How We Decide Meaning

In a recent spontaneous demonstration I wrote the word “OMAHA” on the whiteboard. I asked the audience, “What comes to mind when you see this?”

I’ll ask you the same question. When you see the word OMAHA, what (if anything) comes to mind?

When I asked the room full of Hold the Standard Summit attendees this question, many of the people didn’t answer. Nothing in particular came to mind. The answers I did receive varied, however. The most common answer of folks who raised their hand to chime in referenced World War II. For them, Omaha was a reference to Omaha Beach. 

After they all shared, I told them that the word for me brings up the hairs on the back of my neck as the location for the NCAA College Baseball World Series. This answer to most everyone else was completely out of left field. 

Why is this significant? I was explaining how human beings are creatures that seek to create meaning. Furthermore, we perceive and assign meaning in unique ways.  One word meant as many as four distinct things to this small group of people. I told this story to explain, in part, how the name DEUCE came about and our desire to hold the pen in the writing of the story about what DEUCE means. After all, fitness words spark different meanings in people, many of which are inaccurate of what we do. 

What does this mean for you? It means that the best fighting chance you have to communicate with other people is to avoid an assumption that we’re all perceiving information the same. Every person has a unique perspective and to not take that into account will set you up for failure in business, relationships, and any other exchange. 

Good luck. 

 

Logan Gelbrich  

@functionalcoach