It gets much easier to hold a conversation, build empathy and come to a mutual agreement when we understand that every conversation can be placed on a scale of care.
Some conversation topics people may argue about if given the chance, but they don’t really care. Once we see it and understand the lack of care, we can shrug it off and move on.
Other conversations might result in a heated conversation, almost to a boiling point. Once we see that it’s because the person or group cares deeply – and we lend an ear to understand why they care, we can dig in and help out.
A great question to ask when things begin to get tense: “On a scale of 1 to 10, how much do you truly care about this?”
Stay Positive & Equally Important Is To Answer The Question Ourselves
Many a brand are shifting and reshaping their logos to designate social distancing. Audi moved apart its circles. McDonalds split its M. Volkswagen added greater separation between the V and W. And so on.
Some are authentic and some are opportunistic moves and their customers are reacting appropriately.
Which begs the question of when is it an opportunistic move and not an authentic one?
With an easy answer: It’s opportunistic when a brand has always stood still in regard to the meaning behind the change.
A brand that doesn’t talk about, try new things around, and promote beyond the healthy standards, and all the sudden they try making a message about it based on a outside trend – it’s opportunistic.
Which means, if a brand wants to leverage the opportunities in an authentic way, a brand needs to be proactive in many facets and promotional in them all.
It’s the brands that constantly push the edges of their business (all edges), that can be authentic no matter the trend they are leveraging.
Stay Positive & A Tall Order, But A Meaningful One
Chuck Close was famous for stating that amateurs wait for inspiration while the rest just show up and get to work.
At times, getting through the dip, pushing through the turmoil, and going through hell is the right path to go.
But more often than not, it’s far smarter to pull and push inspiration. (But I agree with Chuck that it’s not worth waiting for it.)
Inspiration can be pulled out of anywhere; not just ourselves. We can find inspiration from a tree or another’s piece of work or a book. Inspiration can be found by watching a neighbor do yard work or a car going 0 to 60 in three seconds.
It’s not just a matter of looking within ourselves for inspiration. It’s a matter of looking around.
And if that doesn’t work, pushing inspiration is a remarkable backup. Pushing inspiration in the sense of doing, saying, being something that will inspire others.
Give someone a book. Do yard work outside. Be someone else’s inspiration.
A person who has overstayed their welcome is not a good situation. A group that stays at a restaurant after their official closed hours is no good. A micromanager, well, micromanaging beyond when they are needed is no good, either.
While we’re good at recognizing when people linger (and doing what we can to keep them moving on their way), we’re terrible at recognizing when thoughts linger.
We bask in frustration. We sulk in our mistakes. We hang onto moments of failure or disappointment.
If we could treat the negative lingering feelings like we do people, we’ll all be better off.
