My friend Paul (who owns a manufacturing company) declared, "I hate theory!" He avoids abstraction and very much favors concrete examples and direct experience.
Now I don’t hate theory, but I like to have enough concreteness to be able to understand how theories play out in on-the-ground reality. That’s one reason why my phrase books are so useful – they bring theory down to earth and back to life.
So, like Paul, I use this PowerPhrase a lot.
- Show me.
My cue for that phrase is when I start to get an ungrounded feeling in my stomach. Do you know that one? Now, if I have a lot of experience in an area, I can hear theory without getting that sense. But if I have nothing to tie theory to, my reptillian brainlet starts to revolt and request grounding with an example.
Try it yourself. The next time someone is talking in ways that don’t make sense to you, simply ask them this:
- Can you show me?
- What does that look like?
- How would I know when that happens?
Shall I show you? Would you like to "see" how that works in the workplace? Check out yesterday’s blog post.