Align, Don't Convince (Perception vs Perspective)
Win delight buy-in by mapping it to what the leader already values, not by arguing for it
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 3
- Confidence
- 90%
A buy-in strategy for getting skeptical leaders to invest in delight (or any new initiative). Instead of trying to convince, which frames the idea as a threat, you separate your perception from the leader's perspective, understand what they value most, and show how the initiative advances that goal, often without naming it 'delight' at all.
Origin
Nesrine Changuel's advice from coaching founders and CPOs after leaving Google, illustrated with a founder client running a startup connecting musicians to curators.
Core principles
- 01Trying to convince frames the idea as a threat to existing ways of working
- 02A leader's 'no' usually means 'not aligned enough,' not 'wrong'
- 03Perception is your view; perspective is understanding how others see it
- 04Connect the initiative to the leader's own goals rather than championing the buzzword
How to run it
- 1
Stop trying to convince
Abandon the frontal 'we should do delight because I heard it's important' pitch; it reads as a threat and is a lost battle.
Watch out Leading with the buzzword ('delight') often triggers the 'nice-to-have / cherry on top' dismissal.
- 2
Adopt the leader's perspective
Step into the CEO's or leader's shoes and identify what they value most and why they're saying no.
- 3
Reframe delight as the path to their goal
Show how removing friction, anticipating needs, or exceeding expectations advances the outcome they already care about (growth, word of mouth, retention). Ask a pointed question that exposes the gap.
Pro tip Use a single sharp question to make them discover the need themselves, e.g. 'Are your users proud enough to recommend your product to other artists?' Often you needn't even use the word 'delight' up front.
In the wild
A founder came to Changuel for help with strategy and OKRs and was initially opposed to delight. She asked whether his users were proud to recommend the product; he realized they weren't, because being helped made them feel 'little.' Two weeks later he returned wanting to shift the entire strategy toward making users proud.
→ Pride/word-of-mouth became the company's number-one strategy; the startup grew and expanded into the US, all from aligning delight to a goal he already valued rather than arguing for delight itself.
Common mistakes
Reading 'no' as rejection of the idea
A leader's no often just means the idea isn't yet connected to what they value; treating it as a verdict on delight's worth ends the conversation prematurely.
Is it for you?
Best for
PMs and internal champions trying to secure executive buy-in for experience/delight investment against a fires-first, ship-features leadership culture.
Not ideal for
Contexts where the leader's core goals genuinely can't be advanced by the initiative; forcing alignment there would be dishonest.
From the transcript
“The very first advice is to try not to convince”
“have you heard about this concept of uh perception versus uh perspective”
“instead of trying to convince and that's why I said don't even try to convince is to try to align and put yourself into the…”
“do you think your users are proud to use your product?”
“the fact that you're saying no does not necessarily mean that it's the wrong thing. It's just it's not aligned enough”
From the episode
A 4-step framework for building delightful products
Nesrine Changuel (Spotify, Google, Skype)