each of us relies on our primary sense for taking in information,
the information is conveniently stored in that representational sys-
tem. It is only natural for us to express the information in the same
representational system as it is stored.
Those of you with a second language will relate to the follow-
ing analogy. Spanish is my (PL) second language and Italian is
my third. When someone begins speaking to me in Spanish un-
expectedly, there are some mental gyrations required to shift
gears from the English that my mind had been expecting. I can
understand the Spanish, but English would be more convenient
for me. When I speak with someone who speaks both Spanish and
English, if his or her English is better than my Spanish, then we
naturally slip into speaking English, and vice versa. To the extent
that languages consist of agreed-on code, representational sys-
tems are like different languages. The big difference is that
speaking one language or another is a conscious and agreed-on
choice, whereas the representational systems that predominate
for any one person are largely unconscious and not specifically
agreed on.
Just as using a language that the other person understands
makes communication easier, communicating in the predominant
representational system of the other person makes your dialogue
much more effective. If you have given a presentation where the au-
dience didn’t seem to get it, quite possibly you were speaking out-
side their predominant representational system. Here’s good news:
Developing the behavioral flexibility to determine and use the pre-
dominant representational systems of others is much, much easier
than learning a second language.
Imagine that you are able to communicate with your significant
other, parents, and friends more effectively. How would that impact
your personal life? Would it be better? Would your relationships be
more positive? What would happen if you communicated more ef-
fectively with your customers, prospects, or the people you work
with? Would your situation improve? Could more effective commu-
nication bring you more business? Improve your bottom line? Get
you promoted or a significant raise? You bet it can.
Remember, people like people who are like themselves. Because
each of us favors a different representational system, it is almost as
if we speak different languages. When you understand how to com-
municate in all the different representational systems, you will af-202 Secrets of Compelling Communication