! ! Insightful article on the dynamics of what goes on in ! the process of ! changing (and refusing to change) one's mind. ! ! <http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2005/08/i_changed_my_mi.html> ! ! ( -or- http://tinyurl.com/zppuj )
<< First person, about 20 years old, obviously a student, gets called. The next flight out (for which she has a ticket) is in ninety minutes. "Hi," I say, calmly taking $100 in cash out of my pocket. "I'll pay you $100 to take the next flight-the one you're already on-so I can take this one and make my meeting." Now, my guess is that this woman has rarely made $65 an hour to read a novel. But that's precisely what she turned down without a thought. She smiled, said no thanks and got on the plane. The next two guys to clear standby had precisely the same reaction. I didn't get on. My guess is that I could have offered $1,000 and it wouldn't have mattered. Why? >> Maybe the 20 year old girl was waiting to see her boyfriend and that was worth more than $100 and a couple of hours of extra reading to her? This is typical pish piled upon posh from know-it-all types who are so conscious of their own mental processes that they think they can read everybody else's too. I was reading this article with a lot of interest up until the point where he said he doubted the woman made $65/hr to read a book, and said that was precisely what she was turning down. How does he know what she was comparing his lousy $100 to? Maybe when he walked up with his $100 he came across as a perv trying to solicit sex, and that was her first impression; while he thought he was a veritable Regis Philben waving his Franklin with a flashy smile. << Because for an hour, the people on standby had been imagining/visualizing/praying that they'd make the earlier flight. They had fallen into the human trap of believing that mental effort can impact external events. >> Meanwhile, he had fallen into the human trap of thinking merely offering somebody cash would solve both their problem and his. I bet this guy is a liberal. ;-) << And when the thing they'd been dreaming of happened, they were sold. There was no way a short conversation with me would change their mind. Not because my offer wasn't good, or my presentation was deficient or I wasn't credible. No, because they'd already decided and they weren't open to changing their mind. >> Again, I think this guy just overrated his own offer. He seems to think that on purely rational grounds it was simply irresistable; therefore, these luddites were being irrational. I believe this is called Chronic Leafe Syndrome (CLS). << This phenomenon is absolutely critical inside your organization. There's no point whatsoever in having a meeting designed to elicit change if the attendees are insulated against changing their minds. Assuming you are surrounded by co-workers who are willing to try, it's essential you go through exercises designed to loosen up the flip muscle. >> And of course if your Seth Godin you can read everybody's mind and know beforehand whether the meeting is even worth having. Must be hard to be so omniscient. - Bob ! ! -- Ed Leafe ! -- http://leafe.com ! -- http://dabodev.com ! ! ! ! ! [excessive quoting removed by server] _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
