Discuss for Endurance, Not for Quick Victory

Business is personal for me. Same with business communication on LinkedIn or a virtual meeting or, someday again, around a conference table. I won’t shy away from discussions on normally taboo topics of politics or religion. It’s important to share ideas. It helps us get to know each other. And such discussions enable us to grow and learn. (I do not, however, want to talk about sports, except for ski racing or motorcycle racing, but I digress.)

“As a business leader, if you communicate simply to prove you’re right, your conversations will be brief and your network small.”

Why, then, is politics a seemingly forbidden topic on LinkedIn? Because we’re doing it wrong, and that goes for all social media.

More important than “what” we’re discussing is “how” we’re discussing it. I love to discuss ideas and to disagree. But when it all becomes disagreeable, I’m out, and you should be too.

I love to engage in difficult topics. I long for that challenge and the ensuing learning. And while I did cover mixed martial arts fighting for a few years, I’m a peace activist at heart, especially when it comes to conversation. If you want to throw rhetorical punches, use name-calling techniques, and try to knock me out with hyperbolic opinions, the conversation is over. All I will learn from such style is that you don’t actually want to communicate.

The same is true for nearly any business communication you initiate, especially with customers and with peers. As a business leader, if you communicate simply to prove you’re right, your conversations will be brief and your network small.

Communicate to build bridges, not to blow them up.

We can talk politics on LinkedIn. In fact, we should. Politics is a vital part of all our businesses. The discussion and debate that leads to government action impacts my business, my clients’ businesses, and your business. We can and we should discuss that.

What happens too often, however, is we start discussions by trying to finish them. We should begin discussions by trying to prolong them. That way we can learn, inspire change, or at least spark action toward change.

I want to share my ideas, of course. But more importantly I want to hear yours. I want to continue a relationship, maybe even grow a friendship. And, yes, I want to make a sale eventually. The communication I spark to reach all those goals needs to be designed for endurance, not for a quick knock out.