Many of us fall prey to drama at work and in life. When I raise the alarm, call out the failings, or even just quietly complain, I hope to move people to my cause through commiseration (literally, being miserable with me). I may do this angrily, dryly, boisterously, or even warmly. I don’t even know […]
Focusing on what’s wrong is such an easy trap to fall into, good leader. Most people focus too much on the negative. That’s why we need to be beacon-like, holding up the light of what’s going right and what’s coming that’s even better. In your corner, Mike Today’s photo credit: John6536 Peggy’s Cove-9m […]
Just look at everything we have to do. -Every leader Though there is so much to do, fix, and improve (and we will never, ever be done), we can focus too much on what’s wrong. Then we and those around us will feel bad (resistant) and everything will be much harder to accomplish. The cure? Focus on […]
…we will only succeed in perpetuating it (or something like it). In other words, we will never solve a problem by complaining about it, wishing or waiting for it to change, or arguing for the power of any obstacles to prevent its solution. Focus on what’s right, good leader. In your corner, Mike PS: […]
When we notice something right, we can encourage more of it by focusing on it. Appreciating people’s good work, for example, sets the stage for them to do it again and again. But what about when we notice something wrong? Most of us tend to focus, focus, focus on it. We perform a litany of What […]
Truth is what we say it is. We leaders need this newer definition of truth. The old way is ruining things. Thinking of truth in the traditional way–that is, as an absolute–always gets us into trouble. Old-style truth has us looking for the “right” answer instead of looking for the best answer. It pits people […]
If we persist in thinking that there’s something fundamentally wrong with them, us, or the situation, then we will be locked into our current levels of success…or less. Our job, good leader, starts with the belief in a spark of good, intelligence, and possibility in everyone. We quietly and assuredly call these out of ourselves […]
We fall into the Right-Wrong Trap whenever we try to convince someone we are right. If we fall into this trap, we will have a very difficult time leading, selling, and influencing. The Right-Wrong Trap proves that leading, selling, and influencing are not at all about the facts, the merits of our argument, or the […]
Focusing on what’s wrong feels bad. And it is helpful as long as we continue on to what we want instead and what’s right already. Otherwise, we will be wallowing while thinking, perhaps that we’re solving problems. In your corner, Mike PS: One way to tell if we’re wallowing is that we continue to feel […]
When things go wrong (and when they keep going wrong), our temptation is to judge the people involved as underperforming nogoodniks. (We occasionally will use stronger language.) And we jump in and fix it. How frustrating. How exhausting. But the judging shuts people down. The jumping in teaches them that we are never-satisfied micromanagers, random […]