How do you turn obstacles? How do you turn adversity? How do you turn the perceptions and the cues and the stereotypes that others have against you to work in your favor? So when we think about “edge” and what that actually means, we often think about it as somebody having an advantage, right? That you’re somehow born into some kind of advantage, or you’re in the right circles, or all those sorts of things. And that’s what we naturally tend to think about.

But in terms of gaining an edge, decisions are made based on signals. Decisions are made based on conversations, based on interest, based on stereotypes, based on cues. And when we think about all of the uncertainty in the world, it makes sense. Those are the ways that we’re actually picking up on information; when there’s not hard data out there, we rely on the soft data to then help us interpret what’s happening. And so, with this uncertainty, we often think that it leads to these negative outcomes. But with that uncertainty also gives us an opportunity, gives us the opportunity to actually shape things and guide things and help them work in our favor.

And so part of gaining an edge is recognizing, number one, that there is a myth of meritocracy. But number two, because of uncertainty, we can actually turn things to work in our favor and gain that edge.

So in my research, I study disadvantage, and I study inequality. I study it in a number of different contexts. But for the most part, I’ve been studying it in the venture capital and in the tech entrepreneurship realm. I’ve been studying how investors make their decisions based on gut feel because when there is a lot of uncertainty, they rely on their experience and their prototypes, and their attributions and their perceptions.

So for example, I found that when females are presenting to investors, they’re more likely to get to ask different types of questions. They’re more likely to get asked prevention-focused questions, focused around risks, whereas men are more likely to get asked what are called promotion-focus questions, questions around what other industries would be interested in this? What are the product lines? Where else could you extend this? And so what I found is that when entrepreneurs, both males and females, are able to flip the questions around or flip their answers around in a way that is more promotion-focused, they’re able to equalize, and to actually be more successful and more persuasive in their pitches.

Gaining an edge for yourself is composed of a bunch of different factors. The first factor is really thinking about how you enrich. We all know that we provide value. And the two things that we need to do when we provide value are demonstrating that we provide that value, and also having others believe that you provide that value. Hard work and effort are critical. Those are the things that I tell my children on a daily basis, right, “Work hard, make sure you’re putting in the effort.” But you can take two people who put in the same amount of effort, who put in the same amount of hard work, and they’re going to achieve very different outcomes. And so what is that hard work, plus? What is that extra factor that’s going to actually take your hard work, and allow it to work harder for you? And so that’s sort of that first element.

The second element is actually what sequentially comes first, but that we don’t actually understand. And we’re not actually able to do until we know the value we bring, until we know how we can enrich. That second factor is delight. How do you delight your customer? How do you delight others? How do you somehow delight someone who’s worth $20 billion in a way that he laughs and giggles with you, and then invites you into his office and gives you all sorts of information that he never would reveal to somebody else?

And the third element is really about guiding. Because it’s not enough just to delight somebody, you have to continue to guide that interaction. You have to recognize that these signals, and these cues, and these perceptions, continue to be a part of that interpersonal relationship. And when you’re actually seeking those rewards, or you’re seeking that outcome, what you need to be doing is continuing to guide those perceptions, knowing the stereotypes that people have against you, knowing that those are certain things that they’re going to be making attributions about. And as you continue to guide those, you can do things like turning those questions into promotion-focused questions that are looking at a potential rather than risk. Guiding those interactions so that you continue, and so that you can show how you’re able to enrich and provide value and create and gain that edge for yourself.

And so when we think about all of the people we’re interacting with and all the things that we’re trying to do in our lives, again, it’s knowing that this hard work has to be there, that this is not something that is a secret sauce, or something that is inauthentic, where we’re just being persuasive and influential. This is something that is based on, that is grounded in the effort that you’ve put in, the hard work that you have, and it’s by being as authentic, and knowing those things that you provide that you’re then able to delight in a way, enrich in a way, and guide in a way, that allows you to gain that edge.

Jamie Chen, Longitude fellow, Rice University:

Thank you, Laura, for sharing such wonderful and actionable insights.

I think your organized analysis is very much relevant to all of us, not only to move forward in “larger frames” such as career-wise, but also on how to improve our interactions with others in our daily lives to achieve our desired effect. I think it is extremely interesting that you pointed out we often attribute “edge” to innate factors such as birthright and family background, despite the fact we can do a lot for ourselves to create our own edge customized for our own circumstances.

Furthermore, it is interesting to realize the apparent oxymoron of the rationality behind our reliance on “soft data,” or our inexplicable intuition and feeling when making decisions given the high-level of uncertainty surrounding any decision, regardless of the amount of “hard data” available. Nonetheless, these arguably subjective decisions often determine the outcomes for the people involved. Hence, I think learning how to steer these decisions in our favor, to promote positive outcomes, and to transform uncertain circumstances to our advantage, should be a skill we should all work on as part of our self-development in learning to advocate for ourselves.