The Conflict Loop
Page 16 Imagery Thursday
I can’t take credit for this idea although I’ve evolved it over the years for the conflict communications arena. The idea came from a former colleague of mine who, prior to coming into the private sector, was a combat Marine and then spent time as a hostage negotiator with the NYPD. Needless to say, he had been exposed to his fair share of conflict.
As indicated in the drawing above, the infinity-symbol-looking loop contains a square, a triangle and a star. The square to the left indicates something that you are presenting. This might be a fix that you’re trying to communicate to an angry customer or a value proposition you’re trying to convey to a potential investor.
The triangle to the right is the audience that you’re presenting to…the angry customer or the potential investor.
In the middle, is a star. You get to be the star.
Grab something to write with and something to write on. Draw the symbol with the square, triangle and star, then start tracing the symbol with your writing utensil. Trace the left loop, then through the star, then through the right loop, then through the star and so on. Keep tracing. As you continue to trace, what do you notice? Depending on the size of your star in the middle, you may have noticed that the star has either partially disappeared (been covered up) or has disappeared completely.
The point is this: in work situations, don’t make it about you. Unless you are a malicious person with evil EQ, you probably didn’t cause the system to crash. On the other side of the coin, that nice little Series A infusion you just received was probably the work of a team. Generally, VC’s don’t invest in individuals even if they are brighter than red giants.
Convey the message (square) to the audience (triangle) and don’t make it about you (star).