Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is to use the headline test. When you
Speaker 1: are making a decision, consider how your decision would sound
Speaker 1: as the headline of a newspaper article. You want to
Speaker 1: make the best decision, not just the most popular or
Speaker 1: easiest one, but there is also something to be said
Speaker 1: for considering how other people will be likely to understand
Speaker 1: your decision at first glance. You want to make sure
Speaker 1: it won't come off in a way that you don't intend.
Speaker 1: Many business leaders learn the advice that you shouldn't do
Speaker 1: anything you wouldn't want written about on the front page
Speaker 1: of the Wall Street Journal. If you would be embarrassed
Speaker 1: by that prominent telling of what you are about to do,
Speaker 1: you should really think about whether you should do it,
Speaker 1: And that is good advice. But even if you are
Speaker 1: doing something reasonable, headlines often tell the most controversial or
Speaker 1: grabby aspect of a story. If people are likely to
Speaker 1: talk about what you are doing, you want to think
Speaker 1: about the potential headlines so you can be intentional about
Speaker 1: how you explain the decision and your reasoning. For instance,
Speaker 1: if you are on the school board for your town
Speaker 1: and decide to move your own child to an independent school.
Speaker 1: You will realize that this probably does not pass the
Speaker 1: headline test on its face. School board member abandoning public schools, right,
Speaker 1: that's what people will think. So you need to think
Speaker 1: about how you will narrate that decision in a way
Speaker 1: that doesn't undercut your support for your town's public schools.
Speaker 1: And there are various reasons that this might be the case.
Speaker 1: Maybe your child has a special need that a local
Speaker 1: private school specializes in. You can talk about the decision
Speaker 1: that way and emphasize that you are working on expanding
Speaker 1: your public schools special education offerings, but in the meantime,
Speaker 1: you are making this decision for your child. As another example,
Speaker 1: suppose your organization goes to a high deductible health insurance
Speaker 1: plan from a more traditional health insurance plan. The obvious
Speaker 1: way employees might write this headline is that cheap boss
Speaker 1: slashes healthcare benefits. And if that is what you're doing,
Speaker 1: that is one thing. But maybe you have plans to
Speaker 1: give employees an hs A card that would cover most
Speaker 1: of the deductible change, and it turns out that your
Speaker 1: organization will still save enough that everyone can get a
Speaker 1: cost of living salary increase. If that is the case,
Speaker 1: you need to make sure that you are talking about
Speaker 1: those things every single time you talk about the health
Speaker 1: insurance change to try to shape the headline that people
Speaker 1: would see. Sometimes the headline test will prompt you to
Speaker 1: think carefully about how to communicate your decision, and other
Speaker 1: times the headline test may lead you to do something differently.
Speaker 1: Maybe ideally you would rather concentrate your charitable giving on
Speaker 1: fewer organizations so your donations make a bigger difference. Your
Speaker 1: kids school seems pretty well funded, so it isn't one
Speaker 1: of your top giving priorities. But if you see that
Speaker 1: the principle would perceive this headline as parent of current
Speaker 1: students thriving at the school stops give in to the
Speaker 1: school because of other priorities, you might not like that headline,
Speaker 1: so you could potentially give a small amount even if
Speaker 1: you don't give a lot. When you use the headline test,
Speaker 1: you can make sure that your thoughtful decisions seem thoughtful
Speaker 1: to someone without all the details. That way, you'll know
Speaker 1: when you may need to be especially intentional about your
Speaker 1: explanations or even perhaps change what you do if you
Speaker 1: try using the headline test, I'd love to hear about it.
Speaker 1: You can reach me at Laura at Laura Vanderkam dot com.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and
Speaker 1: here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from it. You can send me
Speaker 1: your tips, questions, or anything else. Just connect with me
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Speaker 1: b E the number four, then breakfast p o D.
Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: podcast at iHeart media dot com. That Before Breakfast is
Speaker 1: spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much, should
Speaker 1: I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is
Speaker 1: a production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from
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