How To You Enjoying Talking To Your Audience, Even When They Disagree With You

1) You share your point of view

2) Someone offers a dissenting point of view.

3) You engage, defending your point of view.

4) The commentator accuses you of being “defensive,” as if this is some sort of code violation.

In basketball, there’s a common cliche: defense wins championships.

The Los Angeles Lakers ended the 2020 “Bubble” NBA Finals in 6 games over the Miami Heat with a stifling defensive performance in the closing game.

Four historic NBA teams -

Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls

The Curry-Klay-Draymond / KD Warriors

Kobe & Shaq’s Lakers

The “Big 3” Miami Heat

- Are all remembered by the casual fans and YouTube highlights for their offensive show. All of these teams were at or near the top of the league in defense.

I’m not saying the defense is WHY they won — but, defense is why they won.

People get triggered easily these days, depending on just how hot the hot-button the topic (race and politics are raging infernos; sports performance / talent is underrated).

When people are triggered, they do the exact opposite of the thoughtful author of an email I shared back in September. Instead of understanding the POV of the speaker, triggered people immediately (try to) impose their POV on someone else — then, accuse the other person of being defensive.

Triggered folks are driven by their emotions — playing offense — telling you why your idea / position / conclusion is wrong. You engage, defending your idea against the commentator with supporting evidence / info / etc.

“You’re defensive! Don’t share your opinion if you don’t want people to respond!”

Playing defense is not a bad thing, especially when someone is coming at you playing offense. If you want your content to be taken seriously, you’d better 1) Say something that isn’t already being said and 2) Be ready to defend it!

That’s the entire game in a nutshell.