#davesdailychallenge (32): Filters. Person A sends message A. Person B receives message B. A does not equal B. What the hell happened?
          Just think how many times in your life this has happened to you. Think about that meeting with your client where you just aren’t getting through. Think about that argument you had with your significant other where both sides feel like they aren’t “being heard”. Think about all those times we’ve seen protesters screaming at one another only to think to ourselves “wait a minute…that isn’t what they said, you’re twisting their words.” The examples are endless. After 13+ years in the professional world I have come to believe that the concept of filters is the most valuable communication lesson I have ever learned. Let’s revisit the initial example. When person A sends message A to person B and person B receives message B, also known as not the message that person A intended, person A has made a crucial error. The receiver of any message possesses filters all around them that sift through data utilizing their own experiences, biases, viewpoints, and current moods or feelings in order to process what is being sent to them. If the sender of any message assumes that their message is getting through as intended they are often going to be wrong unless they know the receiver well enough to tailor the message to utilize those aforementioned filters to their advantage.
          Let’s use the contemporary example of Bernie Sanders. Senator Sanders is running for President as I’m sure you know. Before I go any further I am using this example purely to drive this point home not as any sort of political endorsement or slander. During all of Senator Sanders’ campaign speeches he makes points about various topics that are important to him and those he cares about. While it is certainly impossible to communicate perfectly to millions of people at once, all with their own filters, what do you notice every time he is done speaking? Most of the people who already support him have the appropriate filters in place to hear his message and receive it in a positive way. Most of the people who already don’t support him have the appropriate filters in place to ensure that no matter what he says the message he sent will not be received in the way it was intended. As of today, February 9th, 2016, I am convinced that Donald Trump could take the podium and proclaim that he was “for goodness and against badness” and his detractors would tear him apart.
          Our filters end up crafting our entire worldview. They either allow us to see the things that others can’t or they prevent us from hearing the things that perhaps we should. The challenge then lies in being aware enough of our own filters in order to master them, not to be mastered by them. The next time you are speaking with someone and you just aren’t getting through ask yourself what filters the receiver has and how to get around them. Do that and you will learn the most valuable communication lesson, filters are everything.