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LOS ANGELES,
September 28,
2009:
Have you ever
wanted to
increase your
effectiveness in
communication?
That's a
rhetorical
question.
We all do.
How well we
communicate
determines the
quality of our
life.
You could spend
years studying
Neuro Linguistic
Programming and
other
techniques, or
you can use a
shortcut,
basically the
non-scientific
approach. This
works regardless
of what language
you speak, where
you're from or
what your
culture is.
This is
universal to all
humanity.
Each person on
this planet has
a propensity to
sway either left
brain, which is
logical or right
brain, which is
creative.
We all can do
both, but often
we're more
comfortable in
one hemisphere
or the other.
For example I'm
60% right brain
and 40% left.
The test below
will allow you
to determine
what your ratio
is.
What does it
mean to be left
or right
brained?
I'm good at math
and science, but
I had to work
very, very hard
to get good and
I'll kick and
scream like a
banshee if I
have to do
accounting.
I really detest
accounting.
These subjects
didn't come easy
to me, but
mastering them
provided a level
of confidence,
absent
endearment.
Math and science
as well as music
and language are left brain
activities. To
the contrary,
creative
writing,
reading,
persuasion,
history or
anything that
tells a story,
is emotional,
artistic or
requires new
experiences is relatively
easy for me.
These are right
brain
activities. But
hold on.
There is a
catch. Writing
is actually
left brain while
storytelling,
which requires
imagination is
right.
When people
describe you,
which words do
they use? If
logical,
dependable,
exact and
punctual make
the list, you
probably sway
left. If they
describe you as
an idea person,
creative, not
too structured,
you're probably
right. When you
speak, do you
prefer to
speak
conceptually and
get irritated
with too much
detail or rigid
parameters?
These are all
symptoms of a
right brain.
If you're
describing
something do you
rely on exact
facts, logic and
order?
That would be
left brain. Does
that mean that's
all you are?
Of course not.
Put me in a
different
situation, like
when I'm writing
a story on human
rights and I tend to
rely on facts
though my
creative style
seeps out in the
descriptions.
That's my left
brain coming
out but my right
brain making
sure it still
rules.
Most people use
both sides
throughout the
day, though we
each have one
side that
requires less
effort and our
careers tend to
follow that
ease. Most
accountants,
lawyers, doctors
and journalists
are left brain
while most
people in the
arts, marketing,
psychology and
entertainment
industries
gravitate right.
The further you
are to one side
or another, the
more
uncomfortable it
is for you to
operate in the
other sphere.
However, in the
realm of
communication,
if the person
you're
communicating
with doesn't
understand you,
that's your
fault, not his.
Therefore it's
important to
structure your
communication to
match the
comfort level of
the person
you're speaking
with, rather
than your own.
That's where
knowing whether
you're left or
right brained,
and which
describes the
person you're
speaking with
comes in handy.
Improved
Communication
Knowing whether the
person you're
speaking with
sways, right or
left means you
can choose words
and descriptions
when speaking
with him that
will resonate
positively, thus
increasing his comfort with you
and what you are
speaking about.
How
can you tell if
you don’t know
the person? Ask
him a question
and see which
way his head
turns. If to
the right,
he's most
likely right
brained. To the
left, left
brained. Once
you know this,
you can use
points to make
your case that
fit that
person’s comfort
zone. If
left-brained he
or she will be
more interested
in absolutes,
statistics and
quantifiable
information. If
right-brained,
he or she will
be more
impressed by
your ideas,
thought
processes and
originality.
You can use this
knowledge to
increase your
effectiveness in
negotiations as
well. The
following is an
old
salesperson's
trick I've used
for years. If the
person you are
dealing with is
right brained,
that is they
tend to be more
creative, stand
or sit slightly
to their right.
If left brain,
more analytical,
stand or sit
slightly to
their left.
How does this
work?
Right-Brained
Sell: Let me
clarify. When I
sold advertising
I always sat to
the right of the
person I was
selling and
tilted my chair
toward him
because I wanted
him to be
thinking with
his creative
centers, not
logical.
Advertising is a
conceptual
sell. You’re
selling an idea,
image and hope.
Logic tends to
mess that up.
The last thing
in the world I
wanted was
someone thinking
logically or
with his left
brain. There are
no absolutes in
advertising.
To the contrary,
it's a very
inexact science
and I wanted my
new client as
far away from
bean counting as
possible!
Left Brained
Sell: Now
switch
industries. When
I sold software
and
telecommunications,
the people I
sold to were
usually left
brain. I didn’t
walk in with a
lot of
concepts. Rather
I came in with
facts and
figures and
always sat to
the left,
angling my chair
toward my
client.
The chair
angling is
deliberate. In
sales people buy
from you because
you have
something they
need or want but
they continue to
buy from you
because they
like
you. Tilting
the chair
signaled a more
intimate
conversation
rather than
setting up an
adversarial
relationship.
It was a
subconscious cue
to my new client
that I wasn't
there to sell
him something
but to act as a
partner and
resource, part
of his team.
In reality, the
left-brain sell
is much easier
than the
right-brain
sell, though for
us right-brained
people, the
right-brain sell
is much more fun
because we get
to be creative.
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