Everyone thought the boss was completely closed to new ideas; except for my friend Stan, who figured him out. Stan noticed that time of day, blood sugar and current events were critical factors in his boss’ openness to new ideas. If certain events were not happening in the office, and his boss was approached in the late morning, at the right point of his sugar curve, he would listen to anything and he would not only understand, but likely implement it.It’s easy to decide that a person is a certain way, and then generalize that he’s always that way, and thus, that’s all we notice. When Stan stopped generalizing about his boss, he was free to think about him in a different way. He started paying closer attention to the when, where, and what of each communication. He learned that people’s behavior changes depending on the circumstances.
This week, try this experiment with your “problem person”, stop generalizing, be open to the possibility of change and pay attention to the circumstances. You’ll probably notice that timing is everything.