Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)

thank you for your participation in our little ‘Bloghop-that-only-a-roger-would-have-come-up-with’ April Blog Challenge!   I’m grateful for all of the Comments and rendering that you, the un-seen, implied Readers have contributed to this effort to write our way through the alphabet.

The theme we adopted for our participation in the  ‘A-to-Z April Blog Challenge’, was, of course, ‘the Wakefield Doctrine‘. While not always staying true to this perspective… hold on a second… I just went and checked, and damn! despite how outré the title of some of the Posts may have been, I always seemed to come back to our favorite Doctrine! (Much like the Monks of New Skete, who loop the leads from the puppies, to their belts and go about their daily routines, for me, there is always a connection to the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers). While the Wakefield Doctrine is truly a fun amusement, to be enjoyed among friends, (“…and then he said, “I had such a strange experience this morning! I was saying goodbye to a client and they spent 30 minutes telling me about how I am the best agent they have ever met.” …what a roger!  oh yeah?  well!! let me tell you about the most scottian client I ever had, ‘one time we arranged to have me call at a certain time, so we could discuss an offer and the phone rang and rang, finally when I was about to hang up, she answered and said, “oh! thanks for holding on, I just stepped out of the shower!”) Of course, the Wakefield Doctrine is not just something to enhance our people-watching,  it’s also a tool. It’s a peculiarly effective perspective on the world, and, can always be applied:

…about to meet with a scott in a situation that has the potential to become adversarial?  Increase your eye contact and decrease the length of your statements. Louder and shorter!

…the girl at the cash register have a lot of metal and colour applied to her face and head area? Think she’s attractive? Want to say something to get her attention? Look to her right and speak to the left… it’s ok! she’ll laugh, she’s a clark and laughing for them is a very telling response.

…have a parent Teacher conference and you know that your child has been underachieving? Begin your conversation with talking about how difficult and challenging the teaching profession is, how difficult it must be because all the children don’t always listen and how the parents (of these children) can be even worse!

Sure, you’re thinking, ‘How am I supposed to know if these people are clarks or scotts or rogers?? hell, I’m not even sure which of these I am!’ And that is the part (of our little personality theory) that is not only fun, but beneficial  if applied to ourselves… the Wakefield Doctrine can be a very useful tool to improve ourselves. Sure, some of us have difficulty, at first, deciding which of the three personality types applies to ourselves. Simpler than you might think. All you need to do is answer this question:

‘How do I relate myself to the world around me? Do I (relate myself) to the world’ as would:

• an Outsider? a clark wakes up to a wonderful and mysterious and full-of-potential world that is ‘out there’… clarks know that they’re different and yet, hope to get through the day without un-invited scrutiny. a clark, endlessly curious, is searching for the knowledge that will allow them to become a real person
• a Predator? not a simple as you might think, (to identify with the world as do scotts)… now, if you’re thinking, ‘oh hell yeah! I’m one of those because I can size up the person real quick and can get people on my side and really am able to talk up a storm!’ …sorry, the rogerian bullet point is the next one down… scotts don’t ‘take measure’, they don’t,  ‘size up the other guy‘ and they certainly do not,  ‘talk them into being on her side‘  …scotts act  (granted, at times, ill-advisedly, impulsively and/or in-appropriately), the simplest fact-of-life is that scotts live in a reality in which acting first and thinking second is the only way to survive and thrive.
• a Member of the Herd?  simplest ‘test’ for a person you suspect might be a roger:  “Excuse, me… can you tell me, what’s 2 + 2 ?”  (roger) “Well, that’s kind of a dumb questions you’re asking, isn’t it? It’s 4. Do you have any other questions that make you look ridiculous?”  (In contrast to this question being posed to ‘the other two’:  “Excuse me, clark? what’s 2 + 2?”  (clark) “4! …most of the time, unless you mean….”  or “Hey! scott! what’s 2 + 2?” (scott)  “Who wants to know?!?!! Whats in it for me?  hey, I’ve always thought mathematics was kinda sexy….”)

If you’re the type of person who enjoys ideas and imagining different ways to see the world, then the Wakefield Doctrine is something you will not only enjoy learning about, but will find useful in the most mundane of ways, the most common of situations. Give it a try!

Lets have a subtitle-musical-tie-in