Build Your Leaders

Archive for the ‘management’ Category

The Saboteur Within

May 9th, 2010

Who is yours? While we may not be aware of it, most of us have a saboteur lurking within us. Change management expert Morrie Shechtman says there are six ways the saboteur shows up in leaders.

Acting on scarcity rather than plenty. When we operate from fear, we may miss valuable opportunities.

Avoiding and discouraging conflict. Conflict is necessary for growth.

Refusing to get involved in employees’ personal lives. Employees bring work home and they bring their home issues to work. Leaders who ignore how their workers’ home lives are affecting their work aren’t getting the whole picture.

Intervening too early in people’s struggles. Great leaders allow people to make mistakes and mine their own resources.

Being charismatic. If employees are mesmerized by the leader, they become followers rather than future leaders. Instead, the culture should be charismatic.

Being moody. In the unpredictable post-9/11 world, people want to know what they can expect from their leaders.

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Be a Savvy Optimist

February 7th, 2010

Positive thinkers aren’t automatically optimists. Author Loretta LaRoche is not only funny, she’s wise. In her book Life is Short Wear Your Party Pants she suggests that those people who say their problems will simply go away by thinking positive thoughts aren’t optimists; they’re idiots. Instead, real optimists are those who think: Anything could happen today, and whatever does I can handle it.

Winston Churchill wrote: “The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty.”

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