Did you ever try to push open a door that needs to be pulled?

I’ve certainly bumped into one more than once. Just yesterday, actually.

I pushed.
Pushed harder.
And only after the third attempt did I notice the small word near the handle.

→ Pull.

This is what trying to be right feels like.

You trust your first idea.
You commit to it.
You invest effort.

And when it doesn’t move, you push harder because you are sure the idea should work.

Trying to get it right feels very different.

You stop pushing and look for clues.
You change your approach.
When you find one, you change your approach.

And suddenly, the door moves with almost no effort.

That’s also how resonance works in communication.

When ideas meet resistance, people often simply repeat their arguments and persuade harder. But the problem is rarely a lack of force.
More often, it’s a lack of clues. Figuring out what we’re missing.

Three quick thoughts:

1. What are people optimizing for that you are not?
For example, if your success metric is different, you might be pushing against strong resistance.

2. What risk are they carrying that you are not?
For example, a regional leader who signs their name under the plan will resist in ways that a global function head will not.

3. What constraint are they assuming that you have not made visible?
For example, there might be a funding rule, a contractual detail, or a political reality that completely changes the feasibility of your idea.

Once you have this information, you can adapt.

That is the pull moment.

And suddenly, doors open easily that once felt impossible to move.

Keep lighting the path!,
Michael

PS: The current issue of What the Best Leaders Say digs deep on what exactly happens when you switch your organization from a being right attitude to a getting it right attitude.

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