Your Political Guru

Here’s a special tip for the trick or treater’s – always remember the goal is to maximize your candy receipts.

Some kids think their goal is to amuse others, or have fun, but one of my son Joe knows that the whole purpose is to get the most candy you can in three hours.  He puts together his costume accordingly.

Last year he showed up as an Obama supporter.  He had the whole uniform, including shirt and stickers.

Now keep in mind, he is doing this in Oklahoma, and a heavily Republican part of Oklahoma City. On the face of it, this would seem to be a stupid tactic to get candy.  But it was actually beautiful in its implementation . . .

If he went to a Republican house and they reacted negatively to his costume, he would ask “well isn’t this the scariest thing you can think of?”  That would always crack them up and he would get an extra piece of candy for clever political comedy.

If he came to a closet Obama supporter’s house (since almost no one in our part of town was publicly supporting Obama) they would express happy surprise that someone had the guts to support Obama, and my son would get extra candy.

What was the result at the end of the evening – Joe did 20% better than anyone else trick or treating that night.

What can you learn from this kid?

• Don’t be afraid to stick out.  It is good to be the contrarian.  When everyone else doing one thing and getting mediocre results, do the opposite.
• Have a ready answer. Joe didn’t just put the costume together to be provocative; it was part of an overall strategy.  He was ready for both sides.
• Stay focused on your main goal.  Joe’s goal was to get the most candy.  He developed tactics to accomplish his goal.  What are you trying to do and are you developing tactics to make it happen?