by Rick Baker
On Mar 30, 2019
“Understand that powerful people think of others as their helpers first and foremost. Let them know that this is what you are there to do. However, don’t let the helper paradigm stifle your creativity and ambition to lead.”
Dirk Schlimm
'Influencing Powerful People', (2011)
"Powerful People" - they hold 'position power' over other people, the power bosses hold over subordinates. They hold other types of power...as examples, the power tied to having control of money and the power tied to a track record of setting goals, influencing results and meeting goals.
Powerful people exist in every successful business.
Business founders hold special power. Business founders saw market needs, stepped up to address those needs and influenced others to join their businesses. If they succeeded in their business then their power was effective and put to good use. If they failed in business their power was, for one reason or another, ineffective.
Sometimes we judge business leaders harshly because they don't treat us the way we want. Instead of shifting our 'mindset paradigm' to consider the opportunities that exist in the leader's view of our role, we refuse to align with the leader...sometimes, we resist subversively. When our mindsets are in resistance mode, we have allowed the leader's character and style to bring out the worst in us. With our mindsets focused on resistance, we choose to bury our curiosity. When we make that choice, we stifle our own attention to opportunities and we stifle our own creativity.
We must not blame powerful people for our choices; we must learn how to make and implement better choices when we deal with powerful people. In his book and his teaching, Dirk helps us learn how to make and implement better choices.
by Rick Baker
On Mar 23, 2019
This week's Dirk Schlimm quote -
“Remember that powerful people identify greatly with their work and their enterprise. They expect the same from you. Show them that you take your work seriously and that you are striving to make a contribution, rather than just do a job.”
As I re-read this quote, I think of heroes I admire and how I feel when I hear people bad-mouthing those heroes. I remember people obsessing about and picking away at heroes' faults. As examples, I think about:
- people criticizing Bill Gates' autocratic style [while ignoring the fact this man is the force behind mega-$Billion charitable donations
- people criticizing Winston Churchill's autocratic style [while ignoring the fact this man wrote and delivered some of the most-influential messages known to man
- people criticizing their bosses [while ignoring the fact these bosses, certainly, must have at least one good quality which could be discussed from time to time]
About business leaders -
As we watch and listen to business leaders, we can keep Dirk's advice in mind. Business leaders and business bosses possess various levels of power in their workplaces. Every leader possesses, at least, some power. So, we have plenty of opportunities to make use of Dirk's advice.
While many leaders are 'driven' and that can be troubling or off-putting to less-driven people, we can always find positive attributes in the people we work with.
For example -
by Rick Baker
On Mar 2, 2019
This week’s Dirk Schlimm quote:
“The fact is that many powerful people successfully overcome conventional wisdom and have the resources to keep their initiatives alive. Most important, one must accept as fact that outright dismissal of the genius is rarely an effective strategy for dealing with their ideas.”
Why?
Why can many powerful people overcome conventional wisdom, keep their initiatives alive, maintain concentration and focus, muster enough energy and ultimately succeed in achieving their lofty goals?
There is no quick, easy & simple answer to this question. However, given enough time most intelligent people can obtain the knowledge required to identify many of the components of the answer. And, if people read Dirk’s book then they will save themselves a lot of research and thinking as they come up with those components of business-leadership success.
Here are a few examples of the components:
Persistence/Perseverance: here’s a thought post on this topic
The Eighth Step Toward Riches - or - The First Mental Trap?
Energy/Drive: here’s a thought tweet on this topic
Energy is primal. Your energy is your gift. How are you making the best use of it?
Goal/Achievement Orientation: here’s a thought post on this topic
5 Thoughts About Achievers & Achievements
Pleasing [enough] Personality: here’s a thought post on this topic
Prevailing Moods & Gauging Character
Technical Competence: here’s a thought tweet on this topic
There's a reason the words confidence and competence have a similar ring to them.