🏢Work-Life Wednesday: Mastering Confidence in Any Conversation

Welcome to Work-Life Wednesday, where we deep-dive into leadership best practices to maximize your growth potential.

Good morning. Good morning. Have you ever found yourself in a conversation, sweating bullets, and thinking, “If only I had a manual for this”? Well, buckle up, because we’re about to turn you into a conversational ninja, armed with the ancient (not really) and mystical (somewhat) art of framework thinking.

Framework thinking is the key to achieving unwavering confidence in any conversation. It’s a skill that must be honed and mastered over time. Today we’re going to cover how the most successful people in the world use this key skill in their conversations.

Thinking in Frameworks

A lot of people struggle to find a point in conversation where they should steer instead of follow. I admit, I’m guilty of hastily trying to figure out the direction I want the conversation to go. The difficulty in steering conversations towards my topics of interest stemmed from my lack of discipline in organizing my thoughts using frameworks.

What are Frameworks? Frameworks are structures that assist in organizing our thoughts so you can identify key levers that influence a result when used in conversation.

What is the goal of Framework Thinking? The goal of Framework Thinking is to have a library of topics that are important to you that you can talk about.

Examples for Your Framework Library

Revenue

One example of a framework is revenue. The formula for revenue is:

• Revenue = (# of Units) * (Price)

There are only two primary levers that impact revenue: selling more units and increasing prices, or a combination of both.

So, when an entrepreneur asks, "How can my business generate more revenue?" you'll know exactly which levers to discuss to influence this particular metric. Utilizing the levers of 'Number of Units' and 'Price,' you can craft any narrative you wish, encouraging the business owner to take decisive action. Highlight the potential opportunities they have to either boost their sales or raise their prices. Any question pertaining to revenue can be addressed using this framework, allowing you to guide the conversation back to these two crucial levers.

Connecting various frameworks can enrich the conversation, providing deeper insights and better conversations.

Profit

Another framework is profit. The formula for profit is:

• Profit = (Revenue) - (Cost)

This example also has two primary levers, ‘Revenue’ and ‘Cost’. But since we already have a framework for ‘Revenue’, and we know cost can be broken down to ‘Marginal Cost’ and ‘Fixed Cost’, we have all the levers we need to discuss Profit.

Now when an entrepreneur asks “How can I increase my profits?” you know to talk about ways to increase ‘Revenue’ or decrease ‘Costs’. The beauty in this example is that we can expand on ‘Revenue’ since we added it to our Framework Library. You can ask insightful questions like:

• “How many units are you selling?”

• “What is the price per unit?”

• “How can we tweak these?”

• “Let’s look at the cost structure. Where can you simplify your marginal or fixed costs?”

By this point, your confidence is soaring. When people ask about ways to boost their profits or revenue, you have the frameworks to guide them to various productive directions. In fact, you’re seeking opportunities to give advice about their finances and love it when people tell you their situation so you can tell them areas they can tweak.

Picasso’s Bull

To think fast, you need to organize your knowledge into frameworks to very quickly recall the levers you want to talk about. But how do we discover these frameworks?

Apple actually teaches their employees using Picasso’s Bull. Picasso is notorious for painting a lifelike bull, then slowly, through multiple iterations, removing layers of detail from the painting. By the end, he’s left with a simple painting, only the horns, head, legs, body, and eyes.

Create frameworks yourself using this method. Identify the structure first, and slowly break it apart to identify the levers that make it a whole.

General Frameworks

We have conversations everyday that don’t require being a subject matter expert to have a conversation about. “How can I make money doing the things I love?”, or “How can I become a better spouse?”

Such conversations call for General Frameworks, which are versatile enough to be applied to many conversations.

IKIGAI

Ikigai (pronounced ee-key-guy) is a Japanese concept derived from combining "iki," meaning “alive” or “life,” with "gai," meaning “benefit” or “worth.” Together, these terms encapsulate what gives your life value, purpose, or meaning.

This is a wonderful General Framework that can be applied to many conversations about life. Now when somebody comes to you saying, “Wow, I really need something new. How can I make money doing the things I love?” You can use these 4 levers:

• What you LOVE

• What the world NEEDS

• What you can be PAID FOR

• What you are GOOD AT

_{Written by Bailey Hepler}