I was today years old when I discovered that you don’t have to give a complete asshole response when someone asks you “Hey, what’s your favorite color?”
Now, normally, I’d reject that question with rage, kindly question the intelligence of the person asking me, and demand they never ask me such a dumb question again.
Remember, I said kindly.
Of course, that may ruffle some feathers, but I despise “What’s your favorite color” with a passion. Like, a Shaquille O’neil gonna slam dunk a basketball through this hoop and smash the glass kinda of passion.
Luckily for my fragile little soul, I learned a neat trick that will forever change the way I answer this.
Like most mornings, Kacey and I were sipping on our delightful cups of coffee. To spice things up a bit, we perused over to Chris Do’s YouTube channel, The Futur, to watch a podcast (This is adulting entertainment at its finest).
In this episode, Chris interviewed a guy we’ve never heard of, Rene Rodriguez. We discovered Rene is a renowned communications expert with a deep background in psychology and neurology. Quite the resume alone.
Resume aside, this guy delivered. This 1-hour interview was chock-full of little “aha” moments and gold nuggets to dunk in my coffee.
The biggest takeaway was his 3 step framing system.
This relates to how you communicate with someone, even when they ask you “What’s your favorite color” kind of questions.
Now I won’t bore you with the science and ins and outs of why this framing system is so good, you’ll have to watch the podcast yourself.
The very boiled-down version looks like this though: set the frame, deliver the message, and tie it down.
That sounds easy enough, right?
To make it hit home, here’s what it looks like in action. Let’s pretend I’m in a job interview for a product development position.
Dumb Dumb – “Hey, Tyler, what’s your favorite color?”
Me – “Well, since my wee little years, I’ve always hated the status quo. If everyone likes the same thing, I am so much more inclined to hate it. I don’t know where this hatred for popular things came from, but that’s just how I roll. Now, growing up, everyone’s favorite colors were the usual ones. You know, red, blue and green. Not me. Surprise, surprise. No, my favorite color to this day is purple.
Now, I can see where you might think going against the status quo would be a negative, but I don’t think that’s the case. With such a strong drive to go against the grain, I can promise you this. If you hire me, you’ll get a completely different perspective than the rest of the industry. The status quo won’t be accepted. With me, this company will be at the forefront of innovation, not in line, and certainly not behind.”
Now ain’t that something? What a pleasing way to answer such a dumb dumb question. Plus, you actually learned something tangible about me.
I’d call that a win-win.
You could say, “Well, Jesus Tyler, just answer the damn question.”
Nahh.
This is the way from now on.
If you’re curious, this is the breakdown of the framework:
The Frame – “Well, since my wee little years, I’ve always hated the status quo. If everyone likes the same thing, I am so much more inclined to hate it. I don’t know where this hatred for popular things came from, but that’s just how I roll. Now, growing up, everyone’s favorite colors were the usual ones. You know, red, blue and green. Not me. Surprise, surprise.”
Deliver the Message – “No, my favorite color to this day is purple.”
The Tie Down – “Now, I can see where you might think going against the status quo might be a negative, but I don’t think that’s the case. With such a strong drive to go against the grain, I can promise you this. If you hire me, you’ll get a completely different perspective than the rest of the industry. The status quo won’t be accepted. With me, this company will be at the forefront of innovation. Not inline, and certainly not behind.”
I’m gonna say straight up, this simple framework blew my mind.
And it brought down my blood pressure.
So for that, firm handshakes to Rene Rodriguez.
I highly, highly recommend you check out his stuff.
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