How do you choose between joining the vocal minority or the silent majority?

Being vocal gets you things, being silent gets you peace.

Hi guys,

Hope you are doing well. I’m okay, Alhamdulillah. Barely-have-time-to-breathe-but-okay, Alhamdulillah.

First, thank you for your comments and feedback last week!

According to the results of the poll, about 3% of you think the newsletter is too short, 15% think it is too long, and 82% think it is just right. One of the more interesting private comments I got was from a friend who said, ‘Why would anyone say they are too long? Besides, na your newsletter - write for yourself…’

I especially liked the ‘write for yourself’ part. I have always written for myself on here, which is why it is both immensely personal and fairly unstructured. Buttt, the aim of writing is to share ideas (and then learn from others). And if you can’t get people to read them, then you might as well not write anything. So as much as I will continue trying to write for myself first and foremost, external input on how to be better (whether in content, grammar, or style) is very much appreciated.

Now to the other thing.

If more than 80% of readers thought the newsletter length was alright, why did I get influenced by the views of a clear minority?

** side note: I paused writing the newsletter here, went out and then spent the bulk of the last 8 hours working on a strategy development report. Now I have neither the energy nor the zeal to continue writing this. I will also give anything to have beans and dodo magically appear in front of me. Ah well.

Vocal minority > Silent majority

According to the 20-60-20 rule, in any setting, 20% of the population actively gets things done, 60% just tag along, and 20% actively derails things from progressing. So in a company with 100 employees for example, 20 people show up early, generate new leads, try their best to keep customers happy, etc.

The next 60 people are meh. They do the bare minimum. They help customers if convenient, and gladly turn away work if beyond the scope of the agreement. They show up for meetings, barely contribute, and will likely attempt to do whatever is agreed. But if they were to leave the organization, nobody would miss them.

And then the final 20 people. These ones are not only useless in that they do not actively support, but they engage in actions that draw everyone back. They show up consistently late for meetings, they send clients the wrong documents, they forget to file company taxes, etc. They include the bestman that forgot the wedding ring or the event planner that forgot to order drinks.

Image from business2community

I personally think the distribution is probably closer to 10-80-10, but that’s not important right now. The koko is that the vast majority of any population are ‘silent partners’. The same is true even for this newsletter. On average, about 5% of people that view this newsletter hit the like button. So for each person that reads my newsletter and likes it, 19 other people read it silently and move on. This is the way of the world. 😂

** side note: I did not use this example to request that you like the posts, not at all. My plea yesterday, today, and tomorrow is that you share. That one is important, thank you!

I guess it is just how we are wired. The vast majority of us watch YouTube videos as ‘silent partners’, not liking or disliking unless we are particularly moved. We order things from Amazon/Jumia and basically never leave reviews, except in odd cases where the delivery was exceptional or the product had a defect.

It eez what it eez.

You get the concept of silent majority, yes?

Great.

If you were to watch American entertainment (movies/series/whatever else) made in recent years, you will likely find that of the 5 main characters, at least one is black and one is LGBTQ. Not in every case, but generally.

Pause here and think about any shows you have watched in the last five years. I think you’ll find that this is valid for most of them.

But when you look at actual US demographics, Blacks constitute 13.4% and LGBTQ constitute only 5.6%. So why do both these groups get so much more representation (equivalent to 20%) than they would otherwise deserve?

Because they are vocal.

Take any random case where the bulk of the partners, party A, are silent. If a minority party B fights for a cause, the only way they do not get it is if another party C fights even stronger against the same cause. Otherwise, the vocal minority will always always trump the silent majority.

So how do you choose whether to be vocal or part of the silent majority?

I don’t know.

I personally oscillate quite a bit between being an opinionated noise maker and someone who just observes others x enjoys his peace and quiet. Different people see different sides at different times, it depends so many things.

There was an incident some 4/5 years ago when I was at this conference with many young people. I don’t remember what exactly it was about, but I do remember that we were at some point split into groups to compete on something.

Coincidentally, there was this egbon of mine who happened to be at the event in the same group as I was. She saw me in her group, smiled and said, ‘Thank God. We’re going to win.’ 😂😂

But as we began to work on it, I was increasingly quiet. As people bounced ideas to tackle the problem, she turned to me several times to ask, ‘You're not saying anything. Is it okay so far? Don't you have something to add?’

But I had no comments whatsoever to add. I frankly didn’t even have the energy to think about the problem. I was in one of my (more numerous than you might imagine) ‘silent partner’ headspaces. I do not remember if our group did well or poorly in that contest, but I do remember the confused look of that egbon after the work was over. It was a look of ‘And I thought this guy was smart’. 😂

Now that I have successfully told you a story you did not ask for, back to the question.

How to choose between being vocal or joining the silent majority?

Again, no answers for you but this is what I know.

Being vocal gets you things, being silent gets you peace.

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Sometime during the week, I was on a phone call with an Insurance professional from the Middle East to seek some industry advice.

He mentioned that three clear trends had been flowing across the global insurance sector in the last few years - an aging population (more people to claim pension funds), the impact of government regulation (especially around fee transparency), and technology disruption (wahala for everybody).

Then he said something that stood out.

‘Of these trends, there is only one insurance companies have any control over. They cannot control life spans of people and they cannot really control government regulation. The only way to stay ahead is to rapidly adopt technology and offer more digital solutions.’

It was such a powerful way to frame the problem.

Of all our problems in life (I have a lot and I know you have a lot too), there is always a subset that we have control over. Focusing on what we have control over and ignoring all the rest is a winning strategy again and again and again.

If you have a job interview, you don’t have control over many things. You don’t know whether the company has a diversity target (e.g. 50% women in management or 30% non-STEM background) to meet. You don’t know whether the other candidates being interviewed went to the same high school as the Head of Human Resources. You have no control over many of these things.

But what do you have control over? Your preparation. You have control over being able to tell your story back to front. You have control over having tailor-made answers to the most likely interview questions. You have control over arriving early and wearing an appropriate outfit. I can go on and on.

Give all your effort in the things you have control over, and hopefully the lines fall in pleasant places.

As you begin a new week, I hope you are intentional about maximizing your vocal minority to silent partner trade-off, and focus 100% on the things you can control.

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If you found this newsletter useful, please share it with your friends. Have them read it and subscribe. I like to share personal stories and life lessons as I learn. They will be super random, but common themes will include business, personal development, human relationships, and Islam.

Gracias, and see you around.

Hameed

** Jara content:

“To quit means you have to honor your instincts and the desire for something else, but it also demands that you take a leap of faith. It requires you to trust yourself and the world enough to believe you will be okay without whatever membership, credential, activity, situation, or person you are walking away from.” - Breetel Graves