I\u2019ll take a wild guess and suggest that you\u2019re not necessarily trying to write the next GRAMMY-winning song. But if you lead teams and projects, you need to sell your ideas. Whether it\u2019s for your project or your career, there are approaches or ideas that you\u2019d like to see get some traction. Thompson\u2019s book outlines some intriguing ideas for your consideration.<\/p>\n
You can hear Thompson talk about the book in his own words at http:\/\/PeopleAndProjectsPodcast.com\/166<\/a><\/p>\n Here\u2019s an appetizer of ideas that project managers and leaders at all levels can sample from Thompson’s book.<\/p>\n First, when it comes to trying to sell an idea, Thompson suggests you follow the MAYA Rule. MAYA stands for Most Advanced Yet Acceptable. You may not recognize the name Raymond Loewy<\/a>, but you\u2019ve been influenced by him more than you know. He\u2019s the father of modern industrial design, and Cosmopolitan <\/em>magazine wrote back in 1950 that Loewy \u201chas probably affected the daily life of more Americans than any man of his time.\u201d<\/p>\n Loewy\u2019s philosophy? Stretch the boundaries of something to make it new, yet keep it just familiar enough to be acceptable. Too much innovation before its time and it won\u2019t be accepted. Too familiar and it won\u2019t get noticed or catch on.<\/p>\n MAYA was his answer. What\u2019s the lesson for us? If the idea you\u2019re trying to get approved is rather radical\u2014perhaps edging towards Most Advanced and Barely Acceptable\u2014try to anchor your message with the familiar. Seek to show how this new idea is similar to something they already know. If you\u2019re trying to get approval for something more on the familiar side, do the opposite. Seek to highlight what\u2019s new.<\/p>\n Sometimes we try to ask for too much, or strive to change too much, too quickly\u2014it\u2019s beyond the Yet Acceptable<\/em> threshold. Keep MAYA and Thompson\u2019s related advice in mind as you try to influence in the days ahead.<\/p>\n When an idea is easy to assimilate, it\u2019s fluent. Thompson finds \u201cfluent ideas and products are processed faster and they make us feel better, not just about ideas and products we confront, but also about ourselves. Most people generally prefer ideas that we already agree with, images that are easy to discern, stories that are easy to relate to, and puzzles that are easy to solve.\u201d<\/p>\n Disfluency is the opposite. It requires hard thinking. It\u2019s dissonant. And it may keep our ideas from catching on.<\/p>\n There are countless applications for us as leaders of teams and projects. Take an email to our stakeholders, for example. How can we make it as fluent as possible, which is to say, how can we make it as easy as possible for them to understand what we\u2019re trying to communicate?<\/p>\n I teach an MBA class on project management and one of the assignments is a 2-page paper. One of my students submitted a paper where the initial paragraph was a page and a half! One paragraph! Opening that document was like opening a door to find a brick wall instead of a doorway! It screamed \u201cDon\u2019t read me!\u201d \u201cI don\u2019t know what I\u2019m talking about!\u201d It dripped with disfluency!<\/p>\n We can cause disfluency by using jargon or not appreciating cultural influences. In a rush to send a message, we leave out critical aspects of our idea that leave the receiver without the necessary context.<\/p>\n Before you send that next message, remember to seek fluency instead of disfluency.<\/p>\n Whether you recognize the term or not, you\u2019ll recognize the effect. Homophily is our tendency to sort ourselves into tribes (or, as Thompson prefers, \u201cmini cults\u201d). Homophily is impacting how we get our news, with whom we go to lunch most days, and how we build our networks of relationships.<\/p>\n Especially in this time of increasing polarization, I encourage you to intentionally fight back by seeking out people who think differently from you, who have different perspectives or even worldviews than you. Homophily will try to get in your way. Push through.<\/p>\n The dirty little secret of business is that everything comes down to relationships. Thompson provides insights and examples of how the success of your ideas, your career, and your projects could depend far more than you realize on who\u2019s in your Top 5 relationships.<\/p>\n Go deeper into the organization, beyond your particular domain or area\u2014even outside your industry. If you\u2019re a project manager, take advantage of joining your local PMI chapter and take the time to get to know people who are leaders there.<\/p>\n Building a strong Top 5 is not brown-nosing or simply self-seeking. It\u2019s just a great way to build your ability to make a difference, for you, your team, your organization and your career.<\/p>\n We have this bias sometimes that the best idea wins. The smartest person gets promoted. The best approach gets approved. Our work should stand on its merits.<\/p>\n The best song or most talented artist should be on the GRAMMY stage, right?<\/p>\n No offense to Adele or Beyonc\u00e9: that\u2019s not what the research finds. But if you\u2019d like to learn more about how ideas take off, including some scenarios specifically relevant to project managers and other leaders, check out this discussion with Derek Thompson about his book Hit Makers: The Science of Popularity in an Age of Distraction<\/em>.<\/p>\n http:\/\/PeopleAndProjectsPodcast.com\/166<\/a><\/p>\n P.S. If you listen closely, you\u2019ll even hear my duet with Beyonc\u00e9.<\/p>\n So what\u2019s your take? What questions or concerns do you have? Share your thoughts and questions in the comments below. I look forward to discussing this with you!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Andy Kaufman is a keynote speaker who helps organizations around the world improve their ability to deliver projects and lead teams. He is the host of the <\/em>People and Projects Podcast<\/em><\/a> which provides interviews and insights to help you lead and deliver.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" You may have noticed that Adele dominated at the recent GRAMMY Awards. Sure, there\u2019s some controversy over whether Beyonc\u00e9 should have won more, but here\u2019s why I even bring this up: Adele and Beyonc\u00e9 were just two of many thousands of artists and producers who wanted to be on stage that night, lifting high their… Continue Reading →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":475,"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","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[131,119,109,125,132],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.leadershipintherealworldblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/adele-grammys-sweep.jpg?fit=1000%2C562&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s488Wj-451","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.leadershipintherealworldblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.leadershipintherealworldblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.leadershipintherealworldblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.leadershipintherealworldblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.leadershipintherealworldblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=451"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.leadershipintherealworldblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":476,"href":"https:\/\/www.leadershipintherealworldblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451\/revisions\/476"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.leadershipintherealworldblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.leadershipintherealworldblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.leadershipintherealworldblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.leadershipintherealworldblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Remember the MAYA Rule<\/h2>\n
![](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/media.licdn.com\/mpr\/mpr\/AAEAAQAAAAAAAAyVAAAAJDgxMTc5YzY3LTdlODYtNDg4ZS05YzRkLWU2ODJjODgwMWRmYQ.jpg?w=736&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\nFluency and Disfluency<\/h2>\n
![](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/media.licdn.com\/mpr\/mpr\/AAEAAQAAAAAAAAmdAAAAJGIwMmFmZjQxLWE5MGQtNDZiYS04MjM1LWEzYzkwMWI1MGY0Zg.jpg?w=736&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\nBeware Homophily<\/h2>\n
Quality is Not Destiny<\/h2>\n