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Name of author Rick Baker, P.Eng.

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7 Suggestions

by Rick Baker
On Apr 17, 2013
  1. You get to choose who you want to be. If you disagree then shame on you. Even if you question what I have said in this bullet point, pretend you agree. Act like you agree. If you choose not to do that then you choose that at our own peril.
  1. Choose the character traits you value: hero worship and more hero worship. And read.
  1. If you get stumped on choosing who you want to be: keep working at it, working at it, and working at it some more and sooner or later it will come to you. Even if it is ‘later’, not ‘sooner’, it can never be too late.
  1. Work on your Self-Confidence: do this all the time. Do this every day. Seek new ways to do it. Make this the most important habit you maintain. Outside of health and a good brain, there is no single thing in life of more importance than true Self-Confidence. You have some ability to enhance your health. You have some ability to enhance your brain function. You have far more ability to enhance your Self-Confidence. 
  1. Keep an open mind: be curious, be adventuresome, take some risks, and embrace change.
  1. Work on your Self-Control: again, this is fully within your control. Self-Control is a very broad concept. The way I look at it, it is closely linked to self-organization. 
  1. Seek Action: laziness is a basic part of being Human…fight it. Fight it all the time.

Tags:

Attitude: Creating Positive Attitude | Change: Creating Positive Change

Anyone can give a damn about other people in business

by Rick Baker
On Apr 8, 2013

Recently, I wrote about a special set of binoculars that help us do a better job of seeing eye to eye.

Here's a link to that article

Now, here's a fact: anyone can give a damn about other people in business. Even folks with brutal track records can do it. I know...from personal experience. But, that message and the tirade in its wake must wait for another day.

Today, I want to write about one simple tool that will help people who want to give a damn about other people but have never been taught how to do it. The tool is one of many created by Edward de Bono. Edward de Bono is one of the world's leading creative thinkers. He has designed numerous tools to teach people how to think creatively and how to make better decisions. To be more candid: Edward de Bono is one of my heroes...a beyond-gifted brain, a straight-up writer, a prolific writer, an inventor, a student of the brain, and one of the world's greatest thinking-teachers.

These de Bono tools can be put to use by people who want to learn how to listen better and understand other people at their workplace. They can be used by people who want to give a damn about others and are prepared to dedicate attention to learning how to get that done.

The starting point for appreciating the differences in others and better-understanding others is learning how to shift the way we look at and think about others. The shift happens in our brains - it's a pre-frontal cortex thing - and we are at the controls. We alone can exercise our brainpower and make thinking-shifts happen. 

We can choose the perspective we will use [rather than simply accepting the thoughts that arise in our brain through habits].

We can do even better than that.

We can choose multiple perspectives and use all of them [rather than simply accepting the thoughts that arise in our brain through habits] .

Here's an example of how we can select and use perspective-paradigms: Edward de Bono's 'Six Thinking Hats'. 

"Six Thinking Hats" is one of my favourite de Bono thinking tools. It is easy to understand and easy to use. You 'put on a hat' and allow it to govern the way you think while you are wearing it. You put on hat after hat as you consider a problem, or a person's actions, or a decision, or a situation. You wear one hat at a time, looking at the problem/actions/decision/situation from that hat's perspective. 

This is a simple way to get out of a thinking rut...and it is a great way to make sure you don't get into thinking ruts.

Here's the picture...

 

Links to other articles about Edward de Bono

Thought Tweet #698

by Rick Baker
On Mar 20, 2013

Thought Tweet #698 Believe - one respected person can flow a tide of change.

 

The Thinking Behind The Tweet

As Napoleon Hill said, "What we conceive and believe, we can achieve."

Tags:

Change: Creating Positive Change | Thought Tweets

Thought Tweet #691

by Rick Baker
On Mar 11, 2013

Thought Tweet #691 Leaders - we cannot hand over our precious time or energy to business bullies.

 

 

The Thinking Behind The Tweet

Unfortunately, business bullies tend to grow like weeds in the garden. If they are allowed to get too big they become prickly, they choke the flowers, and they sour the garden.

Leaders cannot allow that.

And, unfortunately, most business bullies are unwilling to change...without leadership-help. And, that leadership-help must be aggressive or else it will not be taken seriously by the bully. Generally, it is unwise to cross the line between assertiveness and aggression. Regardless, it is the route leaders must take when dealing with business bullies.

It takes leadership strength to deliver leadership-help to business bullies.

Why?

Bullies are a cocky bunch...that's one of the signature traits shared by all business bullies.

As examples...

Closet Bully: someone that self-disguises and plays a fake role in business...and acts cocky while role playing

Parasitic Bully: someone that resembles a biological parasite in dependence on someone else's business for existence or support without making a useful or adequate return...and acts cocky while doing [actually, not doing] that

 

Business bullies are asking for iron-fist assertive leadership.

They are crying out for it.

Take care though - you must deliver it to business bullies properly.

Thought Tweet #688

by Rick Baker
On Mar 6, 2013

Thought Tweet #688 When you boil it down, people only change their behaviour when they believe (1) they can & (2) it's worthwhile.

 

The Thinking Behind The Tweet

People will consider making a change in their behaviour when:

  • They think it will be worthwhile & 
  • They think they can do it

If either of these tests fail then the person likely will not seriously consider changing.

The 'What's In It For Me?' test may come first. 

Tags:

Change: Creating Positive Change | Thought Tweets

Helping business people double their performance

by Rick Baker
On Feb 26, 2013

In order to improve how we perform in business we need to grow as business people.

In order to grow as business people we need support: mentoring, guidance, education...in a word - leadership.

People double their performance when they are in a supportive atmosphere.

It has taken some time for me to learn this lesson…and, from time to time, I still slip up. It seems some of us were not born to be nurturing, empathetic, or patient. And some of us struggle with people-differences and relationships.

Some of us will do much better as leaders if we recognize we need to make a major adjustment to our character. I was one of those people. I have worked at adjusting my character over the last 10 years.

And, I have seen proof that support from the leader is an essential ingredient for positive changeThe keys to positive change are talents and strengths.

Every person has Talents…it takes time, effort, and expertise to find Talents and turn them into Strengths.


***

 

 "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."

Joe MacInnis

'Deep Leadership', (2012)

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