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Name of author Rick Baker, P.Eng.

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Thought Tweet #771

by Rick Baker
On Jul 1, 2013

Thought Tweet #771 We are Canadians; we like happy endings. So, let's get back to flying our flag the right way.

 

 

The Thinking Behind The Tweet

 Canadian Baby Boomers, not all - but far too many, continue to coast on their old business ways. 

This Is Not Sustainable.

 

Denial ________________________________________Willing Suspension of Disbelief.

 

Thinking along this line is killing the Canadian economy.

Baby Boomers hold positions of leadership in Canadian businesses.

With that power-of-position Baby Boomers have the ability to breed positive change.

And, we are Canadians...and we do like happy endings.

With 20 to 40 years of business experience many Baby Boomers have the savvy required to breed successful positive change.

Positive & successful change can and will happen.

On the Global scale, Canada has slipped down the Innovation List.

That too will change for the better.

 

We are Canadians.

We like happy endings.

Let's turn this problem into opportunity 

 

After you satisfy yourself that Canada's business sector can and will climb our of its current problems, ask yourself:

"Should I be doing something about this?"

"Should I be helping my country make some business improvements?"

"How might I go about doing that?"

Remember...

All of us are Canadians; Canadians like happy endings.

You can lend your Baby Boomer shoulder.

Let's get started!

Tags:

Change: Creating Positive Change | Leaders' Thoughts | Thought Tweets

Slipping a DISC

by Rick Baker
On Jun 28, 2013

A few months ago, I wrote an article 'A Different Way to Look at DISC personalities'. 

That article was first written about 7 years ago. The original title was 'Slipping a DISC'. However, I chose to soften the title and massage some of the words. In hindsight, I am not sure why I softened the words or the title. I erred. This article contains an effort to fix my error and remove any confusion around my views of personality assessments. 

I avoid the use of personality assessments such as DISC, Myers Briggs, etc. because I have found them constrained by the viewpoint ‘personality is set and cannot be changed’. I disagree with that fully. I recognize personality rarely changes. On the other hand, I believe personality is a matter of choice.

The problem is, people rarely choose to adjust and improve their personality.

With leaders in mind...

I embrace the 1912 wisdom of Charles F. Haanel,

“Your personality is made up of countless individual characteristics, peculiarities, habits and traits of character; these are the result of your former method of thinking, but they have nothing to do with the real “I”.”

With Canadian leaders in mind...

I embrace the 2012 wisdom of Joe MacInnis,

"All the leaders I've met, worked with, and read about have had one thing in common. Along the way to becoming practitioners and masters of leadership, they transformed their character."

Combining these pieces of wisdom, I believe the most successful leaders are the ones who have, with much effort, changed their personalities. And, that's what we should focus on in Canada. We should help our leaders make adjustments to their personalities so they have a better chance of accomplishing their desires and goals.

I avoid personality assessments like DISC [which parodied] because they:

  • address symptoms of inflexible behaviour rather than the cause of it [which I will call Stagnant Personality Disorder]
  • they miss the mark of taking talent to task
  • they stereotype people too narrowly [people are multi-dimensional]
  • they don’t go far enough celebrating and using innate talents
  • they promote mediocrity and creation of artificial middle-ground over celebration of highly-valuable, natural-differences

And worst of all, they make learning and self-development boring, not interesting, and not fun.

I know these views are strong and non-standard. I have reached them because I have seen too many DISC and other personality assessments sitting forgotten and unused on their owners’ shelves. [including my own shelf]

Conversely, I have seen talents assessments, aimed at helping people develop performance strength, provide enjoyable self-development experiences and very positive results.

Thought Tweet #770

by Rick Baker
On Jun 28, 2013

Thought Tweet #770 That's So Obvious! If we had clone spray then we could communicate better.


The Thinking Behind The Tweet

Expanding on the good work of Thought Tweet #718...

When people don't 'get us' [or 'get it'] we could clone-spray them. Then we would not have to waste a bunch of time repeating and repeating ourselves until they finally understand us. We wouldn't have to raise our voices to help them think more clearly. Similarly, they could clone spray us before they tried to tell us stuff...and we would finally be able to understand what they keep repeating.

That's So Obvious!

Wait a second. There could be some complications...some contraindications...nasty side-effects. We could end up with Wild-West style shootouts where the fastest draw becomes the winner of every communication. Or, sneak-up-and-spray pre-emptive strikes. And what about hired gun clone-sprayers. 

Damn..maybe clone spray isn't such a good idea after all.

Tags:

Beyond Business | Communication: Improving Communication | Humour | Thought Tweets

No Nonsense, Common Sense for Best Practice

by Rick Baker
On Jun 27, 2013

If you want to improve your company’s performance, you need to improve your leadership team.

If you want to improve your leadership team, you have to improve leadership people's actions.

If you want to improve people's actions, you must first change how they think.

If you want to change how people think, you must identify – precisely – the current thinking that is flawed and in need of change. Then, you must influence people in a way that causes them to want to change. And, you must help the people make the change.

Change is either possible or impossible.

Change is either easy or difficult.

Change is either simple or complex.

Change is either quick or slow.

It depends on the extent of change and the extent of the person’s desire to make that change.

It depends on the nature of the person’s Talents and the nature of the Tasks to be changed.

It depends on the person’s comfort…changes are only constructive when people are comfortable.

It depends on many other factors. Huge amounts of time could be dedicated to listing all those factors and creating strategies and tactics to deal with each and every one of them.

However, it is best to not blow change out of proportion. And, it is best to dwell on the things that work rather than the things that are broken.

It is best to limit the scope of change to 2 variables:

  1. How people are Thinking.
  2. How people are Taking Action.

People on Leadership Teams need to answer 2 questions:

  1. What sorts of Thinking generate high-quality performance?
  2. What sorts of Actions generate high-quality performance?

Then they need to challenge themselves: am I willing to think and do those things?

This process for change is definitely possible.

This process for change can be easy, simple, & quick.

In fact, if this process is not easy, simple, & quick then you have to accept the likelihood you have the wrong people on your leadership team.

***

If you want to improve your company’s performance, you need to improve your leadership team.

If you want to improve your leadership team, you have to improve leadership people's actions.

If you want to improve people's actions, you must first change how they think.

Tags:

Change: Creating Positive Change | Thinking as in Think and Grow Rich

Thought Tweet #769

by Rick Baker
On Jun 27, 2013

Thought Tweet #769 Talents tend to bounce off Tasks they do not like. 

 

 

The Thinking Behind The Tweet

Consider Talents. Consider Tasks

Don't fight the fit.

***

 

Don't try to force square Talents into round Tasks.

Don't try to force round Talents into square Tasks.

Tags:

STRENGTHS: People-Focused for Success | Thought Tweets

Thought Tweet #768

by Rick Baker
On Jun 26, 2013

Thought Tweet #768 WARNING Canadian Baby Boomers who are still working as leaders - Choose Change over Depression.

 

The Thinking Behind The Tweet

  1. The economic doldrums linger on.
  2. The Canadian economy is screaming for change, innovation, & some spending/investment for 'growth'.
  3. Canadian Baby Boomers continue to hold positions of leadership and authority.
  4. Canadian Baby Boomers, not all - but far too many, continue to coast on their old ways.
  5. This Is Not Sustainable.
  6. Better Make Some Changes For The Better Quickly before we end up with a Depression.

Here's the big picture...

Tags:

Change: Creating Positive Change | Leaders' Thoughts | Thought Tweets

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