Third Law of Performance

(Excerpts from “Three Laws of Performance”)

“Future based language transforms how situations occur to people”

There are two fundamental way to use language. The first is descriptive — using the language to depict or represent things as they are or have been. The test of good descriptive language is whether it accurately articulates the world as it is, whether people see the world rightly. Descriptive language is often used to look back, spot trends, and predict what will happen.

Descriptive language is useful and important — try getting around downtown without map, or ordering dinner without a menu. What if surgeon could not describe the procedure, or stock broker could not describe the portfolio ?

Future based language, also called generative language, has the power to create new futures, to craft vision, and to eliminate the blinders that are preventing people from seeing possibilities. It doesn’t describe how a situation occurs; it transforms how it occurs

The Power of Future

You can see the power of future in the question “Does money make you happy?” Most people say no, but the answer is more complicated. Take two families, one made $200,000 last year, another $50,000. Next year, both expect to earn $100,000. The first one will be unhappy, and the second happy. Why?

Because it is not the actual money that you have today that makes you happy or unhappy; it is the money you expect you’ll have, believe you’ll have, hope you’ll have, or fear you’ll have that shapes your experience of money right now. The first family will cut expenses, maybe sell a house. The second will buy bigger house, take a vacation, and get a new car

A universal principle becomes clear in this example: people live in the future they see coming at them, not the actual future they will get to someday!

The Condition Required for Future Based Language

You can’t paint a picture on top of a picture on a canvas. You can’t write a sentence on a page that is filled up with writing. The canvas must be empty. But how do you do that?

There are three dimensions to this process of “blanking the canvas” and people often move back and forth among them till they feel they have the room to invent something new

The first dimension is “Seeing that what binds and constraints us isn’t the facts, its the language — and in particular, descriptive language” Which interpretations give us the most power? Or the most freedom? Or the most self-expression?

The second dimension is “Articulating the default future and asking — Do we really want this as our future?” and delving into it consciously

The third dimensions to create a blank space is the most powerful: “Completing issues from the past”

(Example: Mr X had a persistent complaint that he wasn’t compensated properly in the past. His complaint language included that people did not treat him fairly, and that consistent pattern of behaviour was keeping vigil. There was clear two-part payoff: Avoiding the domination of the situation & being right! There was also a cost: Vitality, Self-expression, Freedom, and Joy)

Building Companies & Lives around Futures

There are specific actions that leaders can take to construct a future that causes themselves and others to live into it:

1. Commit to the discipline of completing any issues that surface as incomplete
2. Articulate the default future — what is the past telling you will happen?
3. Ask, do we really want this default future ?
4. If not, begin to speculate what future would (A) inspire action for everyone, (B) address the concerns of everyone involved, and (C ) be real in the moment of speaking
5. As you find people who are not aligned, ask, what is your counter-proposal?
6. Keep working until people align — when they say “This speaks for me!” and they commit to it!