Confidence versus Volume
Photo by Scott Major on Unsplash
In my last post, I talked about the Signal-to-Noise ratio and its applicability to our personal and professional lives - how we need to be able to look past the noise that we hear to the core signals, so that we can interpret and react to a situation appropriately.
There’s a related idea that Seth Godin highlighted in one of his recent posts that speaks to the idea of confidence versus volume. And that is, that we sometimes conflate the two - implicitly, when it’s coming from others, or explicitly, when we’re the ones doling it out.
The first part of that is something we’ve all dealt with. Those folks in our lives who are adamant about their needs and demands. They speak to the severity of the situation, how their requirements must be met, else disaster will follow. They insist they know what they’re talking about - their knowledge, years of experience, etc. - and so, they say, it’s imperative that we listen to them.
This might actually be the case but it’s important for us to be able to discern between whether what we’re hearing is confidence or, simply, volume - repeated messages, belligerent tones, veiled threats. The former invokes serious discussion, moves us forward, while the latter invites exhaustion, and eventually just becomes a war of attrition.
Of course, this applies to how we communicate as well. When we know what we’re talking about, it’s essential for us to demonstrate our confidence - appropriately - by focusing on the facts of the situation, the logical consequences.
When we don’t, though - when we have an agenda, when we don’t quite know what we’re talking about, when we’re insecure, when we’re operating on an emotional basis (i.e. when we’re insecure) - we tend to replace reasoned analysis with volume. Raise the volume, and we believe we’ll be better heard, or at least we’ll get our way. Bull in a China shop, so to speak.
Thing is, that’s actually counterproductive, and it hurts us, our relationships, our systems and our organizations in the long run. Because we’re not coming from a factual basis, one driven by the considered good of the collective (however you define that collective).
The point is - it’s important to not conflate the two ideas - confidence and volume are not one and the same, and you don’t always need volume to make your point.
In fact, volume often gets in the way and positions us negatively - boorish, belligerent, complaining. That’s not helpful to making our case, now or in the future. It leads to people avoiding us, working around us, and worse, ignoring us.
Better instead to make the effort to distinguish between the two. Is what we’re hearing or communicating, emphasizing confidence, or is it simply volume?
