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Changing Minds. Surprising Results.
There is a story about Bill Gates at the dawn of the internet age. Bill Gates was the founder and CEO of Microsoft. Bill was convinced and stubbornly intellectually, anchored in focusing on software. His mind was recalcitrant in opening to other ideas.
Bill's executive team repeatedly evangelized the need to spend resources on the internet as a business strategy. At first, Bill stood his intellectual ground. Yet, over time his executive team robustly influenced a new intellectual direction. The team changed Bill's mind.
Looking at the history of his business, what would have happened if Bill Gates did not change his mind? Either Microsoft would have spent millions catching up or possibly become extinct.
There are times when changing your mind, changing course, or even aborting a "pet idea" would make the difference between success or failure.
To change one's mind takes courage and critical thinking. They are also thinkers who are naturally fearless warriors of intellectually redirection. The rest of us need to learn how to cause a change of mind.
Here are five strategies to change the mind of others:
- Start with outcome not just output - Think about the required outcome. Be crystal clear on what is to be accomplished, acclaimed, or possibly aborted.
- It's all a leap of faith - There is no new idea or new decision that has a 100% chance of success. All decisions are a leap of faith. Sometimes "jumping off the intellectual cliff" makes the difference.
- Think on paper - Use the Benjamin Franklin method for decision making. Take a piece of paper and draw a line in the middle. On the left side write all the positives and on the right side all the negatives. Dissect, discern, and decide from the ideas on the page.
- Ask questions of your detractors - Those that disagree with you will provide you the highest probability of getting clear ideas of the opposite side of an argument.
- Sleep on it - There is a level of thinking below conscious thinking. During sleep, the "thinking below thinking" takes over. Larry Page came up with Google's main algorithm while sleeping. Page found a topic for his dissertation in a dream. He literally woke up one night thinking he "could download the entire Web."
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"Just Listen: Discover the Secret of Getting Through to Absolutely Everyone
by Mark Goulston
One of the most respected international authors and experts on changing the mind of others is Dr. Mark Goulston. Dr. Goulston is a psychiatrist who worked as a hostage negotiator. Influencing a hostage taker to release his/her captive is an extraordinary gift and involves considerable skills.
Who do you have in your life and business that you need to influence for a change of mind from "no" to "yes. One of the secrets, according to Dr. Goulston, is to say the words the other person is thinking but not saying.
Dr. Goulston's identifies five stages of From/To journeys in the Persuasion Cycle.
Dr. Goulston also provides a list of 12 easy-to-use tools for achieving buy-in and getting through. Here are a couple of those:
One of the strategies is the "Impossibility Question." The purpose is to move someone from "yes...but" to "yes." When you encounter someone who is caught between listening and resisting, but not prepared to move to considering ask, "What's something that would be impossible to do, but if you could, would dramatically increase your success?" When the response from the other person is "I could do x, but that's impossible," your retort is "What would make it possible?"
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Leading Research -
Monkey See, Monkey Do
When monkey #1 watched monkey #2 toss a ball or eat a banana, the neurons in monkey #1 reacted as if it had tossed the ball. Scientists have nicknames these cells "monkey see, monkey do." These mirror neurons are the neurological basis for being able to get into the mind of another person. (see Just Listen, Goulston, p. 19)
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- When hiring, be open to changing your mind from your initial impression.
- One critical aspect in preventing derailment is to develop and communicate your point of view on issues, ideas, and innovative initiatives.
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COACH'S NOTE
Think Empathy!
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Solving People and Management Issues
The Heller Group focuses on coaching for senior level executives. We facilitate change within an organization that results in more effective leadership, increased productivity, innovative thinking, and improved employee morale and retention.
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Dr. Bruce Heller
Dr. Bruce Heller, founder of The Heller Group, Inc., has over 20 years experience consulting with managers and executives on executive education, leadership development, and organizational.
He is an adjunct professor at Southwestern Law School.
Dr. Heller is a consulting psychologist and member of the American Psychological Association Consulting Psychology Division. Dr. Heller holds a Ph.D. and Masters Degree in Education from the University of Southern California.
Dr. Heller is the author of The Prodigal Executive-How to Coach Executives Too Painful to Keep, Too Valuable to Fire.
Read the book.
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