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by Rick Baker
On Nov 28, 2011
Thought Tweet #356 Failing isn't pleasant…but it's OK. Figuring out how it happened is better.
The Thinking Behind the Sales Tweet
Some experts say, ‘fail often and fail quickly’. The point being: do not expect perfection and do not criticize failure. Some say, if you succeed 51% of the time then you will ultimately be a winner. Regardless of the statistics on the right balance between successes and failure, there is no question – failing can be very educational. But, you only receive education when you are willing to situation-analyze, self-analyze...and learn.
by Rick Baker
On Oct 4, 2011
As mentioned recently, I read a really interesting book. It taught me how to kill good ideas.
Here is a sample of what I learned, 4 ways to kill good ideas:
- Fear Mongering…use genuine facts from the past to create a picture of a fearful future
You know many people agonize over the mistakes they have made in the past. And they worry horrible events will repeat themselves…causing misery. So, when someone has a good idea and you want to kill it you can try this strategy. Just recall some extremely painful event from the past and express your concern that this terrifying situation could happen again if we accept this new idea.
- Death by Delay…one great way to do this is send the idea to a committee
Here’s a nuance you can incorporate when you use this strategy. Dig up some abstruse fact from your company’s history. Applaud the idea then introduce the abstruse fact and talk as if you are convinced the idea and the abstruse fact must be addressed by a committee of various intelligent people. Suggest a chairperson for the committee…i.e., suggest someone you know to be a curmudgeon.
- Confusion…inject lots of irrelevant facts and support them with illogical arguments
Keep a list of irrelevant facts in a file in the MemoPad area of your BlackBerry. Gather these over time, wean out the weakest ones, and replace them as you find really-choice irrelevant facts. Have at least a dozen fresh irrelevant facts ready for use. Then, whenever people come up with ideas pull out your BlackBerry while stating something like, ``What a synchronicity…I was writing some notes around that topic last week``. Then go on to cite a list of irrelevant facts…keep it up until at least one person dozes off.
- Ridicule…with a good-natured demeanour and calm voice, assassinate the character of the person who has the idea
This one should come with a warning: DO NOT show anything close to a negative emotion while you do this. That could backfire on you, making you look like some sort of unreasonable person. CAUTION: this will take practice…if you are real busy then pick another strategy. To pull this one off you must be pleasant and calm. You must prepare your assassinating words well in advance and practice them in front of a mirror so they come across just right. I recognize that is barely an introduction to this 4th way to kill ideas. But, a more-detailed explanation is beyond the scope of this Thought Post.
You may be saying to yourself, surely there must be more ways to kill good ideas.
Yes, do not fret; of course there are many other wonderful ways to kill ideas.
Footnote The book I am referring to is ‘Buy-In, saving your good idea from being shot down’, John P. Kotter and Lorne A. Whitehead. According to the authors of the book I just read, the average person receives about 10,000 ideas [other people’s plans, demands, suggestions, and proposals] every week. That’s a lot of incoming ideas to deal with. Many people are overwhelmed. Most people figure out ways to kill the vast majority of those ideas. The authors provide some solutions…i.e., how to save your good ideas from being shot down. But, it’s a double-edge sword…you can also use their wisdom to hone your skills at killing good ideas.
by Rick Baker
On Sep 22, 2011
When we are born we are predisposed to be negative or middle-of-the-road or positive.
I envision this like a Bell Curvewhere:
- 25% of people are genetically negative/pessimistic,
- 50% are genetically middle-of-the-road, and
- 25% are genetically positive/optimistic.
The extent of negativity or positivity is not fixed.
Picture it as falling within a range…i.e., each of us is born with a predetermined range where we either ‘tend’ to be negative , ‘tend’ to be neutral, or ‘tend’ to be positive. While, as research strongly suggests, a range like the one I have described is set by genetics:
- pessimistic people can work at being at the most-optimistic end of their range,
- neutral people can work at being more-optimistic, and
- optimistic people can work at making sure their optimism stays within the bounds of realism. [Too much optimism carries some unfortunate consequences.]
When genes tend toward optimism:
Some folks are born with a tendency toward optimism and their life experiences taught them how to keep their optimism within realistic bounds. When compared to pessimists, these realistic optimists have a far greater chance of seeing the world as an abundant place.
Other folks allow their optimism to rule them…I mean, their ego is taking advantage of the optimistic predisposition and their optimism, call it mania, causes them to become disconnected from other people. They live in their own Can-Do world where there are few if any limits. While, from time to time, this shows up in the form of great genius more often it shows up as in the form of alienation from ‘lesser folks’.
When genes tend toward middle-of-the-road:
Some folks are born without a tendency toward optimism or pessimism. They are born neutral. They have broader choices. It makes sense these people should choose to be as optimistic as possible. They should do what it takes to maximize their optimism. The risk of overachieving and becoming too optimistic is small.
When genes tend toward pessimism:
Some folks are born with a tendency toward pessimism. They will rarely if ever be able to leap from pessimism to optimism. They will, however, be able to be neutral, neither pessimistic nor optimistic…call them realists. Realistic people: nothing wrong with being in that zone.
by Rick Baker
On Jul 28, 2011
Most of the successful Leaders we have met with feel the ooze of abundance.
They are inspired by competition. They are solution-oriented. They are optimistic.
The Leaders who have an abundance mindset really stand out. They tell some amazing stories of how they have done things that many folks find counterintuitive.
Their businesses operate in no-bad-mouthing zones.
Some folks are born with a tendency toward optimism and their life experiences taught them how to keep their optimism within realistic bounds. When compared to pessimists, these realistic optimists have a far greater chance of seeing the world as an abundant place.
As a Leader you will employ optimists, pessimists, and other folks who fall between the two extremes.
Given a choice you will want to help some of those people become more optimistic...you will want to help them feel that ooze of abundance.
How might you do that?
Feeling the Ooze of Abundance - the 4 major steps:
- Self-Assessment,
- Setting clear rules,
- Communicating those rules so they are sticky, &
- Leading by example
- Self-Assessment: you will need unbiased outsider help to do this. It isn’t a huge time-consumer but you must be a little tough on yourself. Better to air on the tough side than the lax side. That’s why unbiased outsiders are helpful.
- Setting clear rules: Depending on how strongly you feel about abundance mentality, this could be one of your “Master Rules”: the major rules that cannot be bent at your business. [refer to our Spirited Leaders’ Workshop #4]
- Communicating those rules so they are sticky: don’t just ‘tell’…inspire your followers. Describe your most-interesting real-life abundance experiences and how they have caused you to feel the ooze of abundance.
- Leading by example: as they say, ‘talk the talk and walk the walk’…and when the heat of major business stresses is burning down on you….run the run. If you slip up and fall into scarcity talk or scarcity action, and that may happen from time to time, remedy your error quickly and with full force.
by Rick Baker
On Jul 25, 2011
How many times have you heard the saying, 'misery enjoys company'?
Apparently, this is widely-accepted as a fact of the human condition. And, it has been accepted for quite some time.
Many years ago, I argued that ‘company enjoys misery’ too. I mean, some people get a kick out of knowing others are worse off…as if being less worse off than those unfortunate creatures is a consolation prize. But, I do not argue that anymore. I mean, aside from making the point clear again here in this paragraph I do not argue that anymore.
But, I will argue the following points.
For one reason or another, lots of people have the habit of sharing their stories of woe.
If we sat these people down and asked them if sharing woes is a Good Habit or a Bad Habit I expect the vast majority of people would state, “That’s a Bad Habit”. They might even add, “People who spend time dealing with stories of woe are doing nothing positive or constructive. Those discussions do not bring people closer to their personal goals or to their business goals.”
People know the time is wasted.
People know that damage is done.
Yet, people do it anyhow.
And, some people do a lot of it!
The Bottom Line: Negativity consumes a great deal of people’s lives. It consumes a great deal of business people’s work-lives. It may be consuming a great of your followers’ work-lives.
Every one of us engages in negativity to some degree.
The Leader’s challenge is to minimize that negativity.
Again, the Leader enjoys a unique opportunity – leading by example.
Leaders can lead by example by making a conscious effort to refrain from collecting other people's garbage. Leaders must also work to refrain from dumping garbage on others.
This is one area where leading by example is absolutely within the Leader’s control: the Leader has an exclusive opportunity to send out visible signals of self-confidence and interpersonal harmony.
by Rick Baker
On Jul 15, 2011
You: the Leader
The Situation: The business is in a start-up mode, or a re-directed mode, and everyone seems to be struggling too much.
Preamble: You don’t know whether you should:
- send everyone home so you can concentrate on getting some work done or
- crack the whip
- take another shot at leading with passion and inspiration
As you are just about to make the right choice, the following thoughts hit you…
Running a business is a different thing than talking about running a business.
Consider ‘talking the talk’ and ‘walking the walk’.
Running a business is, by the words themselves, definitely something more than ‘talking the talk’. In fact it must be something more fast-paced than ‘walking the walk’. Nobody says, “Hey, let’s go and walk a business.” People always say, “Run a business.” Just taking the words as they are, ‘running a business’ must be about ‘Running the Run’. That’s more than and better than either ‘talking the talk’ or ‘walking the walk’.
‘Running the Run’ is clearly cranking it up a notch.
‘Running the Run’ is about giving the business an out-of-the-blocks chance to get over the 80/20 Business-Failure hurdle. It is about giving the business a fighting chance to be there for the tough race that lies ahead.
Like any other ‘race’, ‘Running a business’ is about mental toughness. It is about training. It is about competing. It is about understanding what it takes to win. It is then about doing what it takes to win.
‘Thinking the think’ is the right first step: Napoleon Hill, for example helps in this area by showing us how to spend time obtaining the value of thought and autosuggestion.
‘Talking the talk’ can be a good next step too: Muhammad Ali, for example, showed the link between thought and talk and results. He said, “I am the greatest.” Then he proved it.
After ‘talking the talk’, ‘walking the walk’ is a required next step: consider the great leader Mahatma Gandhi.... now that guy was a talker and a walker. And, from what I know about him, he ranks as my favourite lawyer.
But, ‘Running the Run’...that’s where the rubber hits the road. Actually, that’s more than a just a metaphor. That’s double entendre...maybe even triple.
" Running the Run"…now these 4 fellows could really run the run…
- Achilles (who got the eternal fame history tells us he craved)
- Roger Bannister (who did what was impossible…he broke the 4:00 minute mile)
- Forrest Gump...not only did that guy get lots of money, but even though he acted a little strange everybody seemed to really like him and he ended up getting an Oscar for it.
- Terry Fox...A Canadian inspiration…got himself on a coin. Not many Canadians have done that.
With that running the run inspiration completed.....
Are you prepared to do what it takes to ‘Run the Run’ for your business?
I mean: Do you really want to run your own business? As Napoleon Hill said, is your desire white-hot, burning? Or is that just talk? Just a wishful dream?
Nothing wrong with dreaming....as long as you know and admit you are asleep while it is happening.
White-hot desire….tough to sleep through that!
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