they’ll never see it coming.
WHAT TYPE ARE YOU?
A few years ago I was on my boat with one of my
employees, a great guy named Keenon; I was supposed to
be giving him a pep talk and performance review.
“When I think of what we do, I describe it as
‘uncovering the riptide,’” I said.
“Uncovering the riptide,” Keenon said.
“Yes, the idea is that we—you and I and everyone here
—have the skills to identify the psychological forces that are
pulling us away from shore and use them to get somewhere
more productive.”
“Somewhere more productive,” Keenon said.
“Exactly,” I said. “To a place where we can . . .”
We had talked for about forty-five minutes when my son
Brandon, who runs operations for The Black Swan Group,
broke out laughing.
“I can’t take it anymore! Don’t you see? Really, Dad,
don’t you see?”
I blinked. Did I see what? I asked him.
“All Keenon is doing is mirroring you. And he’s been
doing it for almost an hour.”
“Oh,” I said, my face going red as Keenon began to
laugh.
He was totally right. Keenon had been playing with me
the entire time, using the psychological tool that works most
effectively with assertive guys like me: the mirror.