After receiving my CAT result at the start of 2021, I appeared for several interviews at different B-schools where I had applied.
During one of the interviews, I told the panelists that I had been teaching positive mindset and interpersonal skills at an NGO.
“Who is the Father of Positive Psychology?” One panelist asked me.
I had no idea whom she was talking about. And I conveyed that to her.
“How can you teach these things if you don’t even know who is the Father of Positive Psychology?” She remarked.
There it was: The Frame.
The frame is a set of beliefs and assumptions over which one person thinks the conversation should operate.
Here, the assumption was that one needs to know the ‘Father of Positive Psychology’ to teach that at an NGO.
I didn’t defend my lack of knowledge about this static fact, and neither did I tell her that I’d find out the answer after the interview.
I simply asked her, “Even if I know this, what difference will it make in my life or that of my students?”
She immediately changed the topic for next question.
Before you jump on to defend yourself in any discussion, debate, or even an argument, first question the frame in which the other person is operating.
Otherwise, you’ll always put yourself in a weak spot because you’ve accepted their beliefs and assumptions, and no amount of defense will be enough to change that.
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Consider this:
An employee might say she wants 20% raise, but the manager points out that she’s only been in the company for a year.
That’s the frame he wants to operate in.
But then she asks him to discuss the impact of her contributions rather than the duration.
There you go. Frame changed.
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I was in a 10-people placement group discussion in November 2022, where the topic given to us was “Is India ready for Electric Vehicles?”
When the first speaker started the GD, he began describing how EVs would be good for the country and the environment.
In short, he stated that India should get ready, instead of talking about – is India really ready?
When it was my turn to speak, I just reminded everyone of the topic, but also decided to play the devil’s advocate.
I stated that we can always intend for a better future, but India is currently not ready for EVs, and gave them some fair points to support my stance.
Every argument presented before mine fell, because now the frame had been changed.
I was the only one who got selected from that group.
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Always try to look for the frame in any conversation. The person who sets it often leads the dialogue.
Challenge the frame, and you might just change the game.