positioning – From the desk of Adam Thomas

Get to the point

Let’s observe a classroom exchange between a honors student and teacher. The teacher handed the student a syllabus. On that syllabus was the grading structure.

The structure looked the same as the one used in other classes and the numbers were really small, small enough for the honor student to assume that the school had a standard with each classes rubric.

Except it didn’t, the student assumed wrong and failed the course.

The teacher is wondered why an honors student just “didn’t get it.”

There are two major problems here:

The student shouldn’t assume anything about anything.

More importantly, the teacher’s inability to get clear and to the point.

When we are asked to lead, how often do act like this teacher?

If it’s important, put it up front and center!

We know what we want, yet we try to fit it into some “usual”box to avoid proper feedback and hide. The result ends up frustrating us because people “don’t get it.”

We shy away from the point sparing ourselves but we end up throwing each other off.

Positioning matters.

The one thing I love about good political drama on TV is that it shows this clearly through the fourth wall. “House of Cards” (Netflix) is especially good in the first season for giving viewers a bird’s-eye view on how much it matters on every decision.

If you have 13 hours, take a minute to watch, and see how Francis Underwood takes advantage of every room,every negotiation, and even every sentence with how he positions himself. He does it to force the other people to react, giving him a distinct advantage.

Now, take a step back and look at the news, and how they position themselves to dispense fear, or even more dubious, companies like Wal-Mart position themselves to victimhood (like they have with the minimum wage thing)

How you get to the table matters.

We like to think that our brain is able to discern the priority of things, and that we are able to see the things that don’t matter. We don’t. In fact, the most charming of us use this to manipulate. Moving something slightly to the left, a question inflected differently, or the right smile can lead us to our doom. This isn’t an intelligence issue. It goes deeper, to our instincts, which in some situations leave us high and dry.

So pay attention

We have limited willpower. It takes energy and time to try to see through little tricks. The best defense, though, is to try to understand that it is happening, and place yourself in the safest position possible. You don’t have to manipulate, but understand that sometimes the best defense is a great offense.

Get in the right positions, learn how to read the people around you, and know that what you see isn’t always what you get.