Niiamah Ashong, on the Outlier's Edge Podcast, teaches a live masterclass on how he analyzes any environment or culture to blend in like a chameleon. Sparked by watching a drummer hear a song for the first time and then play it, he names his own process: active listening, anchor points, shadowing, listening for nuance, stamina and performing. What emerged is the core of his coaching: seeing where people are camouflaged, and helping them live successfully without it.
Episode at a glance
- Host: Niiamah Ashong, coach to outlier leaders
- Show: Outlier’s Edge Podcast, released December 18, 2021
- Format: session, 44 minutes
- Topics: Reading a room like a song, Anchor points and nuance, Shadowing to test and calibrate, Mental culture, Influence through heart and soul, Living without camouflage
What this session is about
Niiamah Ashong's idea is that the way he reads a room can be named as a system. He starts by sizing up the overall flow of a place, whether it's flat or hierarchical, laid-back or buttoned up, then finds the anchor points and major themes, the way the drummer found the time signature and the chorus. Next comes shadowing what he's seeing in his own language to test and calibrate, keeping expectations open enough to catch the nuance, and the stamina to keep going before performing, where templates are applied with small adjustments rather than learning everything from scratch. He connects it to his time taking actuarial exams, where he found he was very good at processes and slotted things into spaces that had already been designed.
What emerged
The turn came when Niiamah Ashong named what the chameleon skill is for. A chameleon changes colors as a protective mechanism, and for a long time that meant he wasn't saying the things no one else would say; now he uses the same listening to help clients get to new levels, seeing when people are hiding in plain sight. Understanding how he does it gives him agency: he can then choose whether to do it. He describes the core of his work as helping people live successfully in the world without having to put on the camouflage.
Questions this episode answers
How can a leader quickly read the culture of a new room?
Niiamah Ashong recommends sizing up a room as soon as one walks in, not for details but for the big overarching flow: whether it's flat or hierarchical, whether people defer to others, whether it's laid-back or buttoned up. Then he looks for the anchor points and major themes, the way a drummer listens for the time signature and the chorus.
Why does nuance matter when adapting to a new environment?
Niiamah Ashong says the interplay of anchor points and nuance is what lets a chameleon succeed: once the anchor points are in place, the mind can relax and simply look for what's different. Expectations stay in place but open enough to notice what doesn't fit.
How does a coach use this kind of analysis with clients?
Niiamah Ashong listens for the overall world a client lives in, then the themes that keep coming up, then the nuance where things shift. He calls the world a person creates for themselves their mental culture, the rules they think they need to play by, and he looks for the exceptions, such as the things they cherish that didn't take much at all even though their story says everything worth having comes from hard work.
How can a leader help a team member who isn't producing the result the leader wants?
Niiamah Ashong asks whether the leader has taken the time to understand the system that person lives in and what it took for them to get there. Rather than changing the entire genre on them, he suggests letting them live in the anchor points of their own life and helping them see the small nuances they need to bring to be successful on the team.
Why does Niiamah Ashong avoid debates when he wants to influence someone?
Niiamah Ashong says people always rationalize in the mind, so changing minds isn't where he wants to go; he wants to get to what is important to someone in their heart and soul. In his view, the ability to see a person as a system, with all its nuances, is what makes it possible to sit across the table and know what matters to them.
In their words
I'm not an influencer, I'm an influential leader, and I walk into areas and things change.
Niiamah Ashong
How can I help you live successfully in the world as a chameleon without having to put on the camouflage?
Niiamah Ashong
If you understand how you do it, you can then choose if you do it.
Niiamah Ashong
Key moments
00:33 – Watching a drummer learn by ear
04:40 – Reading a room like music
06:44 – An influential leader, not an influencer
09:14 – Step one: active listening
11:49 – Anchor points and the actuarial exams
16:56 – Shadowing in one's own language
18:28 – Listening for the nuance
24:35 – Stamina, then performing
29:40 – Using the chameleon skill to coach
36:45 – Heart and soul over debate
About Niiamah Ashong
Niiamah Ashong is a coach to outlier leaders, host of the Outlier’s Edge Podcast, and founder of the Trailblazer Collective. He coaches leaders who are creating something only they can make: a company, a body of work or a movement. Make a difference with your difference.
Work with Niiamah: 1:1 with Niiamah | World of Difference
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