Hum Kiseese Kum Nahin

This morning I put on my socks and tied the strings of my sneakers standing on one leg. It wasn't a graceful performance, but I managed it.

Why on earth would this sixty-year-old do such a stunt at five o’clock in the morning  when there wasn't the remotest possibility of anyone watching and applauding? Vanity? Here is the background.

Yesterday evening my wife told me that a former student of mine had come home earlier in the day. He had entered the house in his shoes, but removed them seeing the carpet in the drawing room. When he was about to leave, he got out of the carpeted area, stood on one leg, put on his shoes and tied the strings. Obviously, he didn’t want to dirty the carpet by sitting in the sofa while putting the shoes on. My wife helpfully suggested that he sit down and tie the strings. He declined it and said that tying one’s shoestrings while standing on one leg is a sign of physical fitness. My wife was impressed enough to report it to me.

The words of the thirty-five-year-old student (a medical doctor with a management degree) rang in my ears this morning as I was getting ready for my morning walk. I took it up as a challenge although he didn't have anything of that kind in his mind when he said that it was a sign of fitness. He wasn't challenging anyone to do anything. He was merely stating a fact. When she narrated the incident, my wife wasn't throwing a challenge at me either. She was merely reporting something that she found interesting. But I took it up as a challenge because I consider myself fit and am quite proud of it. So triggered by an indirect challenge, driven possibly by vanity, I persuaded myself to try the one-legged stunt.

During the brisk walk, I thought of the power of this technique of persuasion which we often use with children, but not often enough with fellow managers.  Do we try getting a colleague, boss, or subordinate to persuade herself to do something difficult instead of coaxing her by giving incentives or reasons? The technique consists of hinting that she may not be able to do it. Stung by it she wants to prove herself and attempts it.

This can of course backfire. When you throw a direct challenge, some may agree with you that it can't be done. If, for example, you suggest in public or in private that I cannot complete an assignment by staying awake all night, I will readily agree that I cannot and go to bed quite happily. It is a challenge I don’t want to take up however vain I am.

If you try an indirect challenge, many may not sense it at all. They may be like a thick-skinned guest who doesn’t take any hints that he has overstayed his welcome.

So whether you should try this technique on someone depends on your reading of his personality. Is he someone who will take a bait like that? If yes, try it.