Success can make us superstitious in how we behave. Specifically, four beliefs — that we have the skills, the confidence, the motivation and the choice to succeed — lead us to this mindset.
Some of you are probably thinking, “No way! I’m not superstitious. I know exactly why I’m successful: because I earned it.”
Fair enough. And it’s probably safe to assume most of you don’t subscribe to “childish” superstitions such as misfortune from walking under a ladder, breaking a mirror or seeing a black cat cross your path. In fact, you more than likely scorn these beliefs as primitive and irrational and assure yourself that you’re above these silly notions.
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On a recent flight from Zurich to New York, I sat next to a very successful investor who had paid too much for a small high-tech firm. As we talked, he told me how livid he was with the owner of the company. Despite making a powerful initial impression, the entrepreneur lacked motivation and consistently missed important business commitments.
My seatmate complained over and over during the course of the flight about how the owner had led him on with promises of breakthrough technologies that never materialized. I asked my fellow traveler how long this guy had been upsetting him. “Far too many months!” he grunted angrily.
And yet the man sitting next to me was a multimillionaire. Continue reading » »
I have helped more than 70 major organizations identify and profile desired leadership behaviors. Almost every company I work with wants to encourage collaborative leadership and has in its inventory of desired behavior such things as “effectively builds teamwork,” “develops positive partner relationships with co-workers,” or “creates synergy with other parts of our business.”
One specific item that I encourage my clients to include in their leadership profiles is “avoids destructive comments about other people or groups.” This is a bad and all too common habit!
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Listen to what General Mills CEO Steve Sanger recently told 90 of his colleagues: “As you all know, last year my team told me that I needed to do a better job of coaching my direct reports. I just reviewed my 360-degree feedback. I have been working on becoming a better coach for the past year or so. I’m still not doing quite as well as I want, but I’m getting a lot better. My coworkers have been helping me improve. Another thing that I feel good about is the fact that my scores on ‘effectively responds to feedback’ are so high this year.”
While listening to Steve speak so openly to coworkers about his efforts to develop himself as a leader, I realized how much the world has changed. Continue reading » »
Yesterday, my sister-in-law and her husband, decided to remove a liquidambar styraciflua tree from her backyard. This tree, commonly referred to as the American Sweetgum, is known for its beautiful leaves and fall colors. This particular specimen was fairly large, and I was surprised that they were removing it. I could tell that it provided good shade for the house and so I inquired about the purpose for its demise.
Ankle Breakers
While the tree is known for its beauty, it is also known for its spiked fruit. These “gumball” shaped droppings are very unpleasant to walk on, and they do not decompose. If left on the lawn, they turn it into an uneven surface full of lumpy pock marks. Here in North Carolina, they call the the fruit “ankle breakers” because both the fruit, and the holes they create in the lawn, are known to cause many ankle injuries.
As a newcomer, it was hard for me to understand why this tree was being removed. Continue reading » »
