This Is Marketing: You Cant Be Seen Until You Learn to See

Learning to see status

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The idea of status isn’t nearly as simple as it appears. Consider, for those
you seek to serve, their external status (how they are seen by their chosen
community) and their internal status (who they see when they look in the
mirror).
Next, work through how they maintain or seek to change that status. Do
they belittle others? Seek approval? Help in selfless ways? Drive
themselves to achieve more? What sort of wins and losses do they track?
Consider the following two XY grids.
People in the top-right quadrant (a) are rare indeed. This space belongs
to people who are seen as powerful and who also see themselves as able to
handle it. I’d put Oprah Winfrey in this category. This is the person who is
able to choose, not the one who is waiting to be chosen.
The top-left quadrant (d) is more common, since people who end up with
high status often doubt themselves. This can turn them into divas. The best
stories about Frank Sinatra are about the juxtaposition of his perceived
royalty status with his own need for affirmation. Impostor syndrome lies
here.

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The bottom-right quadrant (b) is for people who see themselves as far
better than the rest of the world does. This is where you can find artistic
drive and a willingness to strive for better. But over time, it can also lead to
bitterness.
And finally, the bottom-left quadrant (c) is where we categorize people
who see themselves as undeserving (and the world agrees). While this
appears to be a sad place, it’s also a consistent one, which is why we’ve
embedded this role in the hierarchical culture. This is Cinderella before the
ball, never expecting a chance for more. This is the coal miner, fighting to
keep a dangerous, low-paying job.
Before we do the analysis, though, there’s one more grid:
In many interactions, people seek to change their relative status—either
to adjust themselves up in comparison to their peers, or to seek safety by
giving up and moving down.
Moving down creates safety because there’s more room and less threat.
Fewer people jostle here for a better view or the chance to eat lunch first.
People are intensely aware of their relative status. We can move up or
down. We can do that by helping/pushing others up or down. We can open

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the door for others and enable them to increase their status, or we can spend
time denigrating others or increasing our own status.
In quadrant 1, we see the philanthropist, the committed teacher, and the
social justice proponent. She seeks to improve her status with others by
demonstrating the power to focus on those with low status instead of
herself. This is certainly how Superman came to be understood by us. He
could rob banks, but he saves lives instead.
In quadrant 2, we see similar behavior for a different reason. This is the
person who not only lets other people ahead in line but doesn’t even bother
to try out for a role, because others are more deserving.
Quadrant 3 is the antisocial character who presents a noxious, infantile
narcissism to the world. He’s angry, he knows he can’t measure up, but he’s
going to take down everyone around him. O. J. Simpson and Martin Shkreli
are here.
And quadrant 4 is the hard-charging selfish person who desperately
wants to win every engagement, and who is willing to do it with a
combination of creating value and tearing down the competition.