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Name of author Rick Baker, P.Eng.

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Win-Win deals happen when Self-Confidence meets Self-Confidence.

by Rick Baker
On Mar 11, 2021

The Thinking Behind the Tweet

It takes [courage-grounded] self-confidence to win & it takes consideration of others to create win-win. These are the building blocks for exchanging value in business.

Tags:

Attitude: Creating Positive Attitude | Thought Tweets | Values: Personal Values

An interview or performance review question: How do you use your Talents to expand your ability to influence people?

by Rick Baker
On Mar 10, 2021

The Thinking Behind The Tweet

The Gallup folks have defined 4 Talent Domains for leadership: Executing, Influencing, Relationship Building, & Strategic Thinking.

When we look at local leaders' Talent Themes we notice a lack of Influencing Talent Themes. A lack of Influencing talent & strength is widespread throughout businesses in our geography.

Understanding that, we need to help leaders improve their ability to Influence others.

A good starting point is understanding whether or not they understand the importance of Influence...and are taking steps to improve in the area of Influencing.

A good next step is providing Influencing-help in the form of specialized knowledge, situations/opportunities, and time to practice skills.

When you communicate, the processes you use influence people more than the logic you express.

by Rick Baker
On Mar 9, 2021

The Thinking Behind The Tweet

According to Chip Heath and Dan Heath ['Decisive', 2013] "When the researchers compared whether process or analysis was more important in producing good decisions - those that increased revenues, profits, and market share - they found that "process mattered more than analysis - by a factor of six.""

Good Decision Making relies on good decision-making processes.

Good Influencing relies on good influence-making processes.

And Business Contains Only 3 Things: People, Processes, & Situations

About Decisions: as a general rule, avoid making them when you are stressed or pressed.

by Rick Baker
On Mar 8, 2021

The Thinking Behind The Tweet

Only on rare occasions do we need to deliver decisions with urgency. For the vast majority of situations we can take time to de-stress or reduce negative feelings before we make decisions.

Given a little time for clear thought we can consider options, we can check our gut, and we can perform common-sense tests.

As the saying goes, "If it's worth doing it's worth doing right".

Note: this not intended as an argument against the value of intuition...sometimes gut reactions bring the best decisions. And - there is value in taking time to think about gut reactions...and learn from them.

 

In business – discussions are good, decisions are better, and delegated decisions are best.

by Rick Baker
On Mar 7, 2021

The Thinking Behind The Tweet

Discussions help you determine whether or not you have good/talented/skilled people on your leadership team. Quality discussions allow you to help the people you work with....and vice-versa. 

Decisions set the paths to results, either failures or successes. Learning from failures is the route to better future decisions and top future effectiveness, success, & profit. 

Delegation of decision-making authority and accountability is the only way to grow a business. Delegation takes tasks to talents

Master discussion first, then decision-making, then the art of delegation.

Tags:

Delegation & Decisions | Thought Tweets

Talent without discipline - good for hobbies, not so good for businesses.

by Rick Baker
On Mar 6, 2021

The Thinking Behind The Tweet

Malcolm Gladwell [in his book, 'Outliers'] taught us, regardless of Talent, people need to spend at least 10,000 hours to become performing masters.

I think - if you are not paid to be a performing master then you are performing a hobby [not work].

I think - if you lack discipline then you won't even be good at hobbying.

And, I think - if you are not good at stuff then you do not enjoy it...and that's not a good way to spend your time.

Tags:

STRENGTHS: People-Focused for Success | Thought Tweets

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