CHAMELEON COMMUNICATION

    Chameleon Communication is arguably the most important skill for building a successful career, positively influencing your community, and even achieving rewarding personal relationships.

     We must start with the understanding that there is no reality. There are only nine billion different perceptions of reality held by the people we are attempting to influence on this planet. Therefore in order to be as successful as possible, we must constantly adapt our communication style, words, and non-verbal tendencies to align with each individual as closely as possible.
     In our investment company, we conducted Chameleon Communication training programs for rookie financial advisors and service specialists, and then we would provide Chameleon Refreshers during company meetings and annual retreats. We understood that without first mastering effective communication, we could never help our clients reach their goals, and we would never realize our own organizational goals.
     For example, when sitting down with Grandma Kennedy, we would speak a little slower, enunciate clearly, and use terms such as "safety and security." We would sit next to each other at a small round table - never across from each other. We would take off our suit jacket, drink coffee, and periodically break to discuss the grandkids. Most importantly, we would patiently listen without interrupting or attempting to finish her sentences.
     Later, when CEO Jack stopped in for his appointment, we would give him a very solid handshake, look him in the eye just a split-second longer than normal, keep our suit jacket on, and sit at the same round table - just not as close. We would speak louder and quicker, use terms such as "growth and return," and if afterhours even offer Jack two fingers of single malt scotch. Most importantly, we would attempt to listen through his ego and defense mechanisms in order to truly understand his goals and fears.
     Marketing studies for service organizations claim that 87% of a customer's decision to do business with you is based on "how" you look and "how" you speak. Only 13% of your success in landing that big client is based on what you actually say! Think about it. Do we ever really understand what the lawyer, landscaper, or plumber tells us about how they're going to do their job?
     At our company retreats, I would pass out pictures of employees from the Goldman Sachs Annual Report. We would study CNBC to dissect "how" they spoke and what specific terminology they would repeat most often. Then when current clients and new potential investors attended our evening seminars, or visited our offices, their experience emulated the look and feel of what they believed represented investment success. Our language and appearance (the 87%) connected with them at a subconscious-neural level and told them that they were dealing with the right company.
     If you make a strong commitment to educate yourself on how to effectively communicate and influence, along with a never-ending drive to be the smartest technical expert in your industry, your success will know no bounds.
     Now, C-Players will call this "manipulation," and when you demonstrate your drive to constantly better yourself they will call you "narcissistic." This only highlights their lack of education. Remember that he who helps the most people, wins. If you believe that you are "doing good" in the world, it is your moral responsibility to then influence as many people as possible. Or, as Coach Belichick would better state it, "Do your job!" 

     In our firm, we believed deeply that each family who became a new client would then achieve a better retirement, their children would attend better schools, and their communities would profit from their success. This alignment with our mission gave us congruency and boundless energy to attract substantially more clients than our competitors. You are not manipulating people. You are giving them the best possible opportunity to understand how you can help them. If they cannot hear you, they cannot receive the help. Ignore the C-Players. Do not entertain their gossip. Your place is not among them.
     Whether in consulting services, plumbing, landscaping, running Big Brothers Big Sisters, or simply attempting to influence your teenagers to do their homework, Chameleon Communication will enable you to lead and serve more effectively. I urge you to allocate a great deal of attention and energy into mastering this skill set, and I wish you the best of luck influencing the world this week. "Do your job!"

This Post is an excerpt from Jeff's upcoming book, "Building Special Companies: Everything You Never Learned in Business School," Ash Press, Fall 2018.

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