Rick Baker Thought Posts
Left Menu Space Holder

About the author

Name of author Rick Baker, P.Eng.

E-mail me Send mail
Follow me LinkedIn Twitter

Search

Calendar

<<  March 2024  >>
MoTuWeThFrSaSu
26272829123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728293031
1234567

View posts in large calendar

Recent Comments

Comment RSS

Your brand starts with your character and the culture you breed: your brand stalls or flourishes there.

by Rick Baker
On May 12, 2020

The Thinking Behind The Tweet

A brand isn't a cute visual.

A brand isn't a catchy logo or a slick tag line.

A brand cannot pretty up a flawed character or a troubling culture.

When testing new branding, take a step back and look at your personal character and your business culture. Do they pass the litmus test? Do they render an investment in 'branding' worthwhile? Or, do they neuter your branding expenditures?

Tags:

Master Rules | Personalities @ Work | Thought Tweets | Values: Personal Values

Influencing Powerful People - #8

by Rick Baker
On Mar 16, 2019

Here's another quote, taken from Dirk Schlimm's book - 

“The terms balance and restraint rarely come up as descriptors of powerful people or are cited as reasons for their success.” 

This quote goes right to the heart of a major opportunity in business [and, in life]. To excel in business [and, in life] we must accept some bad things in order to obtain some good things. We all know this. We have known it since we were children and we heard [powerful] older folks talking about making sure they didn't throw babies out with bathwater. 

Now, as we are doing our business work, we encounter people who hold powerful positions yet appear to us to lack focus, go off on new-idea tangents, and change their minds in most-annoying ways. As we encounter these powerful people, some of us take a cynical stance. Some of us mutter about the powerful people being lucky rather than skilled, dysfunctional rather than talented, way over their heads, etc. 

Dirk recommends a more productive approach.  When I read his advice, I think about seeking the strengths in powerful people. We should complement and emulate those strengths. Sure, we should also be aware of powerful people's weaknesses. We should use our personal strengths to fill the gaps that exist because of powerful people's weaknesses.

We should help our businesses gain advantage by drawing out the value embedded in differences

Learning from powerful people, filling the gaps they create, and communicating effectively with them: Dirk teaches us how we can do these things.

 

Influencing Powerful People - #6

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.

 

Being Right, Being Wrong, & other ways to Annoy People

by Rick Baker
On May 23, 2017

We can annoy other people so many ways...from being 100% right to being 100% wrong and pretty much everything in between.

It's relatively easy to understand why we annoy people when we are wrong. When we say and do wrong things people are annoyed because we let them down and we waste their time, etc.

It's relatively easy to understand why we annoy people when we stick to middle ground. People don't like indecision and they don't like wishy-washyness. People are impatient and they want answers.

And, I suppose for some folks it's easy to understand why we annoy people when we provide accurate answers, technically-right advice, and clear perceptions. Nobody likes a wise guy. Nobody likes a know-it-all. And sometimes all it takes is a right idea or an accurate piece of advice to trigger other people's self-defence mechanisms.

"Productive Communication": what an art form -

  • knowing when to bite your tongue just before it expresses something quite right but nonetheless doomed to be poorly received 
  • knowing when to bite your tongue just before it expresses something incorrect or stupid or otherwise wrong 
  • knowing when and how to take the time to formulate opinions that will inject Value into situations...helping others...without annoying them

Self-monitoring & self-control, the gifts that create a pleasing personality, a personality that -

  • does not annoy
  • inspires people
  • influences action
Inspire People - Influence Action - Generate Success
 
 
When you annoy people you don't make money...[unless you happen to be a sitcom actor or a Don Rickles clone]

Tags:

Communication: Improving Communication | Influencing | Personalities @ Work

Criticism, Adrenalin Spikes & Improving Relationships

by Rick Baker
On May 15, 2017

Some people naturally repulse criticism. These people may show outward signs of their repulsion. These people may not show outward signs, or their repulsion may hide so well it would take a professional observer to notice it. Regardless, internally, these people churn in reaction to criticism. For these people - even small, innocuous pieces of feedback can trigger intense internal reactions, floods of adrenalin – adrenalin spikes.

  1. Do you know people who show vehement reaction to tiny criticisms…people who have zero tolerance for incoming criticism?
  2. Do you know people who, at first, show no outward reaction to criticism then, later, strike excessive reactionary blows against the person who delivered the criticism?
  3. Do you know people who have the habit of claiming they are the victim of undue criticism?
  4. Do you know people who repulse criticism yet deliver it to others with gusto and righteousness?

These are four common reactions to criticism.

I have personally exhibited at least three of these four reactions to criticism…and, probably, many people would think I’m selling myself short by not admitting to all four.

Why?

Why would I have had such reactions to criticism?

Not having much knowledge of physiology or biology and only dabbling experience with psychology I answer that question this way:

  • When people criticized me, I experienced adrenalin spikes [or was that cortisol?]. I felt strong, churning, tightening sensations in the gut…quickly followed by combinations of anxiety and anger, often intense anger...then excessive negative thoughts and behaviour.
  • This reaction must have started when I was a very young child. I have no memory of reacting any other way to criticism [until the last decade, that is].
  • Perhaps, my criticism-repulsion was are due to genetics? Perhaps, my childhood environment? Perhaps, my early experiences with authority figures? I expect it was some combination of these things.

Here’s a curious thing. When you experience criticism-repulsion as a child you can be quite oblivious to other people. And, this can cause challenges…a large variety of interpersonal challenges. Left unattended, these interpersonal challenges can last a lifetime.

Here’s some good news. It is possible to gain self-understanding and create strategies to overcome the interpersonal challenges. The starting point, or at least one starting point, is recognition of the physiological changes that signal less-than-ideal reactions to criticism. People, perhaps most people, can alter their bad habits [including adrenalin spikes] if they choose to make the changes and do the work required.

 

PS: Perhaps, the people who experience the criticism-repulsion I have described are most capable of identifying it in other people? ... and helping others?  

Conflict at our offices: is it a foe or a friend?

by Rick Baker
On May 8, 2017

I have experienced some synchronicity around this topic...I have witnessed several unrelated instances...some people have complained about the interpersonal damages done by office conflict while others have applauded the value office conflicts have injected into innovative and creative processes. 

Business empires have been built around office conflicts and 'crucial conversations'. In some cases the empires are bestselling books, must-do and how-to manuals aimed at teaching people how to diffuse, reduce, remove office conflicts. At the other end of the spectrum, we have a touted genius-of-our-time and an empire formed around the legacy of a partially-eaten apple. 

And, interpersonal conflicts create huge challenges in family businesses: parent-child rifts, sibling rivalry, family distrusts. When these entrenchments exist it is easy to determine the cause/fault. It always rests with the other guy! 

On the other hand, according to some experts, strongly-expressed differences of opinion lead to creative breakthroughs. Thick-skinned people locking horns in boardrooms and other meeting rooms...generating many diverse ideas...reaching a single decision...enjoying consensus...working in unison...achieving desired goals. 

Radically different views about Office Conflicts!

What's your personal comfort zone?

Your comfort zone: that's the key area...

What's your personal comfort zone?

  1. How far are you prepared to stretch your comfort zone to accommodate other people's viewpoints? 
  2. How open are you to accept different styles of communication when other people express their viewpoints?
  3. How clearly do you communicate your personal values and rules?

Put another way:

  1. Are you open to 'possibilities and 'new things'?
  2. Are you open to different personalities and communication styles?
  3. Do you know and share these important aspects of your character...telling stories to explain why you are the way you are?
As the ancient Greek maxim goes - "Know Thyself".

When you know yourself and know how to share important aspects of yourself with others you have the opportunity to be part of teams that excel at communication.
 
Internally - These successful teams may operate in friendly ways or in not-so-friendly ways.
Externally - These successful teams will present a unified front.
From Your Perspective - These successful teams will be inspiring, productive and gratifying.

Copyright © 2012. W.F.C (Rick) Baker. All Rights Reserved.