I met a new client a couple of weeks ago. We spent time over dinner discussing his company and their strategy for diversification and expansion. The guy is sharp, and the opportunity he unearthed is strong. All the prerequisites for success are there: current customers are clamoring for the solution (it save them major money), there’s an un-served and significant market demand, minimal investment is required and there’s a ‘sky’s the limit’ upside.
He hired me to help him communicate that strategy to his board and fellow executives. The next morning we met to dig into the story. It didn’t take long before we were both drawing pictures on the white board, talking all over each other, passionate and excited about the opportunity, about telling his story clearly so everyone could see the opportunity. It really wasn’t that hard, really.
He was wowed by my ‘quick uptake’ and what he viewed as ‘expert’ suggestions. I thought it was plain ole business sense. By the end of the session, we had the fundamentals of the story down pat. Yes, it was and is compelling.
So why was I able to capture that story so quickly when he’d struggled for weeks, even months? I’d like to say it’s because of my brilliance, but that’s not true. My experience did help – all that practice does payoff after all.
I brought one really helpful thing to the table: Objectivity.
I didn’t do or say or create anything my client didn’t already know. After all, he’s the one that gave me all the fodder for the story.
The difference was my objectivity. He’d lived and breathed his business and strategy for a couple of years. He knew it inside and out. So much so that he couldn’t see the story anymore. He was mired in the details, in everything he knew that others didn’t – at least not yet. Being objective, I was able to elevate the key points, and downplay the details that were distractions.
Objectivity is a beautiful thing. This is just one example. We all can think of more – from the way we read emails to what we hear in other people’s statements. Unfortunately, all too often we lose the very objectivity that helps us create business value. We simply get too close.
At the risk of sounding self-serving, objectivity is one of the best reasons to ask for an outside opinion. We are, after all, human. As we begin a new project we start out passionately objective. But then we dive deeper, gather knowledge and fall into a subjective state of the ‘known’. We listen less and finish sentences more, assured of our course. It happens to all of us; at some point we lose that objective edge. As I said before, it’s part of being human.
Seek out the objections to be more objective.You don’t have to hire a consultant. Go chat with an associate. Test your thoughts with a client who is known to be ‘cantankerous’. Sometimes I play a game of ‘Stump the Chump’ with my clients – asking them off-the-wall and pointed questions, poking holes in their strategies. More often we reverse roles – and I play the Chump to be Stumped.We have a lot of fun, but we also find those known truths that are holding us back.
I found this quote and I think its says it all. “A creation needs not only subjectivity, but also objectivity*.”
It’s great to be a subjective expert. Just be sure to keep checking in with your objective self along the way.
* Stephen Chow
