September 2021
Strategies for Success Newsletter September 2021 Issue 189
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Published by Emily Huling Selling Strategies
www.sellingstrategies.com
Copyright 2021 Emily Huling. All rights reserved.
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In this September 2021 issue:
- Thoughts from the Office
- Thoughts from Home
- Josmo’s Cafe
- Stay Energized
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- Thoughts from the Office
Frame language to open possibilities
“Don’t take this the wrong way.” “You may not like this.” You probably don’t want to know this.”
How do you feel when you hear those words? I immediately get anxious about what’s going to be said next. I think the worst and don’t listen very well to what follows. Framing the conversation with those negatives thoughts effects my response.
What is framing? Framing is using language that influences ideas, thoughts, and solutions. Through the words we choose, we “frame” a situation. In 1981, Israeli psychologists Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman conducted ground-breaking studies that indicated that the context and phrasing of the same problem in terms of gains or losses alters the choice made by participants. Michael Lewis’ book The Undoing Project digs deep into the friendship, lives, and accomplishments of these two brilliant men. Fascinating reading!
Autumn is the time businesses have planning meetings. How a general discussion question is framed can either shut down conversation or set up an environment to facilitate positive, purposeful, and productive idea sharing. Consider these examples of shifting language from negative to positive intention.
Say this…”What did we do well this year that we can build on in order to achieve results next year?” Instead of this…”What should we have done differently to achieve objectives?”
Say this… “Describe the skills and qualities of our top performers.” Instead of “What skills are lacking in our staff?”
Say this… “What customer-used technology gets the most use and why?” Instead of “What do we need to do to get our customers to use our technology?”
Think about the words you use to begin a conversation and see for yourself how positive framing can change the outcome.
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- Thoughts from Home
Personal ethics
What if someone shares a personal story that reveals an ethical standard that differs from your own?
At a social gathering, you meet a couple who tell you that she lost an expensive item of jewelry. With the help of the retailer, they change the purchase date of this item, add it to their insurance policy, report it as lost, and receive a settlement from the insurance company. The replacement item is re-purchased from the same retailer.
When challenged, they tell you it was just a matter of timing, it wasn’t fraud. Huh?
What’s your measure of right and wrong? Severity of the crime? Was a law broken? Impact on others? Financial gain or loss? Lost sleep?
Moral of the story. Thankfully, we have a choice both in our own ethical decisions as well as whom we choose to associate with based on theirs.
Summer rerun – reprinted from February 2007
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- Josmo’s Café
Our friend Mary Beth does it again! She brought Ooey Gooey Butter Cake to a weekend getaway. The knife never left the pan! We all would walk by and take just a sliver of this buttery creamy dessert made famous by Paula Deen. What a great way to sweeten the end of a summer meal!
Looking for more great recipes? We have over 100 recipes on our Josmo’s Café page on the website.
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- Stay Energized
Our Energizer Minute for September is Relax and Just Be.
Feeling a bit too much togetherness with your spouse? My favorite NPR show Hidden Brain had another interesting and insightful rebroadcast last month called When did marriage become so hard? Eli Finkel, author of the book The All-or-Nothing Marriage: How the Best Marriages Work was interviewed by host Shankar Vedantam in 2018. Scroll down the Hidden Brain homepage to find many other great shows.
John and I are back to out-of-state armchair travel. The Discoverer Blog has a terrific post featuring five beautiful and often overlooked Midwest states. Yes, North Dakota, you’re on their list and mine!
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Strategies for Success Newsletter is published by Emily Huling Selling Strategies. For further information, contact emily@sellingstrategies.com.
© 2021 Emily Huling Selling Strategies All rights reserved.