Alan Weiss’s Monday Morning Memo® – 12/7/15

(Some eagle-eyed readers reminded me I meant Animal Farm last week, and not the movie “Animal House.” I trust everyone understood my point in any case! Sorry for the wrong reference.)

As we write, speak, and otherwise communicate, I thnk we have to be honest with ourselves and speak the truth, not what we think others might want to hear (the proverbial “yes men” in the workplace). If you want to be an object of interest to others, you need to be mango or peppermint, not chocolate or vanilla. We need to provoke, to stimulate, to cause others to question themselves. I've always welcomed questions and objections—even fairly hostile ones—as signs of interest in my points. It's apathy that's toxic.

A few people of the many who write me preface their comments with, “I don't always agree with you, but….” which is somewhat passive aggressive! In other words, “I'm complimenting you now, but in the past I haven't been so happy with you.” I really don't care. I'm not writing to seek agreement, I'm writing to force readers (or speaking to force audiences) to think and to challenge their own assumptions and values. If you disagree after that consideration, that's fine by me. But you don't need to tell me (or anyone else, like the six o'clock news anchor or a sports reporter). That's why I laugh when people tell me I have typos without acknowledging the content!

How are you communicating? Are you seeking affection or respect?

No one is more nonconformist than the “conventionally unconventional.”
— Peter Drucker, The Age of Discontinuity

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