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by Rick Baker
On Nov 24, 2011
People get bored real quickly these days!
Probably, I have lulled you to sleep already and I have only begun to write.
If you will just hang in a bit more I will try to be quick with this message.
Maybe bullet points will help?
- People get bored real quickly these days!
- So, we need to do special stuff when we want to communicate with them!
The experts say, "You must be evocative". [translation - "You must pluck at people's emotional chords."]
That's the way to get people's attention.
How do you do that?
How do you pluck at people's emotional chords?
Here are some suggestions:
- Be Authentic: If you have a magnetic personality then use it. If you don't have natural charisma then work at improving your personality traits. Pick traits you desire to have then work at incorporating them into your character...I mean - want to improve and then work at it for the rest of your life.
- Be Intentional: Know exactly why you want to pluck at people's emotional chords. Your intent must have more substance than just trying to cram a sale or an idea down somebody's throat. A purely self-serving intent will not succeed.
- Be Colourful: Emotions have little interest in logic. Emotions like shiny objects, fast-moving things, colourful things, sharp sounds, funny things...stimulating things. Emotions like all these types of things but emotions do not like logic.
This is just an introduction.
If your communications are not achieving the results you seek then make some adjustments.
If you think your people are not 'getting it' then make some adjustments.
If you think younger folks don't listen then make some adjustments.
After all...your goals are important!
And...
'Being Evocative' is the new Starting Point!
by Rick Baker
On Nov 23, 2011
People are fond of their own ideas.
As a rule, the attachment is strong: I like my ideas and you like your ideas.
That`s the way normal people feel and think. And, those normal feelings and thoughts influence people's behaviour.
When you come up with an idea, say a solution to a problem, you tend to like your idea better than alternative ideas presented by other people. Your idea is your invention, your 'brain child'.
Your ideas clutch you.
If you do not self-monitor and self-regulate then you can find yourself held firmly in the clutches of your own ideas.
While the clutch of ideas can lead to great innovations and inventions, more often than not, it also adds a repulsive flavour to your personality. Of course, that's not a good thing. A repulsive personality is not a good thing because it reduces your ability to gain the cooperation of other people...which is necessary for your success.
A magnetic personality is a good thing.
So, no matter how terrific your ideas are you must self-monitor and self-regulate their delivery.
Some say you should use pre-thought-out series of questions, designed to trick or manoeuvre other people so they come to the conclusions you desire. Socrates used those techniques. That was over 2400 years ago. It is clear, this in-the-Clutch-of-Ideas problem has been around for quite some time. It is part of the human condition.
Other people take advantage of various forms of power to cause people to accept their ideas. This worked really well for millennia, however, it is becoming increasingly less effective....for a number of reasons beyond the scope of this article.
The points are:
- People are prone to find themselves in the clutch of their own ideas.
- It is much harder than it used to be to bulldoze your ideas through other people.
- Better solutions are required to succeed in the 21st Century.
The 1st Action steps are:
- Self-monitor...understand the extent of the clutch your ideas have on you, then impose limits on that clutch.
- Self-regulate...be at least a little bit more open to other people's ideas.
- Allow your thinking to be more creative...for example, take a lesson from Edward de Bono's 'Six Thinking Hats'.
by Rick Baker
On Nov 18, 2011
3 forces drive entrepreneurs:
- Entrepreneurs have this burning feeling inside them…a Need To Achieve something. I describe it as ‘a wanting’.
- Entrepreneurs have a desire to create and Build Things Of Value.
- Entrepreneurs have a need to Be Recognized As Different – a different type of contributor.
These are defining internal forces driving An Entrepreneur.
In addition, An Entrepreneur is a business leader who:
- Recognizes, uses, & develops People Strengths…first in self and then in others,
- Clicks with other People [has self-control & a pleasing-enough personality], and
- Is ready, willing, and able to lead change…first in self and then in others.
These are the defining characteristics of – the key Personal Strengths of - An Entrepreneur.
These 3 forces coupled with these 3 characteristics form Spirited Leaders’ definition of An Entrepreneur.
by Rick Baker
On Oct 18, 2011
Ten years ago, Jim Collins wrote about getting the right people on the bus.
And, business people and business teachers have been talking about getting the right people on the bus ever since.
Many of the business people who talk about getting the right people on the bus struggle to get that done.
Specifically, many business people struggle with:
- Repositioning and removing the wrong [existing] people from their business bus
- Attracting and hiring the right [new] people for their business bus
We see evidence of this pretty much daily.
It bothers us. It bothers us because we know many people suffer when people don’t fit on the business bus.
It is not a matter of who is right and who is wrong.
For some people, the use of the words ‘getting the right people on the bus’ compounds their problems.
It is not a matter of who is right and who is wrong!
Who is right and who is wrong is subjective…just ask anyone or everyone! The more people you ask the more subjectivity you will discover.
Rather than dwelling on who is right and who is wrong, business leaders should dwell on 2 things:
- Character Differences…particularly, the interplay between individual’s egos
- Individual’s Talents…particularly, the extent individual’s talents deliver value to the business
For each of these major areas, we will provide a few thoughts… the tips of icebergs. And, please, think of these 2 major areas as icebergs. If you spend some time then you can understand what exists at the surface. However, it will be much more difficult to understand what lies below the surface. Most people have not taken the time to understand their own character. Many people are uncomfortable with the topic…so it must be addressed with at least a bit of empathy. Similarly, most people have not taken the time to understand their business strengths. Many people will be able to describe success stories; however, they will have much more difficulty accurately describing the roots of their successes.
Character Differences
At the time of hiring or working at stuff that may result in de-hiring, consider several questions. As examples:
- Will these egos be under control?
- What are the major differences in character?
- What personal ‘rules’ caused these differences in character?
- When push comes to shove and those personal ‘rules’ are tested…what conflicts and dis-ease do you anticipate?
- Will those anticipated conflicts and dis-eases be tolerable?
Individual’s Strengths
At the time of hiring or working at stuff that may result in de-hiring, consider several questions. As examples:
- How do you define strength of character?
- What tasks/actions are critical at your business and what talents/strengths must an individual have to repeatedly do those tasks/actions in at least a very good way…hopefully, in a near-perfect way?
And –
How do you set the balance between Character and Strengths?
Will task & action Strengths outmuscle weak Character?
by Rick Baker
On Sep 20, 2011
I have read enough and thought about it enough to believe some people are born with magnetic personalities.
Maybe it’s a matter of chemistry.
Or, maybe charisma is a good-enough way to describe it?
Or, as some suggest, maybe it’s about a natural gift known as self-monitoring…like an empathy that both gives and takes without trying or injuring.
Regardless of how we define it - these people are real, unpretentious.
These people are magnetic in the literal sense of the word.
When these people walk in a room the room’s atmosphere is uplifted.
[Years ago, I was fortunate to have a mentor who possessed this natural presence.]
I see people who strike me as being gifted in the manner I am describing.
The actor John Wayne is a striking example. My son, Frank, just loves John Wayne…and I do too. I knew about John Wayne before he died…I had watched some of his movies when I was very young. My favourite cousin was named ‘John Wayne’…my uncle and aunt and many in their generation named baby boys after the screen hero. I knew all of this. Yet, I did not know about ‘the man’ John Wayne until recently. My son and I have watched many of his movies. We have watched You Tube clips of the great actor, being interviewed, and speaking after he won the Best-Actor Oscar. The more I watched the man, the more I was captured by his natural magnetism….his larger-than-life personality on screen was ‘real’. If there was any doubt about that then it was removed when I listened to other actors, like Harry Carey Jr., talk about their experiences with ‘The Duke’….sheer admiration!
John Wayne is one of my heroes.
by Rick Baker
On Jul 22, 2011
Is our way of thinking affected by our personality?
Are we born positive thinker or do we learn from experiences (usually difficult)?
One of my LinkedIn friends asked those questions.
Here is how I answered…
Like you I think about these questions.
Based on personal experience and expert opinions [which I have read], the answers appear to be yes, yes, and yes.
Yes - some of our personality is directed by our genes. For example, experts have apparently identified long and short forms of a gene that is correlated with optimism and pessimism. Optimism-pessimism is connected with ‘positive thinking’, so – Yes – the genetic predispositions we are born with can cause us to be ‘by nature’ more-positive, less-positive, or middle-of-the-road.
The good news is – Yes – regardless – we can learn and teach ourselves how to become more positive.
It seems to me genetics influences about 50% and we can choose the other 50%...by working on things we see as promoting ‘positive attitude & positive thinking’.
Here’s what I mean by 50% - 50%.
When we are born we are predisposed to be negative or middle-of-the-road or positive. I envision this like a Bell Curve where 25% of people are genetically negative, 50% are genetically middle-of-the-road, and 25% are genetically positive. 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 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.]
How do we make sure we are positive enough?
What can we learn from experiences?
Many things...
As examples:
- We can learn how to understand ourselves, particularly our moods
- We can learn how to avoid negative situations [because situations impact on mood]
- We can learn how to focus on using our strengths rather than correcting our weaknesses
- We can learn how to have a thick skin…i.e., so others do not offend us
- We can learn how to bolster our self-confidence
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