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Name of author Rick Baker, P.Eng.

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Influencing Powerful People - #9

by Rick Baker
On Mar 23, 2019

This week's Dirk Schlimm quote - 

“Remember that powerful people identify greatly with their work and their enterprise. They expect the same from you. Show them that you take your work seriously and that you are striving to make a contribution, rather than just do a job.”

As I re-read this quote, I think of heroes I admire and how I feel when I hear people bad-mouthing those heroes. I remember people obsessing about and picking away at heroes' faults. As examples, I think about:

  • people criticizing Bill Gates' autocratic style [while ignoring the fact this man is the force behind mega-$Billion charitable donations
  • people criticizing Winston Churchill's autocratic style [while ignoring the fact this man wrote and delivered some of the most-influential messages known to man
  • people criticizing their bosses [while ignoring the fact these bosses, certainly, must have at least one good quality which could be discussed from time to time]
About business leaders -

As we watch and listen to business leaders, we can keep Dirk's advice in mind. Business leaders and business bosses possess various levels of power in their workplaces. Every leader possesses, at least, some power. So, we have plenty of opportunities to make use of Dirk's advice. 

While many leaders are 'driven' and that can be troubling or off-putting to less-driven people, we can always find positive attributes in the people we work with.
 
For example -
 

 
 
 

 

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 - #7

by Rick Baker
On Mar 9, 2019

Dirk Schlimm wrote:

“The tremendous energy of powerful people is sustained by a deep-rooted drive to succeed, especially against the odds and in the face of real or perceived obstacles.”

Energy – what an essential ingredient for success!

A couple of years ago, I wrote:

Willpower consumes energy. Energy is scarce. Use willpower wisely.

Willpower must be one of the human body's most energy-intensive processes.

We must exercise willpower or it becomes weak.

We must rest willpower so it re-energizes.

Exercising it wisely and resting it: these are the keys to building willpower and growing success.

Now, as Dirk confirms, a deep-rooted drive to succeed somehow ignites and sustains people's energy. And, powerful people have a deep-rooted drive to succeed. Powerful people clearly understand their goals and the effort they must sustain in order to achieve those goals. With efforts and energy focused toward achieving goals, decisions become easier and exercising willpower can more-easily become a habit. 

 

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.

 

Influencing Powerful People - #5

by Rick Baker
On Feb 24, 2019

For a month now, I have been writing short thought posts sharing quotes from Dirk Schlimm, who will be CFFB's special guest and keynote speaker on April 26th.

This week's quote from Dirk's book:

“And the fact is that powerful people are often desirous and capable of a large spectrum of contribution; they are not just a “genius”, but a genius universalis.”

So, the powerful people Dirk is talking about are universal geniuses...geniuses with broad and deep capabilities.

Over the years, I have written about such people. Here are a couple of examples, which shed light on the value we will obtain when we understand the wisdom Dirk will share with us on April 26th: 

  • When we see these gifted entrepreneurs/powerful people in action, we have choices on how we interact with them. For example, we can accept their unique strengths and choose to help them. Or, we can criticize their shortcomings and choose to undermine their efforts and even fight them. I favour understanding powerful people's strengths and complementing their strengths with our strengths. To accomplish this, we must control the 'littlenesses in our natures'. Here's a thought post with more details - 'Controlling the common littlenesses of human nature'.
As we spend time thinking about how we can achieve our goals while working with powerful people, we find ourselves drawn into the territory of heroes.

Now, that is energized territory!

Influencing Powerful People - #4

by Rick Baker
On Feb 17, 2019

Here's another quote from Dirk Schlimm:

“The genius, who sees opportunity with outside-the-box ideas, gets easily frustrated if he or she feels surrounded by others who only see obstacles. A powerful person with a big idea is likely to feel that he or she is right and will grow impatient with naysayers.”

This quote triggers some questions...

Do you know many people who think of themselves as innovative/creative thinkers? Do you know people who consider themselves out-of-the-box thinkers while you see them under dimmer lighting?

Do you know many people who get frustrated when other people inject obstacles? How do you feel when others naysay when you raise what you believe to be good ideas?

Spirited Leaders have a philosophy that can be summed up in 5 words: People Don't Like Receiving Criticism. We also say, "Constructive Criticism is an Oxymoron".

Now, we know some thick-skinned people can accept and respond well to criticism...for these rare few, constructive criticism is not an oxymoron. However, implicit in Dirk's quote, it is highly unlikely people who possess and exhibit a level of genius - powerful people - will respond well to naysaying. So, when you find yourself facing such a powerful person consider better strategies than voicing criticism that will likely be received poorly.

If you must voice criticism then plan its delivery carefully.

Dirk explains how this can be done in his book.


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