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The Temptation of The Proof

October 5, 2022 by Steve Heston Leave a Comment

     

“Faced with the choice between changing one’s mind and proving there is no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy on the proof.”

  • John Kenneth Galbraith (1908 – 2006), Canadian-American economist and diplomat

Truer today than ever, perhaps?

One, Galbraith was a diplomat, and diplomacy is in short supply these days. In fact, with all the talk of supply chain issues, why don’t we focus more on the short supply of diplomacy, grace and presumption of good intentions?

Two, even if selling is our career, the act of changing our mind might still serve us better than proving our point. See, as sales pros, we not only get focused on making the sale, we can get wrapped around the axle on how the buyer decides to make the purchase. If we just know that their motivator is “x” we focus all our energy on making that the focus of our “why you should buy.”

What if the buyer gives us a sign that something else is more important? What if we realize that some other element of that thing we sell matters more than the boss or the marketing materials suggest it matters?

In buying and selling, it’s about bringing people together for a common good. In life, politics, love, relationships, it ought to be about the same thing.

Changing our mind — not necessarily our principles or values, and certainly not our morals, but changing our mind within those boundaries — might be the best way to create a safe environment for others to change theirs.

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