes – the new science behind influencing people’s decisions” by Russell H. Granger  (you can check out the book’s site here). In the last few weeks, I hit the jackpot with all the books I read and recommended them here on this blog. Unfortunately, with this book, I can’t do that. Well, it is not that it is a bad book. I just think it will be helpful to specific people.  I guess this needs a little pit of explaining…

I bought this book because its title and description led me to believe that I will learn a lot about the science behind people’s decisions. Lately, I have been reading some fascinating books about this subject (like the amazing “YES!” and Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman’s book (with co-authors) “Rationality, Fairness, Happiness”) and I wanted to know more about it. What I discovered, is that the book doesn’t actually describe the science behind people’s decisions. It only explains that there is science. If you compare this book to “YES!” which actually describes many of the experiments behind the rules for persuasion, than you discover that this book only promises explanations, but does not supply them.

Like previous books I wrote about here, this book tries to break the conventional wisdom that great arguments persuade.  To put it in general terms the book main thesis is that most of time, most of the people, don’t make decisions which are based on their intellect but make decisions based on their emotions, and then, justify them with their intellect. So, if you want to persuade, you need to use people’s emotions and not apply to their logic. The main idea in the books id derived from a statement by Dr. Richard Restak, Neuropsychologist and author of “The Secret Life of the Brain“, saying: “We are not thinking machines – we are feeling machines that think“.  The book claims, that by understanding this concept (which is based on brain research which is described shortly) and by using 7 triggers (Friendship, Authority, Consistency, Reciprocity, Contrast, Reason Why and Hope), you can become a master persuader.

The reason I cannot recommended this book to everybody is that it tries to convince the reader that anybody can be a master persuader by following the process described in the book using the 7 triggers. I was not persuaded. I just don’t believe that everybody can learn to excel at anything. I believe, like Marcus Buckingham claims in his book, “First, breaking all the rules” that people are different and there is a limit to what they can learn. I expected that a book based on brain research will take into account the fact that each of us develop mental pathways (that can actually be seen of on our brains) that create recurring behaviours. These behaviours are our talents or our strengths.  This means, that even if I used all the process described in the book, I will never be a master persuader.  This is due to the fact that I just don’t have the inherent ability to use these processes, because this ability requires a talent to communicate with people, to learn about them and then use this knowledge a talent I don’t have and that no matter how hard I try, I will never excel at.

The books tries to tell us that persuasion is a key component of many leaders describing people like Donald Trump, Bill Gates and Lee Iacocca who used their persuasion skills to accomplish great things. I think this just proves the opposite. These people had the basic talent to do it naturally without learning about the 7 triggers. If they had learned the the 7 triggers, they would have been able to enhance their abilities. People like me, who are not conversationalist, who find it hard to chit-chat with other people, who don’t naturally learn about other people, will never be able to use the concepts of the book.

So, it is not that you can’t learn anything from this book or that you can’t improve some of your persuasions skills and techniques after reading it. But, if you (or somebody you know) have great communication skills, which enable you to learn a lot of information about other people in short periods and are able to use it, this book can really make the difference. It will give you (or whoever you buy it for) the ideas, skills and triggers to transform from a natural good persuader, to a master persuader.

Elad

Different Perspectives

In this blog I write a lot about strengths thinking. You know, as the name of the blog suggests, and as I write in my e-book, that I a firm believer in the concept of using your comparative advantage. These are things I think about a lot and try to locate in different situations and aspects of my life.

What you can’t learn from reading this blog is that I am an enthusiastic epic fantasy reader. In almost any given time, I am in the middle of some epic fantasy book (usually a trilogy, that’s how they come in this genre).

This is why I was so thrilled to find such an accurate description of the basic ideas of   comparative advantage and strengths thinking while reading Brent weeks’ “The Way of Shadows“. Just read this bit from the book. I think any additional explanation is redundant:

“Take it this way: some people can add long lists of numbers in their heads, right? And some can speak a dozen languages. To do that, they have to be smart, right?”

“Right.”

“But just because you can learn to add lists of numbers doesn’t mean you will. But a woman who handles account books and has a gift for numbers can. Or a diplomat might have a gift for languages, but if he never learns another one, he’ll still only know one.”

Kylar nodded.

“The woman with the head for numbers could probably learn another language if she worked hard enough, but she’ll never be fluent in a dozen, and the man will never be able to add columns of numbers mentally. Do you see where this is going?”

Kylar thought, and Master Blint waited. “We know that I’m Talented but no how much, so you can’t tell what I’ll be able to do.”

 

Just Wow!

Elad

Conventional Wisdom

Photo by Kevin Hutchinson

Today I finished something that was well overdue for me. I read “First, break all the rules” by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman. As I already mentioned in this blog a few times, I am a keen reader of Buckingham’s books and I talk a lot about the strengths thinking in my e-book. So, I can’t say that I really discovered new things when I read the book. But as always, many ideas wear fine-tuned. Off course this is a book that any person that is a manager of people must read.

I think the interesting thing for me in this book was the systematic way that the book attacks the conventional wisdom. This is something that most of the books I read in the last few weeks did. “Outliers” and “Billion Dollar Lessons” are just two names that pop to my mind. All of these books show us how the commonplace thinking regarding success, excellence and human behaviour is fundamentally wrong.

“First, break all the rules” was written I 1999. Almost ten years ago. It is an international best seller. And still, the misplaced conventional wisdoms that are described in the book are commonplace. I am sure that all of you felt them at some point.

And the question that comes to my mind is: “how can that be changed?”. How can me make these conventional wisdoms become obsolete. How can we make the idea that everybody can excel in any job if they only get the right opportunity and training disappear? or the idea that if you work hard enough you can success no matter what disappear? These two ideas represent a romantic but false stories should be changed. But they don’t.  Because these stories are so fundamental and are so intertwined into our thinking they affect decisions and polices. And when your basic assumptions are wrong, the chances that you will make the right decisions seriously drop. And we still can’t change them.

There is a dire need to create education systems which will eradicate all these wrong notions and that will create, over time, new conventional wisdoms, ones that work. I am not sure our current education systems are up to the challenge. In three weeks I will be starting an MBA course at AGSM. I am quite sure that these conventional wisdoms will be the curriculum. But I am more afraid there will be more misplaced conventional wisdoms that I will be taught and I will never know they are wrong.

Elad

Outliers

Photo by shashiBellamkonda

 A few days ago I finished reading “Outliers” by Malcolm Gladwell. Usually, the day I finish a book is the day I start to write (and usually publish) something about it in my blog. But this book was so overwhelmingly new and interesting that I guess it took me a few days to digest everything. I am still doing it.

I really don’t want to ruin it for you, because no matter what your field is, this one is a must read. And if you are in business or education and/or are parents to young children, you should do everything you can to read it.

The main thesis of the book is that the way we measure success is totally wrong. Gladwell tries to explain that the glorified story of the man (or woman) that came from nowhere and did it on his own is false. We are actually deriving the wrong lessons from these stories.  Great successes are usually a result of two things – opportunities and social legacies. Not that Gladwell is trying to say that talent or hard-work are not important for people’s success. Quite the opposite. What he tries to say is that we put too much importance on these factors and totally ignore other important factors – especially, opportunities and cultural heritage.

As usual, just a number of my thoughts after reading:

1. Education – It is amazing to learn how much our education systems are a result of old habits and inertia. I already mentioned here that I think schools are not doing enough in order to tap into the strengths of students. What I discovered after reading the book is that in the US and it is the same in Israel, the education system is built in a way that actually hampers successes. Gladwell puts a lot of the blame for the failure of these systems on the long vacations. I humbly agree and think that the stories in the book illustrate that our schools are teaching our kids the wrong process (and something I had as hunch turned out to be true after reading the book – check out my post in Hebrew – the effect the home environment has on our education is profound). But it is more than that. Our education systems is so focused on developing analytical thinking (OR IQ) that they neglect to teach the kids practical intelligence (or what some call EQ) – how to communicate, how to speak to authority, how to imagine, how to speak publicly, how our day to day economies work (Hebrew link) and much much more. In Israel and in Australia there are worries these days about the scores of children in the Standardized tests. I think the problems lie much deeper.
2. Are you recruiting only from the best schools? – One of the messages in the book is that you don’t have to be the smartest in order to succussed. You just have to be smart enough. In contrary to what we think, Harvard and Yale graduates, even though they are much smarter IQ wise, don’t succussed more than graduates off other good and sometimes even mediocre schools. I think that coming from a university which is not the best in Israel I can vouch for that. My friends, most of which were not able to get into the good faculties (because of money or just childhood neglect of their studies) are doing just a good as any group form any university, and even more so. What does that say for business recruitment? Where should the hireling come from? How much should a company insist on recruiting from the best schools? Maybe a better strategy is to find the people that are just smart enough, but have better complimentary skills, including people skills, in order to really succeed.
3. Processes – If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know I am firm believer in processes. One of the chapters of my e-book is dedicated to the importance of processes. The book just reaffirms my view. I think one of the most powerful chapters in the book is the chapter where Gladwell explains why ignoring the cultural differences and heritages intertwined into people behaviour is so dangerous that it can actually make plains crush. We don’t all work the same and it is important to understand that people from different countries act differently just because they are from a different country. The example is of Korean air which was one the most dangerous air companies until it acknowledged that only by making their pilots act in opposite to their culture will improve the rate of its air collisions. The ways to achieve that are by creating processes that hinder the effects of these cultural heritages. The same is true about creating greater pools of talent. One amazing example in the book is that all the best hockey players in Canada were born between January and March. All of them. By recognizing this pattern and creating a process that will give a chance to more talent, we can actually quadruple the talent pool. It is all in the process.
4. Don’t be too polite. We are different – One last thing. Next month I will be starting an MBA program. This MBA gathers people from more the 40 nationalities. My intuitive, polite, politicly correct approach was to treat them all the same. Now, because of the book, I am thinking a little differently. What are the cultural heritages these people bring with them to the table? This is something that should be discussed. If someone is giving an example from his/her country, shouldn’t it be analysed taking into account the characteristics/cultural heritage of that country. Carefully, politely, but it should be on the table. Not only of individual people different, but the world’s peoples are different and we should recognize it.

 Elad

Connecting Ideas

Photo by seier+seier+seier

Seth Godin writes in his blog today about the problems of selling ideas. His claim, In short, is that selling ideas is a different skill than coming up with them. Most importantly, as he puts it:

The quality of ideas is not a factor in whether or not you will be in a position to have a chance to sell those ideas

Seth advice to those who are not able to sell their ideas is to blog abut them so they can have bragging rights later.

That made me think, in our age, of conceptual economy, where everything is free and we need to look for ways to sell things that are free, shouldn’t  there be people who are proficient  idea sellers? It is just a “comparative advantage” thinking or a “partnership thinking” or a “strengths” thinking.

If I have the idea but don’t know how to sell it, I do need to find someone to sell it for me. Someone who, like Godin puts it: “invest heavily in the skills and status to do that”.

If there are so many ideas out there looking to be connected, should there be a market for it?

Elad

Back to the future

Photo by aussiegall

Times are tough and many leaders need to make hard decisions. The main thing leaders are supposed to do is to worry about the future. The long term future. In our short term run world this is a very hard thing to do. Off course, real leaders are tested in hard times and not in good ones. So these times create great example of leadership style and behavior. The question is whether your leadership these days is affected by short or long term thinking.

Our political and economical leaders are facing hard issues that will be put down in history and might shape the future of the world for the next five, ten, twenty or years. There are many demands and there is an abundance of pressure to take certain measures like bailouts and incentive plans.  I am not an expert on these subjects, though some of the bailouts (like that of the car industry), just sounds plain wrong. I expect our leaders to do what is right in the long run and not what the public opinion demands due to panic. Every economist will tell you that most of the economic problems (including the one were facing today) start when our leaders give in to political and public pressure and act while thinking about the next election instead of the next 20 years.

I think that more interesting is the fact that every day, leaders of smaller magnitudes are also forced to make thousands of decisions that influence their teams and companies. These decisions are not always as public or scrutinized like those of the big politicians, but nevertheless will have enormous effects on some people lives.

Two examples I run into today:

The first concerns AIG incentive program which suffered real criticism lately. The critics asks how can the company spend an average of 5,000 $ on travel awards for independent agents when it is in the middle of a bailout program? Let’s say you are the man in charge of this program. As a leader you can look at this popular criticism which is derived of panic and ignores the fact that not only this program is very in line with what most companies spend on their grand travel awards for top performers, but it will also probably generate more money than it costs, and think of the short term results – no more criticism. Or you can ignore the critics (and analysts and other public opinion) and do what is right for your business.

The Second example is harder. A team leader has to explain to his team, which worked really hard for the last ten months on a project, that there their project is a part of a “let’s be fair” set of cuts that were the same 20% across the board. The question is how do you keep your team’s eyes on the larger goal that lies ahead? How do you deal with this tough call that was forced on you? I think the main thing you need to do, as a leader, is focus on the long term results. Back to the future. If you convince your team of the vision, you can lead them over the hurdle.

Elad

What can be learned from “The Ladies’ Paradise”?

Photo by Adam Baker

 ”The Ladies’ Paradise”

I just finished reading the great novel “The Ladies’ Paradise” by Émile Zola (thanks, Noaa, for the recommendation). The novel tells about 1864-1869 French Paris, and reveals the story of the transformation Paris was going through during those days, making it the fashion capital of the world. The story revolves around one mega department store that changes the way goods are sold and slowly destroys the old traditional boutiques around it. It uses a vivid description of characters in the department store, the manager, the saleswoman and the clients together with love stories and social stories to describe the area and the great changes it brought.

Time-Proof

It is so exhilarating to read a story written in 1883 (the edition I read was translated to English in 1886, which made a little bit hard to read) that describes human behaviour in such a modern way. The main thing you recognize in the story is people’s resistance to change. The small boutique owners try reluctantly to fight the new mega stores, calling it names and describing it as a thieves’ place, instead of understanding that times are changing and that they need to follow. I think that there are many places in the world, where the process described in the novel is happening right now. It is actually happening in Paris these days (Warning! Link in hebrew).

Those who does not get it

Due to globalization, progress and technology are reaching more and more places and keep changing even the farthest reaches of the world. The economy of the world is continuingly changing to Knowledge Economy and today, some might even say to Conceptual Economy. But the phenomenon the book describes is even more far-reaching. As mentioned above, the storyline focuses on the creation of mega stores using huge sales in order to make a small percentage of profit from a huge turnover thus lowering the prices and presenting goods that could never have been presented before. But the megastores are only an example for what always happens. There will always be new fashions, markets and ideas changing the world, there will always be a struggle between those who get it and those who don’t get it and try to resist. Why, this blog is a part of it. Some people just don’t understand the social media phenomena. But it is changing the world and those of us who would not join the ride would not survive.

A celebration of Capitalism

But I think that today, the importance of the book is even greater. It celebrates capitalism. When you read the book, you actually understand why capitalism will always win. When your fuel is human inventions and innovation there is nothing that can stop the machine. As you read the book, you slowly being to understand that competition is the best way to create growth and to bring prosperity to the general public. You understand that free will and the lifting of all limitations on human creativity are the only way to for us to advance as a society. Not that the novel portrays a perfect picture of capitalism. Quite the opposite. The kind of capitalism that you see in the book, and I guess was the ruling paradigm in France of that time, was without doubt cruel. Layoffs without notice. Horrible working conditions. No security whatsoever in the workplace. These are not things that I think should go back to. but that just makes you understand how human understanding of capitalism and its boundaries have evolved over time. This credit crunch will probably be another step in the evolution.

The sufferings of the owners of the old boutiques watching their life work go to waste and not being able to do anything about it is also terrible, but it is a normal part of the business evolution. All throughout the book you get the feeling that Zola is trying to tell us that they could (and today still can) be prevented (this is also true today in a much larger scale. Humans act in irrational ways).

Humans will always remain the same

In addition to the above, the book is a must for every marketer and manager. It shows great thought and skill in understanding basic needs and behaviours of people and how to use the comparative advantage of every employee to create an advantage for the firm. It celebrates talent and life wisdom, showing that even the poorest can succussed with hard work and intelligence. All of this only shows that technology and ideas might have changes, but human beings, will always be human beings. In Paris of the late 1800’s or in any other place in the world in the 21^st century people will always be different, unique and interesting.

I enjoyed the book as a novel and a business book. I recommend you read it.

Elad

Hey – do you have an idea…?

 

Photo by a_whisper_of_unremittin g_demand

A few months ago, before I knew I got accepted to an MBA in AGSM , I decided to leave my job and entered a phase where most of what I did was job interviews. Most of us know this horrible drill, and for me, due to my characteristics, it was even harder. I feel really uncomfortable in situations where there is a need for artificial conversations and when it involves new people it extra difficult for me. So interviewing for new jobs is a really hard process for me.

However, one interview actually was a great lesson. It was an interview with a company called SIT (Systematic inventive Thinking). I think the interview was different than other interviews and was conducted in a much easier atmosphere, but the reason I remember it as lesson is to the fact that my preparation for it was different. If you click on the link and visit the site you will discover a very interesting website. I spent something like an hour there before the interview learning about the company and its methods.

As I explain in my E-book, “Playing It to Excellence and Happiness in Real Life – Five Concepts I Learned by Playing Basketball, Working and just Living”, I believe in the power of processes. I think that if you find good processes and stick to them, while improving them, you can reach excellent results. What I like in the SIT method is that it treats creativity and innovation not as a “eureka moment” but at as the result of a systematic process. By limiting the creativity using a process you actually create more creativity. This resembles Malcolm Gladwell’s Idea in his speech at the New Yorker conference, “Genius: 2012″ that “13 smart guys are better than one genius in dealing with modern problems”. Today’s great ideas and solutions are the result of a process of many people working together or one after another.

The great thing about the interview and the preparation is that I actually learned (although in a limited fashion) to think with some of the tools that SIT uses: Attribute Dependency, division, multiplication, subtraction, task unification. I actually used that thinking to offer improvements for my last employer.  I keep learning to do so by following the SIT blog.

That interview got me more interested in innovation and creativity. In the past I used to think that I was not a creative man. As time passed I understood that there are many ways to be creative and that I am creative in my own way and on my own areas of strength. Now, I keep looking for processes that foster innovation. This is why when I got the book called “The impossible – Possible!” by Yarin Kimor a present before coming to Australia, I was really excited. The book is filled with great stories about innovation and especially with great processes that help foster innovation.  

One story in the book got me thinking. It tells about a man who had no training but got to be the manager of a large supermarket which was losing half a million dollar. After a few months he created a profit of 3 million dollars. When the writer of the book asked him what he did, he told him that because he knew nothing about managing a supermarket he just went into every department and asked the person working there what was his ideas to improve the place were. After that person told him that, he told him or her: “just do it”. We can find ideas and creativity in many places. When was the last time you asked your team, in unbiased way – what do you think we should change around here? You would be surprised by the answers you will receive.

Elad

On the promotion of musicians and non managerial employees

Photo by Jayel Aheram

“School of Rock”

Yesterday I was watching (again if I might add) the film “School of Rock“. It is a light and fun comedy staring Jack Black who plays the slightly past it rocker, stuck in a groove of 70s heavy metal rock and roll and refusing to move on – until his band fire him. Not sure how to pay the rent, he answers a phone call intended for his schoolteacher flatmate and accepts a job as supply teacher at a top school (although he has no teacher experience or training). Soon he has the kids not only studying the history of rock and roll, soundproofing the room and playing rock instruments, but actually competing in a major ‘Battle of the Bands’ competition.

Now, this movie is a kind of a nightmare for me. As my singing was banned by the Geneva Convention as a form of torture and I have no ability to play an instrument whatsoever (or even keep to a beat for that matter), being in a class that only deals with music would be a disaster for me. However I really liked this movie because it is an amazing example of what I talk about in my E-book, “Playing It to Excellence and Happiness in Real Life – Five Concepts I Learned by Playing Basketball, Working and just Living” – a leader-manager that uses the comparative advantage of his team. Jack’s character spends time with every student in his class finding out their strengths and tapping into them. Not only does he assign kids to play the guitar or to sing he also encourages the band members to play the song one the kids wrote. Moreover, even kids who can’t sing become part of the band as he uses their talents and strengths to do costumes, lighting and even ad the band’s manager. This is a great manifestation Marcus Buckingham’s find the Strengths concept.

Not becoming a manager

While I was watching the movie I was also reading this article by Patrick Sweeney called “It’s Not All About Becoming a Manager” (I am sure you are all impressed by my multitasking). In it, Sweeney tells about an employee of his that was promoted to be a manager and just could not take it. He was a great employee and was great at his job and the only promotion option available for him was getting to be a manager. But being a manager was just not for him. So, after a few months he wanted to quit the company. This got Sweeney thinking as he describes in his article:

It is customary for top performers to be identified as “high potential,” then placed on the fast track to management. This is considered the ultimate compliment, sending a strong message to them that they are on the right track.  But what if that employee is not cut out for managing others? Is managing others the only way to get ahead? If someone can’t manage others, is that the end of the road?

These questions are really important and as I mentioned I discuss them in my E-book. I think Sweeney explains very articulately why it is important to develop other promotion pathways for excellent employees that are just not cut out for management roles.  Although Sweeney does emphasize the advantages an organization can gain by developing such roles, I think he misses one of the more important points. When we take someone who is not only excellent at his job but is also a bad manager we lose twice. Instead of doing a great job 100% of the time, this employee now does a great job only 50% of the time and does a bad job as a manager 50% of the time. And the worst thing about it is that instead of encouraging him with a promotion, we actually got him frustrated doing things he does not like.

So, what is the connection to “School of rock”?

I got to thinking about musicians and their career paths. Musicians do not have a set promotion path by their management, they need to do it on their on. When you look at musicians, not all of them continue just performing.  But if they cant become managers, what do they do? Some of them go into producing. Some of them teach, some of them take jobs as managers of music organizations. Others consult organizations regarding music or host talk shows. A lot of ways to use their experience without actually being the manager of a musician. Musicians find their own way to promote themselves to area their feel good with what the do. Some of them just continue to perform, because that is what they are best at and where they feel best at. We should learn from them and from Sweeney’s lesson and build our organization to support non managerial promotions to continue helping the excellent professional employees to excel and get promoted in no managerial roles. Both the organizations and the employees will benefit from such programs.

Elad