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be realistic about . . ." "People won't buy that unless it's realistic." "Let's use a more realistic number for . . ." The difference? Realism focuses on the facts; gloom comes from attitude. |
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Tip 389: Apply the "You Break It, You Buy It" principle. |
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Never be the one who tears up everybody else's ideas and then has none of your own to offer. If you criticize the best solutions others have tossed out, you're obligating yourself to present substitutions. According to author Milo Frank, this idea originated with Larry Kitchen, retired chairman of Lockheed. Based on the frequent sign in curio shops "You break it, you buy it," Mr. Kitchen applied the principle to stop people who continually tossed water on others' ideas with their routine negativism. Example: "Joan, since you have serious reservations about the proposal we're discussing, why don't you do a more thorough study of the ramifications of its implementation and bring us an alternative proposal next week." |
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Caution: The idea is a poor one if your intention is to encourage openness and avoid "groupthink." So apply the principle only to those routinely negative people who run down every idea. |
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Tip 390: Disagree without being disagreeable. |
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Never let yourself become a victim of "groupthink," a condition in which group harmony becomes more important than results. If the purpose of a meeting is to generate ideas and get input, by all means speak up when you disagree. Just don't be disagreeable. The difference is attitude. |
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Tip 391: Strip ownership from views. |
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If you're functioning as a team, you will want to bring all contradictory facts and viewpoints into the open rather than pretend they don't exist. Try to strip away direct ownership and the associated ego to evaluate the ideas independently. "We have a proposal and two viewpoints on the table: one that the plan will take too long; the other view that the cost takes away marketing's veto power. Let's discuss the first objection. What support do we have for that?" |
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Notice that all names have been removed from the suggestions and viewpoints. Treat conflicting ideas openly and objectively. People hold on most strongly to ideas that haven't been discussed and especially to ones bearing their name. |
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