Why did they pour soup over Van Gogh’s masterpiece?Understanding the “structure” that compels us to act emotionally

Mindel is a person who practices work around the world on how to resolve interpersonal conflicts at all levels, including ethnic conflicts and racism. He is, therefore, both a theorist and a practitioner.

Mindell’s “rank” refers to a person’s power.His concept assumes that everyone has a different rank. In other words, people are not equal, they have ranks.

and,The higher your rank, the less likely you are to realize that your attitude negatively affects others, especially those with a lower rank than you.points out.

For example, between a manager and an employee, the manager has a higher rank. Therefore, it is difficult for the management to notice the dissatisfaction of the employees until the employees complain. Because they don’t realize their own power (having a high rank), managers who are taking various measures for their employees may ask, “Why are you doing this for your employees?” They will complain.” I don’t understand the feelings of the employees.

Likewise, highly educated people (high ranks) do not understand why less educated people (low ranks) lose their cool and speak emotionally. However, from the point of view of low-educated people, unless they do something like this, highly-educated people won’t listen to them.

So is the relationship between strong nations (high rank) and small developing countries (low rank). Powerful nations are oblivious to the impact of their power on developing nations. In such a situation, even if a small developing country expresses its opinion in a normal tone, it will be difficult for them to listen.

in short,The only way for a lower-ranked position to be heard by a higher-ranked position is to become emotional or erratic.It is.

If you think about it, you can see some of the reasons why the environmental group, the British youth, and the suspect in the Abe attack, who were mentioned at the beginning, acted like they did. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not endorsing their actions. I would like them to pay attention to the problem of “structure” that they have no way to deliver their voices.

Signals unconsciously emitted by the mainstream

Now, there is another important point in Mr. Mindel’s argument. It’s called a “double signal”.

The double signal is, in short, two signals in what a “higher-ranking” person says: one that’s overt, and another that’s hidden (often unaware of it). includeThat’s what it means.

For example, in a meeting, a black person speaks “emotionally” and a white woman tells her to “talk logically, not emotionally.”

“Don’t speak emotionally” and “Speak logically” both sound right. This is the first signal.

However, there is a second signal hidden in the white woman’s words that she herself is unaware of. It implicitly sends the message to black people, “You don’t have to tell them about your situation,” because “I’m right, so follow my advice.”

In this way, high-ranking white women are telling low-ranking black men (whether they are aware of it or not) not to speak at all, and low-ranking black men have been “silenced from speaking”. ” may be received.

in this way,People who unwittingly double-signal to lower ranks are often mainstream members of their communities.Thing. In terms of companies, there are those who work at the head office, those who have high positions, those who work for large companies, and those who have popular occupations.

Conversely, for example, people working at local branch offices, temporary or contract employees, and people with low educational backgrounds tend to be relegated to the periphery without belonging to the mainstream.

Others are marginalized in their minds, even if they are not visible in their titles. Unless the lower-ranked people make emotional appeals to the higher-ranked mainstream, the higher-ranked people ignore their existence.

Although this concept of rank and double signals is a little too simplistic, have you ever come across something similar to this?

I have experienced this myself. It happened when I participated in the secretariat of an international conference during my tenure at Recruit.

The members of the secretariat were all Westerners, except for me, and had many years of experience working for the secretariat. In other words, they were the mainstream, and I was in a low-ranking position on the periphery (this is hindsight).

I would like to learn from them advanced examples of the themes being discussed at the international conference, so I informed the secretariat in advance and decided to have a consultant from Japan accompany me.

However, on the day of the conference, the organizer said, “It is not acceptable to have an outsider in the secretariat.” Other members agree that it’s certainly better not to make exceptions. The secretariat members, whom I told in advance that I would be accompanied by a consultant, did not offer any help.

I had no choice but to raise my voice emotionally, saying, “There are no resolutions on the agenda this time, only reporting matters. Even though I had a bad expression on my face, in the end, the surroundings gave me a spear. They probably wouldn’t have listened to me if I hadn’t been emotional and raised my voice.

After the conference was over, the organizer told me, “It’s not good to talk emotionally at an international conference like this.” I remember feeling a double signal from these words: “If you are Asian and have little experience, follow my advice.”

What if you get an emotional reaction?

Both the story of the environmental group I mentioned at the beginning and the story of the British youth are the same as I was at that international conference in that unless they acted out of the ordinary, they would not have their opinions heard by high-ranking people. Even if it’s not headline news, these ranks and double signals are hidden in our daily lives, not only in the workplace, but also in gender issues and parent-child relationships.

Ranks are only relative. A person with a low rank in one organization may have a high rank in another community. Ranks and double signals are what you do and are doing on a daily basis. You yourself may be unknowingly in a high-ranking position and sending double signals.

If, unfortunately, you find yourself in a high-ranking position, how do you react when a lower-ranking person reacts emotionally to you?

For example, if you are hit hard by a (lower rank) subordinate.In that case, rather than trying to explain your situationIt is important to have an attitude of “trying to understand” subordinates who are emotional.

“Did my comment make you feel condescending?” “Did I say something that offended you?”

It would be great if the parties could resolve the issue together, but if that is difficult, one way would be to have a third party intervene as a facilitator.

In that case, it would be best if there is someone who has studied facilitation.

It’s unfortunate that we’re quarreling with each other, saying, “That person gets emotional easily,” or “That person doesn’t listen to me at all.” You should always keep in the corner of your mind that your rank may be higher or lower depending on the opponent, and never forget to try to understand your opponent.

(Serialized logo design by Mio Hoshino, editing by Ayuko Tokiwa)

Ryuichiro Nakao:President of Nakao Management Institute. Completed Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University in 1989. He joined Recruit. After serving as executive officer (in charge of business development) of Recruit Sumai Company, president of Recruit Technologies, and deputy director of Recruit Works Research Institute, he assumed his current position in 2019. He is an outside director of Tabikobo Co., Ltd., an outside director of LIFULL Co., Ltd., a part-time auditor of LiNKX Co., Ltd., and a fellow of Hakuhodo DY Holdings Co., Ltd. His new book is “Explosive growth management that raised 1000 elites”.