During a Black History Month speech, Attorney General Eric Holder said that when it comes to racial issues, America is "essentially a nation of cowards." This is certainly not a perspective that the public or white America might have held, much less articulated. Furthermore, I suspect that though many in Black America agree with the statement, it's language that few Blacks have entertained.
The conversational strategy.
For the sake of this blog, I'm not interested in the substance of his speech--whether his statement is true or false. Instead, I want to look at the underlying conversational strategy. The strategy--in a more moderate form--is very useful for business issues.
One of my clients, who now understands that all productive conversation is strategic, recently commented that the members of her firm would be surprised to learn that nearly all talk has an underlying strategy--or process. However, if you had gone to my high school, you would recognize at least one simple conversational strategy--introductions. We were taught how to introduce one person to another--a man to a woman, or a young person to a much older person. As a high schooler, these strategies were new to me--and based on situations I've observed, most adults are unaware of them today.
We were given the exact language and strategy. "Mary, I'd like you to meet John." It's inappropriate to say, "John, I'd like you to meet Mary." The strategy responds to gender. Still further, the correct approach between elders and youngers goes like this: "Dr. Adams, I'd like you to meet my son John."
Sixty years after my high school speech class, you may chuckle. But today, we understand at a still deeper level that all talk--all conversation--is strategic. We understand that though conversation is an art, it is also a technology.
The research.
Holder's statement is an exaggerated example of conversational strategy that has been studied numerous times. Experimental research has demonstrated that a unique opinion offered to a group stimulates more innovative solutions to a problem. Evidently, just hearing a very different perspective challenges the mindset of those that hold a uniform or majority opinion.
Talk radio has made it very, very clear that Holder's statement deeply challenges the majority opinion. It was no surprise that Rush Limbaugh called his remark, "inexcusable."
In a well-managed business process (not Holder vs. Limbaugh), a different perspective fosters what's called creative abrasion--conflicts that produce energy that can be channeled into new ideas, products and services. Unique statements or questions that challenge mindsets can bring a great deal of value to the organization.
When mindsets are outdated or limiting.
In today's economy, where learning and innovation are absolute necessities, mindsets are often limiting. Learning and innovation require a challenge to outdated mindsets. Sales people often face difficult mindsets--mental models--in potential clients. For example, your firm has developed a new product for a competitive market. You engage the potential client in conversation, and she tells you that they're staying with their old firm. Why? "They have twenty years of experience." Now what do you say? That response is a turn-off. Do you just walk a way from the conversation? And lose the sale? The research offers a real key to future success.
In most settings when you ask permission to "get more insight into . . . " or "talk about. . . ," you'll get an opportunity to take the conversation further. And, if you can ask questions that present a different perspective on the issue of experience, you may have a sales opportunity. Here are a few at the simple level: "When you use the word experience, what are you referring to?" "What specifically does experience offer you and your firm?" Or, an even more direct, "why is experience so very important to you?" Looking at these questions in print doesn't grab you. But just try them on face-to-face with a client and you'll see the eyes raise, the attention focus and the client's gray matter whirling. The potential client didn't expect those questions--and now you have a situation that has become a learning opportunity--for both of you.
Is this gutsy?
Because of social insecurity or fear, most business people are liable to avoid situations like this. BIG MISTAKE! In a sales setting, what you really want is to understand the client's values. You want to understand what's beneath his/her desire for experience? You want to know what the client thinks experience brings to the party. Accessing those deep-rooted commitments will always require courage. The language of experience is familiar, recurring and deeply lodged in most people's mind. Its sacredness makes it a perfect mindset to challenge. And even if the potential client rejects your overtures, the questions and insights have set him/her up for future interactions. He/she will never be able to think about experience in the same way again.
Based on the questioning that I've done, my conclusion is that experience often means very little. Does the person have 20 years of growth and expertise, or merely one year of expertise multipled twenty times? What's the quality of that experience? How well thought out is a client's perspective on experience. These questions often reveal experience as an overstated shibboleth.
Furthermore, I know two very important negatives about experience that mitigate its supposed values.
Research demonstrates clearly that most people stop learning after they gain competency in their field of business--usually four to six years after college graduation. They learn little to nothing after that. So if a client tells me his vendor has 20 years of experience, I'm dubious about the quality of that experience. I want to know why the potential client has stuck with a vendor for years and years. I suspect that it's a lot more than a vendor's experience that's gluing the two together. And if I can identify the glue, it's quite possible I can make a better contribution to that potential client's need.
Second, I know that people with a lot of experience are often close-minded, unaware of changes in the field, and tend to ignore situational differences. If your architectural firm has built 35 firehouses over the past twenty years--using two or three different models--your firm is liable to use the same two or three models for their future business. The failure to upgrade one's ideas, innovate and adapt to the new client is palpable. That frustrating consistency of those with deep experience has brought General Motors and Chrysler to their knees--perhaps to bankruptcy. Rather than being valuable, successful experience often creates blinders.
This same questioning process makes for awesome learning, creativity and innovation. Admittedly, it's spooky and scary to use effective questions. Yet, without such questioning, the status quo turns to concrete. And remember, "status quo" is Latin for the mess we're in.