I never had the pleasure of taking a class on rhetoric. I picked up everything I know about debating from the street. This wasn't as easy as it sounds, because, rather than flowing words, the street tends to prefer pounding fists. Not to say that's not instructive. You learn a lot when life and limb are at stake. For example, did I ever tell you about the time I stopped I street fight.
This is a true story.
A few years after graduation (i.e., we were adults), we happened to be visiting our favorite watering hole next to our alma mater. In a splash of spilt beer, a stewing argument spilled out into the open street and down a dark alley. There were three of them squared off against three of us. And dozens of spectators, most of whom were on our side. Why they didn't intervene to stop the impending fisticuffs, I'll never know. After all, we were short-handed – one of our three lost an eye playing in the International League (you know that one, it's the one they made the movie Slapshot about).
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So there we were. Mano e mano (times three). The air reeked of testosterone as these six males all vied for the "alpha" moniker. Well, all except me, that is. If there's anything I learned from a certain Mr. Josey Wales, it's that a man's got to know his limitations. I knew mine. And my mind was scrambling, fervently trying to figure a way out of this life-threatening labyrinth. I don't know why, but just at the height of tension, I blurted out to our opponents, "Do you go to school here?"
In an instant, the tension, the testosterone and the tinkling feeling down my leg simply evaporated. In that moment, the six feuding foes, and the audience around us, burst into spontaneous laughter. The non sequitor of my comment was, well, extremely non sequitor. The fight stopped and we all went back to Rudy's, best friends forever.
Aristotle would call my statement an example of reframing the argument. It's a rhetoric device they apparently teach lawyers. It works like this. When the prosecutor makes a big deal about DNA evidence and you can't refute it, you ask your client to try on a pair of gloves that don't fit.
OK. I admit that makes it sound like reframing is a bad thing. Here's another example that hopefully everyone agrees will show how reframing can be used for good. In a country that fancied itself the beacon of liberty, today it's hard to understand how a young America could justify slavery. But, back in the early days of our nation, the slavery debate focused on the issue of the property rights of the owner. Everyone agrees an owner's right to property superseded any claim of the state, right? After all, didn't John Locke once famously say all men have a right to "life, liberty and property"?
But if reframe the debate from the point of view of the slave, the argument shifts from one of property rights to one of human rights. And that changes everything.
According to Ron Rhoades (see "Is Famed Fiduciary Advocate Ron Rhoades Ready to Concede Defeat?" FiduciaryNews.com, April 22, 2014), the ongoing fiduciary debate has been framed by the industry lobbyists in such a way those in favor of a universal fiduciary standard are destined to lose. First, its focus is from the point of view of business rights. Second, the venue is Washington DC. Both of these factors favor industry giants who are opposed to the fiduciary standard.
Rhoades proposes we reframe the argument by shifting the focus from the service provider's business model to the clients' best interests. Furthermore, he suggests we move the venue from the offices of regulators to the kitchen tables of clients.
It's so crazy, it… just… might… work.
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Christopher Carosa
Chris Carosa has been writing a weekly article and monthly column for BenefitsPRO online and BenefitsPRO Magazine since 2011 and is a nationally recognized award-winning writer, researcher and speaker. He’s written seven books, including From Cradle to Retire: The Child IRA; Hey! What’s My Number? – How to Increase the Odds You Will Retire in Comfort; A Pizza The Action: Everything I Ever Learned About Business I Learned By Working in a Pizza Stand at the Erie County Fair; and the widely acclaimed 401(k) Fiduciary Solutions. Carosa is also Chief Contributing Editor of the authoritative trade journal FiduciaryNews.com and publisher of the Mendon-Honeoye Falls-Lima Sentinel, a weekly community newspaper he founded in 1989. Currently serving as President of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists and with more than 1,000 articles published in various publications, he appears regularly in the national media. A “parallel” entrepreneur, he actively runs a handful of businesses, including a small boutique investment adviser, providing hands-on experience for his writing. A trained astrophysicist, he also holds an MBA and has been designated a Certified Trust and Financial Advisor. Share your thoughts and story ideas with him through Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/christophercarosa/)and Twitter (https://twitter.com/ChrisCarosa).
