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Name of author Rick Baker, P.Eng.

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Thought Tweet #549

by Rick Baker
On Aug 23, 2012

Thought Tweet #549 You can help your employees maintain and grow a positive mental attitude. Here's how...

 

The Thinking Behind The Tweet

For example, here's an excerpt from Boyé Lafayette De Menthe's ‘The Japanese Samurai Code’, (2004)

Talking about how Japanese companies go about building positive mental attitude...

“These companies follow a set of four principles in creating the mental attitude they want their employees to have.

These four principles are: (a) to have a basic business philosophy that provides a clear reason for the existence of the enterprise, along with management practices to fulfill this philosophy; (2) the precepts of the company philosophy must be ingrained in the minds of the employees to the point that they will instinctively behave according to the precepts; (3) that employees must be trained to work without constraint, have a strong sense of responsibility and be creative in their approach to everything they do; and (4) that all employees be trained to develop a sense of social responsibility.”

Tags:

Attitude: Creating Positive Attitude | Thought Tweets

Herd Mentality - The Beastly Side of People

by Rick Baker
On Aug 23, 2012

Years ago, I wrote about the mob - people who didn't seem to care; people going about their work without taking much time to think about the consequences of their actions; people who endured the burdens of others as if that was their destiny; people who, without visible question or resistance, accepted the norm and the status quo; people who reacted perfectly to the dominant acts of others then, behind the dominant backs, spent considerable time complaining about their unhappy lots in life. 

As I defined it: The mob = the herd. And mob mentality = herd mentality.

I rarely write about or talk about the herd any more.

Yet, recently, while listening to an audio book1 I could not help but recall some of the things I have written about the herd

Assuming I transcribed all of the words accurately, the audio book stated:

“Self Betrayal:

  1. An act contrary to what I feel I should do for another is called an act of self-betrayal.
  2. When I betray myself I begin to see the world in a way that justifies my self-betrayal.
  3. When I see the world in a self-justifying way my view of reality becomes distorted.
  4. So, when I betray myself I enter the box.
  5. Over time certain boxes become characteristic of me and I carry them with me.
  6. By being in the box I provoke others to be in the box.
  7. In the box we invite mutual mistreatment and obtain mutual justification. We collude in giving each other reason to stay in the box.”

I suppose people in the mob rarely, if ever, get out of their boxes.

I suppose self-betrayal is the defining essence of the herd, herd mentality, & mob mentality.

 

Footnote:

  1. 'Leadership and Self-Deception: Getting out of the Box', The Arbinger Institute, (audio book), (2012)

Tags:

Beyond Business | Change: Creating Positive Change | Leaders' Thoughts

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