[Neurons] 2016 Neurons --- Ways of Thinking: When Business Meets Politics

[L. Michael Hall]

L. Michael Hall

Meta Reflections #6

January 28, 2016

The Psychology of Politics

 

 

WAYS OF THINKING

When Business Meets Politics

 

How a person thinks determines how that person talks and acts.  We all know
that and, strange as it seems, we all also tend to forget it.  We forget it
as we get caught up in the content of a person's talk and actions, then we
forget that it is a function of that person's thinking.  We react to
something said or done assuming that we know what it means- it means (to us)
what it would mean if we had said or done that.  We call that "projection."
Yet in spite of this immersion into the content of words and actions-what is
said and done is a function of the person's thinking patterns.

 

In NLP we think of thinking patterns using the Meta-Programs Model and the
Meta-Model Model and distinctions.  Meta-Programs are perceptual filters
that govern how we think- we may see things optimistically or
pessimistically.  We may see things that match what we know or mismatch.
These meta-programs distinctions govern the filters by which we view things.
Meta-Model distinctions are the linguistic codes which filter and describe
our style of talking.  We may use cause-effect statements, "this causes
that" when they are only correlations and not causes.

 

In these two models, we have lots of distinctions.  We have 60 meta-programs
(see Figuring Out People, 1997) and we have 22 meta-model distinctions (see
Communication Magic, 2001).  In actual experience of life each of us have a
configuration of these- a set (or group) of these that make up a larger
pattern or syndrome.  This gives us lots of variables when it comes to
modeling an expert.  So let's apply these to the different ways that
characterize people who succeed in business, in politics, and in television.

 

Political thinking is generally "careful" thinking.  Afraid that they will
offend people, their language tends to degenerate into language that is
"politically correct." Politicians think in terms of how others could or
might misinterpret things.  So in being careful, they parse words and speak
with sufficient vagueness so that it does not cut a hard edge.  Politicians
are highly aware of the danger of being disliked and getting bad press and
so work hard to avoid it.  They can also speak empty words.  It is common to
hear a politician speak and sense that it is meaningful, then afterwards
realize that for all of the words, he said nothing.  Politicians often
engage in what we call "spin."  They spin a story so that it sounds better
for them and within the spin they cover-up things.  Think of Richard Nixon
or Bill Clinton.  When politics goes bad, then they become highly partisan
and the favoritism degrades into nepotism.  In the political world, things
are often black-or-white, all-or-nothing- you either win the election or
lose it.

 

Business thinking is oriented to action, to getting things done.  After all,
business only succeeds if it creates products, services, and information
that meet a need that people will pay for.  Business generally gets feedback
quickly and people who are successful listen to it and make adjustments.
They have to keep up with the pace of change, watch what's happening to
markets, and be flexible enough to be ready to change.  For small business
owners and entrepreneurs know that the money their investing is their own.
So they are more economically knowledgeable and disciplined.  The business
thinking of highly successful entrepreneurs is characterized mostly by being
straight, honest, saying what they mean, not mincing words, and thinking
big.  This is the thinking that characterizes Richard Branson, Warren
Buffet, Jack Welch, etc.  Business thinking is typically a matter of degree
and not all-or-nothing.  The question is, "How many customers do we need to
make a profit?"  When business goes bad, there's corruption, theft,
embezzlement, fly-by-night operations, etc.

 

Entertainment or Marketing thinking is oriented to getting people's
attention.  The focus is on the things that grab attention-what's immediate,
loud, bright, extreme, big, bold, involves win/lose, celebrities, etc.  This
thinking also focuses on delivering what's promised, knowing that if all of
the sparking and energy doesn't deliver the goods, the audience will leave
and go elsewhere.  The turn-around is short and quick.

 

Now imagine a celebrity business person entering the political realm!
Wouldn't that be wild?  Well, we have that today in the political campaigns
occurring now in the United States.  Listening and watching the current
American political campaigns and debates, the "Establishment" candidates
(Hillary on the Democratic side and Bush, Kasich, Rubio, etc. on the
Republican side) don't seem to be able to understand or figure out Bernie
Sanders (Democratic side) and Donald Trump (Republican side).  They don't
get it.  Why?  They have a different thinking style and the Establishment
people don't seem to have the flexibility to even imagine thinking outside
of the box. 

 

Of course, the person who really stands out in this is Donald Trump.  He
uniquely combines both business and entertainment thinking.  He also seems
to fully understand the pattern of political thinking and intentionally
violates it.  He doesn't just avoid it, it aims to violate it and to use
that violation for marketing.  To understand the way he thinks, the
following comes from his 1987 book, The Art of the Deal.  What I find
amazing is that just about everything he is doing today, he wrote and
described some 29 years ago.  And if you don't know that he's strategic in
what he's doing, you will probably think that he's a wild-card, crazy,
uninformed, etc.  But reading the book again, I think  it is intentional,
planned, and highly strategic- the way he negotiates.

 

About political thinking:

"He was a politician, and he wanted to see which way the winds were blowing
before he took a stand." (108)

"I discovered that politicians don't care too much what things cost.  It's
not their money." (111)

"Raise the possibility of bad press, even in an obscure publication, and
most politicians will jump." (306)

"Worst of all, no one in the city government bureaucracy is held accountable
for the failure. ...  You don't reward failure by promoting those
responsible for it, because all you'll get is more failure." (322-323)

 

About business thinking:

"I like thinking big.  I always have.  To me it's very simple: if you're
going to be thinking anyway, you might as well think big." (46)

"I wasn't satisfied just to earn a good living.  I was looking to make a
statement.  I was out to build something monumental.   ...   What attracted
me was the challenge of building a spectacular development..." (47).   "One
of the keys to thinking big is total focus." 

"I'm a businessman, and I learned a lesson from that experience: good
publicity is preferable to bad, but from a bottom-line perspective, bad
publicity is sometimes better than no publicity at all.  Controversy, in
short, sells.   So, it turned out, does glamour." (176)

Long-term thinking: "I was prepared to be as patient- and as persistent- as
I needed to be." (252)

Strategic thinking: "You don't act on an impulse-even a charitable
one-unless you've considered the downside." (264)

 

On negotiating and making deals:

"The best thing you can do is deal from strength, and leverage is the
biggest strength you can have.  Leverage is having something the other guy
wants." (53)

"I am very competitive and I'll do nearly anything within legal bounds to
win." (108)

"There are times when you have to be aggressive, but there are also times
when your best strategy is to lie back." (223)

"I fight when I feel I'm getting screwed..." (236)

"Deals work best when each side gets something it wants from the other."
(335)

 

About marketing thinking:

"One thing I've learned about the press is that they're always hungry for a
good story, and the more sensational the better.  T's in the nature of the
job ...   The point is that if you are  little different, or a little
outrageous, or if you do things that are bold or controversial, and my deals
tend to be ambitious." (56)

"When I talk with reporters is to be straight.  I try not to deceive them or
to be defensive, because those are precisely the ways most people get
themselves into trouble." (57)\

"The way I promote is bravado.  I play to people's fantasies. ... a little
hyperbole never hurts." (58)

"... I understand now that certain events can take on a symbolic
importance." (175)

 

About Leadership:

"Leadership is perhaps the key to getting any job done.  There wasn't a
single day when I didn't check on the progress we were making on the rink.
Most days, I visited the site personally." (316)

 

Understanding Trump's Thinking

Combining the patterns of business and entertainment thinking, a dominant
aspect of Trump's speech patterns is that of bigness.  He is bigger than
life and his vision is bigger than life.  So he begins by exaggerating-using
"universal quantifers" he states things so that they grab your attention,
stops the presses, and dominates the news.  When he does that, he's
"entertaining" and "marketing."  Then when he has stopped the presses and
has an excited media all around him pushing in with questions, he calms down
his statement.

 

Politicians on both sides don't understand.  They take each and every word,
parse it, create a campaign against it- all the while Trump is on to the
next thing to control the media cycle!  In the end, he "sets the frame" or
controls the agenda of the media and the others run around trying to use it
for political gain.  But it doesn't seem to work.  He's having fun, saying
many things in jest and because they are so serious, they get stupid in
their counter-attacks.

 

In this, he is thinking about the larger picture, the long-term strategy,
and they are caught up by short-term thinking.  They think that the "bad
press" he gets from throwing out some outrageous statement will be the end
of him.  But he embraces the bad press and uses it for all its worth.  They
are afraid to be politically incorrect.  He embraces political incorrectness
and mines it for all the publicity he can get.

 

>From his top-rated TV show "The Apprentice" and "Celebrity Apprentice" he
has demonstrated that he fully understands how to build drama, capture
attention, create suspense, and use cliff-hanging drama to make his points.
Now those shows were business shows.  How boring, yet he turned them into
one of the most highly watched and rated TV shows ever.  The others don't
understand, nor does the media.  They call him a clown, a showman, wild,
dangerous- and he loves it.  All of that plays right into his hands as it
gets even more attention and larger crowds.  People tune in to see what
outrageous thing he will say!  All the while the Establishment candidates
complain that they can't get any air time.

 

Yet behind all of that entertainment is a business man who looks at things
through the lens of cost, productivity, results, and effectiveness.  How it
will all turnout-who knows?  There's no predicting, we just have to wait to
see.  Yet so far, Trump has certainly been a game changer in the field of
politics.  He is breaking all the rules of the old political game and
breathing new air into the whole process.

 

Post Note:

I wrote the above last week and before Trump's boycott of tonight's debate.
My take on it is that he is, again, negotiating.   It's risky, it's outside
every political box that people have thought in, and it is absolutely
fascinating to see what will come of it.  From a psychological and
neuro-semantic perspective-it is very different thinking and framing!  And
certainly, "he who sets the frame controls the game."

 

 

 

L. Michael Hall, Ph.D.

               Neuro-Semantics Executive Director 

               Neuro-Semantics International

P.O. Box 8

Clifton, CO. 81520 USA                             

               1 970-523-7877 

                    Dr. Hall's email:
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