{"id":330,"date":"2013-05-07T19:29:43","date_gmt":"2013-05-08T02:29:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/imho.kileozier.com\/?p=330"},"modified":"2013-05-07T19:29:43","modified_gmt":"2013-05-08T02:29:43","slug":"making-your-point-versus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/imho.kileozier.com\/?p=330","title":{"rendered":"Making Your Point versus…"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"National<\/a><\/p>\n

Two, brief points to make\u2026 First, a quiz.<\/p>\n

#1. The Long View<\/strong><\/p>\n

Scenario:<\/p>\n

A few days ago, I was standing on a sidewalk in a local neighborhood, chatting with a friend and deciding where to go for dinner. As we were speaking, a police cruiser pulled up behind a vehicle that was double-parked in front of the row of restaurants where we were standing.<\/p>\n

The officer didn\u2019t do anything, just sat in his car…it looked as though he was catching up on paperwork; but, of course, I don\u2019t know for sure. After about ten minutes, as my friend and I were getting underway and crossing the street for our dinner destination, the pizza delivery guy responsible for the illegally parked vehicle exited of the pizzeria with his pizzas for delivery.<\/p>\n

As he opened the hatch of his car, the officer tapped on his horn, lightly, and said, \u201cSir, your car is parked illegally\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Question: What did the Pizza Delivery Guy do? Did he\u2026<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Say, \u201cI\u2019m sorry, officer, I didn\u2019t mean to take so much time picking up these pizzas. I won\u2019t do it, again. Thank you!\u201d …and drive away? Or, did he\u2026<\/li>\n
  2. Say, \u201cGeez man, cut me a break! I\u2019m just trying to earn a living, here, man. Why you pigs gotta harass me?\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Ready with your answer?<\/p>\n

    You got it: B. (And those were his exact words.)<\/p>\n

    Whereupon, the cop got out of his car, closed the door, leaned in through the window to grab his ticket book and began walking up the street toward the Man of the Cooling Pizzas.<\/p>\n

    My sense is that, had Delivery Guy gone for Option A, no ticket would have been written. Thus, herein lies today\u2019s metaphor. On the heels of \u201cIt\u2019s Easier to Apologize Than to Ask Permission\u201d comes \u201cWeighing the Value of Making a Point versus Realizing One\u2019s Goal.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Okay, Delivery Guy was out of line; yet, even when a point you may wish to make is valid, even when you are right, it\u2019s never a bad idea to assess and be aware of the ramifications of taking a particular stand as might affect your project, production or deadlines.<\/p>\n

    Whether it\u2019s another town, another state, another country or simply another union leader; best to keep one\u2019s eye on the overall goal when negotiating one\u2019s way to Production.<\/p>\n

    When being treated disrespectfully or condescendingly, when some bureaucrat, official or Relative of the Client is throwing weight around or simply being obstructive; remember that this is most likely not<\/i> personal…this person probably treats everyone<\/i> this way.<\/p>\n

    So, the choice is<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. To attempt to enlighten this person to the waste that negativity and obstructionism engenders, to the value of you and your team and the importance of your own priorities and deadlines…and fail. Or<\/li>\n
    2. To be aware of all those things, yourself; keep<\/i> them to yourself and find the best way to most easily navigate your path to successful production…sometimes acquiescing to what you may believe is beneath you or acceding to some requirement that seems ridiculous (I say \u201cseems,\u201d as the fact is that you may not actually have all the pertinent facts…see \u201cExploration of Assumption\u201d). After all, really, who\u2019s gonna know and what\u2019s it gonna matter? Frankly, when the bowing and scraping results in a show going up on time and coming in under budget, who\u2019s gonna care that you had an Obsequious Moment or two in insuring that success.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Fortunately, as a Westerner, I am not as culture-bound to the concept of saving face. In fact, having the sensitivity to that very powerful cultural dynamic has more than once informed my own actions in the face of what may seem Ridiculous. Giving the guy across the table the sense that he has won something can only help you, down the line. It\u2019s not personal to you; but it may be very personal to your Obstructor.<\/p>\n

      Have a slow fuse and, as I believe I\u2019ve mentioned previously, take your time in reacting or responding. Consider all variables and possible results and take the path of least resistance and best possible result.<\/p>\n

      Save the sarcasm and vitriol for the Cast Party, an illustrative anecdote in a future conference presentation, some time later. Avoid losing by Winning.<\/p>\n

      #2 Information as currency<\/strong><\/p>\n

      While I do appreciate the philosophy and fact that Information is Power, I extrapolate from that that the more people on my team in possession of that Information, the more Powerful my team becomes. So, I share.<\/p>\n

      Many a time will come when a manager, client or executive will be encountered who considers Information to only have value when only s\/he has it. There are people who withhold information until they deem you need it…usually shortly after irrevocable and costly decisions have been made that would have been made differently had said Information been made available, up front. (I know; wtf!)<\/p>\n

      Ergo, my position is generally to share as much as possible, when<\/i> it\u2019s possible. Share with your team how you are making your decisions, early on. Give them a sense of parameter, client idiosyncrasy, possible roadblocks and eventualities that may materialize down the line and they will be more trusting of your judgement when the pace ramps up and decisions have to be made and actions taken more quickly…they will be a team willing to trust, as they\u2019ve been trusted.<\/p>\n

      The added advantages to this is that<\/p>\n

        \n
      1. The way is paved for ad hoc<\/i> delegation of responsibility. An informed assistant can make better on-the-spot decisions if s\/he has the information…information there will not likely be time to communicate when delegating in situ<\/i>. And,<\/li>\n
      2. When a situation arises that calls for rapid exploration of options and concomitant decision-making; the information-sharer is more likely to be surrounded with an informed team, capable of making recommendations from disparate perspectives, thus increasing the likelihood of the best possible solution being found and implemented.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        Granted, there will always be things that need to be kept confidential or situations that would require expansive, laboriously-told backstory to catch-up. One cannot share everything<\/i>. I simply offer that it is likely more productive on several levels to eschew hoarding; share what can be shared.<\/p>\n

        Imho.<\/p>\n

        \u201cimho\u201d is also the title of the free eBook, available for iPad (not iPhone, sorry) from the Apple iBooks Store, containing the first 20 posts of this blog and the foundational bases for the methodologies and approaches to creating compelling experience that are cited and applied throughout this blog.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        Two, brief points to make\u2026 First, a quiz. #1. The Long View Scenario: A few days ago, I was standing on a sidewalk in a local neighborhood, chatting with a friend and deciding where to go for dinner. As we … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2oSuI-5k","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/imho.kileozier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/imho.kileozier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/imho.kileozier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imho.kileozier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imho.kileozier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=330"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/imho.kileozier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":332,"href":"https:\/\/imho.kileozier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330\/revisions\/332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/imho.kileozier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imho.kileozier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imho.kileozier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}