Which man triumphs?

 

                                   “If you can’t be better than someone at something,                                     then simply being yourself is better than trying to do so.”

  

I always remember working at a company where, not long after I had joined, the Managing Director went onto pastures new.  Despite not knowing him for long, it was clear he was popular and had the team members (of which there were approximately a hundred in the office and twice as many on site) on side.

His replacement was a socially awkward looking younger man.  He was skinny and 6ft 6” tall.  Not the best looking to be fair.  He walked with a slouch and with very little presence considering the role he would be performing.  I couldn’t help but think this man is there through nothing but default and upper hierarchy pressure, and he would be a dead man walking per se.

In the beginning, he did look a bit out of place.  It was around the time I was diagnosed with cancer, and I’ll never forget how uneasy he looked as he approached me for the first time to talk about it.  We went and sat down to discuss things for ten minutes, and he made me feel, at my lowest time of life, that little bit stronger.  His words of support were sincere and reassuring, and I can genuinely say that I came away from the conversation with a tear in my eye.  He was every bit of supportive for the following nine months throughout my chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatment.  I couldn’t help but think that my survival tribulations put his work stress levels in true perspective, and he was almost thankful to me for it. 

Nevertheless, over the coming weeks and months he transformed from this discomposed figure to one of self-assurance, ease, and a certain aura of character.  Sure, the slouching never quite left him during his strolls along the corridor, however his presentations, team briefs and one-to-one discussions were on point.  Simply put, his sheer unrivalled technical knowledge of the industry allowed him to master himself and others around, and that, to a great extent, masked his shortcomings.

Q-tip 1:

Aim to exploit and maximise your strengths, concurrent to hiding and disregarding your weaknesses.

 

You don’t need to be studious of the subjects discussed in this video for it to be relevant to why you follow the topics written about in this blog.  Another point of worth at this stage is to not be freaked out by the two-hour length, as only from 12:25 to 36:15 is applicable.  I know you are all busy guys, therefore just a snippet here and there will be enough for you to grasp the relevance to this post.  That said, the more you watch, the more you will learn.  Life never comes for free, I guess…

The backdrop

As a brief synopsis before exploring the meat to the bones, the two men debating are Anthony ‘Pomp’ Pompliano (on the left) and Ben ‘Bitboy Crypto’ Armstrong (on the right).  They had a little online spat a day prior to the debate, and it led to what it led to.

On face value, I don’t think it comes across as too harsh or judgmental to say that they both strike you as quite opposing characters.  Pompliano has a more alpha, somewhat jerky and calm/cocky portray, whilst Armstrong perhaps comes across as the slightly overweight kid who got picked on at school.  I reiterate, on face value alone.  As I’ve always said, most people judge another on their perception of you, without taking the time to acknowledge the person for the person they are.

What I will do is compartmentalize the interaction and dispute, and consequently give my take on how it manifested.  

Early interaction / Immediate body language

At the beginning, Pomp is the one who has calm, relaxed and assured body language and voice tone.  Ben is undeniably on edge and slightly nervous.  This dynamic is to be expected when one party (Pomp) is effectively the prosecutor, whilst the other party (Bitboy) plays the role of the defendant.  Also, bear in mind Pomp has the “safety in numbers” mentality with his two brothers alongside him.  Any wise person knows that people who rely on the safety in numbers approach are actually weak, in contrast to he who is comfortable to battle and interact with nothing more than his own two arms and legs.

Pomp plays a crafty, unsubstantiated, and most likely untrue early card by claiming not many people who watch his channel know about Bitboy Crypto.  Ben perfectly responds with quantification facts about how large his subscribership and community is.  I love the plausible deniable dig back that his channel is the largest in America. 

Pomp, not content with his first attempt at understating Bitboy’s standing in the industry, at 14:00 fires a second bullet in trying to convince the audience Bitboy has little relevance in his existence and that the two of them have only met once.  Bitboy again corrects him with the mention of the second interaction.  This isn’t a good start for Pomp, as straight away it would allow savvy people to think one is being more objective than the other.  And at the end of the day, the whole purpose of this debate was to conclude who was being objective (and, hence honest too) in comparison to who was being subjective (with porky pies thrown in). 

Q-tip 2:

If you are going to try and elevate your importance and social proof level over and above another man, ensure this is implemented with facts.  If you are the recipient of someone playing this game with you, take it as a back-handed compliment. 

The next stage

At 14:15, Pomp uses this as an opportunity to get back on the front foot.  He starts off by complimenting Bitboy’s work ethic and morals, and fair play to him (Pomp) for this.  However, what this small timeframe does, to Pomp’s detriment, is it allows Bitboy a few more seconds to relax and remove some of the nerves and inside adrenalin that was most likely, and naturally, running a little too fast at the beginning.  As any great sports star will tell you, an optimum performance is constructed by a perfect balance between good nerves (hence attaining a level where you know the situation and outcome is important) simultaneous to being in control of your emotions too.  Too easy, and you run the risk of not testing yourself.  Too stressed, and your natural game can take a hit for the worse.

After the compliment, Pomp uses his main weapon in calling Bitboy out for talking shit.  Bitboy responds well by answering the question in the way he wants to answer it, but equally not bypassing the question at stake.  Pomp’s reaction to Bitboy’s accusation that he is out of touch with the modern-day meme coin investor is a poor one, because it is an over exaggerated laughing expression.  Note also how he feels the need to look to his left in seeking approval from his brothers. 

What Pomp needed to do in that moment was just stay still for a few seconds, smirk a little, and then shake his head in casual disagreement.  That would have looked far more natural and been far more productive.  He would have had his chance to respond.  Instead, what it now construes as is a case of the negative body language signals moving in opposite directions.  Whereas Bitboy started anxious and is now gradually moving to loosen up, Pomp started lightened but is now a little agitated. 

The tone and demeanour

The tones of both men, although variable, are big plus points.  It helps of course to be intelligent and articulate, which both are.  Pomp undeniably has the slower, more relaxed and composed speech, and on the face of it this is a bigger blessing than Bitboy’s likewise mile to minute delivery.

Nonetheless, if they were simply having a head-to-head on a Saturday night after a few pints, Pomp’s demeanour would be seen as far more beneficial and the one who is conquering the conflict.  It would, in such a situation, be a case of the one spouting off in more aggressive manner being the one who cares more about it than the other.  The one who smirks is just there for the ride, lapping up the amusement as he sees his opponent exert far more energy than him.  Women in the crowd would be more ignited to the Pomp’s conduct than the Bitboy exertion, all else being equal.

The fact is though, they weren’t having a pissed up argument, and in this case Bitboy’s implementation is advantageous as he knows the audience, in this given situation, are more interested in the content, words, objectivity and honesty, in comparison to who has the cooler on stage appearance.

Content / Honesty / Objectivity

This brings us nicely onto the main course of everything.  Where Bitboy wins the overall game, in my humble and unbiased view, is he counteracts Pomp’s argument and accusation by stating that Pomp has done exactly the same thing.  He is basically calling Pomp a hypocrite.  And when someone calls another a hypocrite, it is only one league up from calling them a liar.

What I also like is where (at 20:40) Bitboy makes no apology in confessing that certain video thumbnails are documented in such a way to achieve a greater number of views.  Even if you perform an act that isn’t based on totally moral or ethical moves, it is nearly always better to face up to this and give reasons to why it is done, instead of hiding being weak justifications and lies.  Bitboy also points out that all Crypto Youtubers are at it, therefore nobody is any better or worse than the other.  Fair point.

Finally, the more the video goes on, the more Pomp comes across as that person you know in the office who had five minutes to assemble a presentation.  He didn’t look well prepared.  Bitboy sticks to his honest and objective stance in explaining he hasn’t done anything that he said he wasn’t going to do, and that his words are only to benefit his audience.  Whilst you can never fully trust anyone in this world, especially someone you don’t know personally, he does come across as honest, genuine and believable.  And I’m a pretty good judge of character.

Conclusion

The general thought is that, in respect to human communication, seventy percent is assigned to body language and twenty percent is designated to your tone.  In theory then, ninety percent of what you’re saying is not coming out of your mouth.

This consensus is true in many respects.  In the game of attraction, women are propelled towards a man’s body language and voice tone far more than the words he says.  If you see a stranger in the street, you are going to be far more impressed with his strong posture and sound, than the words he is conveying to another. 

Be that as it may, in a discussion where what is talked about is far more critical than anything else in consideration to someone’s welfare, and in this case someone’s financial freedom, this consensus goes out the window.  What you look for in scenarios of this kind is content, honesty, objectivity and sincerity.  For me, Bitboy Crypto ticked all the boxes.

A final thought

A wise man once told me that honesty is the easiest path towards internal energy economizing.  His explication behind this is because when you aren’t second guessing yourself, you simply shoot from the hip without thinking twice.  When someone is lying, being economical with the truth, or devising make-believe stories, they need to put twice as much expenditure into the final verbal product.

That’s why if someone can’t ever look you in the eye when they talk about an emotive subject, the likelihood is they aren’t telling you the truth.

A final, final thought

By the way, I wrote this post before looking at the comments section.  Refreshingly, it appears the vast majority of people are on the same wavelength as me.

Acknowledgements

Youtube.com