Having a Great Debate can help create new insights, improve out thinking and give us time to ponder. Conflict is productive as long as we don’t be an ‘Eric Cartman’ about it!
Today was a very inspiring afternoon for me in a lot of respects. I have met with some great people today and I finished the day with a Committee Board Meeting with the Queen of Hearts Foundation. The Foundation is lead by the Awesome Michele Ellery who is an advocate for helping Child Abuse Survivors deal with the fallout of that atrocities committed against them and also influencing Government & Policy to create better laws to protect them.
It was a great meeting and in protection of confidentiality of what we spoke about, we had a great debate in there. Basically, (playing Marketer) I was encouraging / recommending us to go quite extreme with the messaging & wording – with everyone else counterbalancing me and taking more of a “Let’s not make waves just yet” type of viewpoint.
We are all friends and some bits got quite heated and it was quite funny. I have a great deal of respect for the people I met with and it was great debate / discussion to have. It ended with the sentiment not being to my quite extreme – however, there is great thought and discussion into making the messaging and Facebook Management more effective already.
I really did enjoy this from a range of viewpoints and what I have learned in Business, Marketing and the like is the critical importance of Debate. A lot of people have trouble with debate in that they feel that if someone disagrees with them it’s an attack on them and their ego. It very rarely is and the great thing is that we could give countering views, get a bit heated and then come together with great insights and improvements for the Foundation / Movement.
Bringing this back to more of a Small Business / Entrepreneur Context, it’s really important to allow our Trusted Friends to challenge our viewpoints, take on critical feedback and be open to stuff that from an “Ego” point of view that we don’t want to hear, BUT WE MUST hear for the betterment of our business and lives. If you are a bit like how I used to be, when it comes to entering a debate there are a few pointers I would like to give:
1) Remember that Conflict is Good!
2) Conflict / Disagreement / Debate can lead to Great Ideas!
3) Turn off your Ego. It’s not about you.
4) If someone else’s Ego is Bruised – just ignore it and keep going.
5) Get Passionate, not Angry.
6) Smile and keep changing your view.
7) Play to win the Debate with Intelligence, Facts, Fun and Goodwill.
I find when you take this approach, it can be a “Fun form of Heat” where amazing things can happen.
My advice and thinking? Gladly enter debates, enjoy them and use it as an opportunity to sharpen up everyones thinking / businesses!
Love your work and thank you for the read!
About the Author:
Edward Zia is a Marketing Mentor, Business Commentator and Entrepreneur who LOVES working with Awesome Small Business Owners & Entrepreneurs. He is also the Regional Leader of 4Networking Australia and spends his time in many events and with his great clients. If you like his thoughts, a great place to start your Sales & Marketing / Getting More Clients Journey is with his Online Product “The Awesome Marketing Vault by Edward Zia” >> Right Here!
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