High ground maneuvers

After all the outcry in various public forums over bad signal quality of the iPhone 4, Steve Jobs addressed a press conference, where he said, “We're not perfect. Phones are not perfect. We all know that. But we want to make our users happy."

The PR guys at Apple sure seem to have done a good job; the discussions have suddenly shifted from the iPhone’s antenna problems to debating whether all smart phones face similar issues. Samsung and HTC have already refuted the argument and accused Apple of sidelining the main problem. Apple though played it smart by elevating it from an Apple product problem to a product “category” one and it’s sure to give it enough time to find a solution while keeping tech critics at bay.

Scott Adams, creator of the very popular, and my personal favorite Dilbert series, refers to this as a high ground maneuver and this episode is plucked right from his blog. In his words, “The high ground maneuver involves taking an argument up to a level where you can say something that is absolutely true while changing the context at the same time. Once the move has been executed, the other participants will fear appearing small-minded if they drag the argument back to the detail level. It's an instant game changer."

But then what’s new in this? We have long heard, seen and experienced this in our personal and professional lives. Haven’t we? Just few days back, an aircraft crashed at the Mangalore airport and the usual response from the authorities was, “Well that’s possible at any airstrip that’s located at such a high altitude.” Some nerve to give that kinda response. But it did lead to an enquiry on all airports classified as high risk. And I didn’t hear about what happened to the Mangalore incident ever since.

Leave aside issues that make headlines (although it’s not very difficult for anyone to make headlines these days); high ground maneuvers affect us on a day-to-day basis as well. Like when we don’t get the increment to the extent we expect, our bosses justify that as an industry-wide recession. To rub salt on our wounds, they also expect us to consider ourselves fortunate that we got a (nominal) hike, when industry peers were downsizing. As if our petty paychecks would make any difference to industry numbers when bankers carry home commissions fatter than my annual salary, after sinking millions.

Here are some more illustrations of high ground maneuvers:

• Overheard someone advise another to never look at the price column in a restaurant’s menu. The high (read exorbitant) prices (spin doctored as value) come with the ambience….yeah, and does the food come from the pavement cart?
• Why do you bother tracking your car’s fuel efficiency? This car is not just a means of transportation, it is a status symbol….Is it? I wonder why the girl in the next cubicle never thought so
• Demand for rented apartments in Bangalore is up these days, especially with the IT boom. You have to pay this much for this apartment. Take it or leave it…..But just a few months back, the sun was setting on this very rising sector; wasn’t it?
• Why are you looking at such minor details of this assignment? You need to look at the big picture to grow in your career…..Excuse me? But they do need this data? How about tweaking this report? Aah….Big picture son! Just 3 bullet points!
• And my personal favorite: This new product that you are developing should appeal to everyone – from the corporate basement to the boardroom….Wow! So much for segmentation, targeting and positioning. By the way, this is a true story and the concerned product was stuck in development for 2 years!

So how do you counter-attack such high ground maneuvers? I guess with a higher ground one. Going back to the ‘hike’ illustration – so if my hike is industry dependent, it is function dependent as well. Surely, my peers in the marketing function in other industries got hikes much better than mine. Apparently recession does not affect the function there, then why here? Gotcha? Works at times; though not every time. Works with some, worse with others. Maybe Steve Jobs can carry such maneuvers off with aplomb; others would have to work decades to build that sort of credibility before they attempt such stunts.

While you learn the trick, let’s enjoy yet another anecdote of Apple’s marketing success. Even Dilbert’s friends don’t seem to get enough of this brand! Check out this strip:

Caution: Don’t try a high ground maneuver at home; definitely not with your wife or mother. Some species can see right through it. Worse still, they are much more adept at higher ground maneuvers than you!