Three Character Traits For Success

I was asked recently what three character traits that have contributed most to my success have been strategic thinking, a sense of urgency, and positivity.

Strategic Thinking: I can see around strategic corners and find ways to maximize or improve anything we are attempting to do. This was well illustrated recently by a rebranding exercise I led for one of our business groups. We were all in agreement that the current way we talked about and positioned the business offering was slowing down adoption, but it wasn’t clear the path forward. Through facilitated discussions, we arrived at a common view of a new for a new business name. I called it giving the business a “handle” that was easier to pick up and carry and share. This led us to a structured naming exercise that resulted in a new brand approach, well received by our stakeholders. I was able to facilitate this by asking questions and broadening the view of the group to the range of challenges we were facing and how best to optimize our outcomes.

Sense of Urgency: I am not naturally patient person, which is something I am working on. But in a business context, I think this “fire in the belly” has helped me set the pace for our teams, pushed teams to experiment more (with incomplete or imperfect information so that we can learn faster), and helped shape the industries of which I have been a part. I served for several years for the Avixa board of directors on their Leadership Search Committee. This trade and industry association, like the industry it serves, has been predominantly male for a many decades. There was a lot of energy about getting more gender, racial, and experiential diversity on the board, but the question was often one of timing. Is this the year to put forward this female candidate over her male counterpart? Together with others on the board (both women and men, I am proud to say), the sense of urgency was contagious and we started making changes. I recently saw a picture of the ribbon cutting ceremony for Avixa’s largest trade show of the year and among the board members holding big scissors were as many women as men and the pipeline for chairman of the board now include several women. Truly, this is a career highlight for me. This is how a sense of urgency can lead to long-term change.

Positivity: I am not always happy (as my teenage children will attest), but I am always hopeful. I can see the silver lining in the clouds on my best days, I can be an encouragement to others who might focus on problems so much that they can’t see possibilities. I recently was talking to someone who experienced a disappointing loss at work and after talking it through she saw it as a “making room for something better.” In business there is a lot of failure and loss. If not, you are doing it wrong and not experimenting enough or taking enough risks. How you deal with that failure and loss, personally and on teams, is critical to the resilience of the organization and how well you take care of customers over the long haul. I consider feedback a gift, even if it is hard to take, as we are all on a journey of growth.

This article is an excerpt of an article originally in Authority Magazine written by Ming Zhao.

On Defeat

“Nobody goes undefeated all the time.  If you can pick up after a crushing defeat, and go on to win again, you are going to be a champion someday.” – Wilma Rudolph

On Giving

“If you wake up deciding what you want to give versus what you’re going to get, you become a more successful person.” – Russell Simmons

The Secret of Success

“The great secret of success in life is for a man to be ready when his opportunity comes.” – Benjamin Disraeli

Your Resolution to Succeed

“Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other one thing.” – Abraham Lincoln

On Failure

“If you fail, have an interesting failure.  Something that informs or transforms.” - Chris Dede, Harvard

Profit is Oxygen

If you want your business to breathe and not gasp for the air required for day-to-day operations without unnatural or outside interference, what do you need?  Profit.

If you want the flame of your business is grow, to create more heat and light to attract the attention of an entire industry, what enables that growth?  Profit (or capital from other sources to invest).

If you like what you are doing and the people you are working with, what allows that to continue in a sustainable way?  Profit. 

Profit is not a bad word.  Profit isn’t above everything else, of course. But like oxygen it is necessary.  

Words and World Views

Some people speak of breaking through barriers and others talk about building something of themselves.  Both are true, but the word choice is telling.

In an interview with artist and activist, Molly Crabapple in the Smithsonian magazine (April 2016), she talked about the “jaggedness goading you on.”  The success that she found in her life and career wasn’t easy to come by.  There was a lot of rejection and barrier busting.  She talked about finding cracks in the wall and the power of persistence.  “But I think that sort of pain,” she said, “are the parts of you that are most interesting in a lot of ways.  They’re the parts of you that give you motivation to keep creating art and keep fighting.”  An analogy of destruction is reflective of a world view that says it is “me versus the universe.”  

In contrast, others talk about building something, brick on brick.  Using construction terms, they think of creating an edifice.  Something beautiful and interesting and lasting.  It is a different kind of pain.  A pain focused on legacy.  Building something comes from a world view that says that anything is possible.  And that the world is ready to accept what you have to build.

How do you describe your own accomplishments?  What does that say about your world view?
 

Success

"Success is what happens after you've survived all of your mistakes." - Lauren Maillian, Founder and CEO of LMB Group

Is life a game of chance or skill?

You may be following the political and legal battle surrounding daily fantasy sports.  I won’t recap all the issues here, but one crucial question that has been poised is this: Is betting on sports a game of chance or a game of skill?  Certainly playing the lottery is a game of chance.  Being better at starching the tickets or picking numbers, has no correlation to winning.  However, assembling a fantasy sports team does require a degree of familiarity with the players, understanding of their injuries or mindset, and, although I don’t play, I assume one can increase their odds with better choices.

This got me thinking about gambling and risk in general.  It seems to me that life itself is both a game of chance and skill.  You can be born in the right country in the right century to maximize your options.  That clearly is luck.  You can make good choices and improve your odds.  You can educate yourself, get and take advice, and learn from your mistakes.  Life certainly favors the skilled.  You can meet a friend-of-a-friend at a cocktail party (chance) and impress with your expertise and witty banter and they consider investing in your company, buying your product, or offering you a new position (skill).  Like this example, most of us experience a good mix.

There is a quote attributed to Thomas Jefferson that reads “The harder I work, the luckier I get.”  I suppose that is really the take-away from our experience.  Everyone is gambling with the hand we have been dealt.  And with better plays, can win more frequently.

I am very aware of the blessings that I have received without my involvement or skill.  I am humbled to realize that my success is in a large part attributed to things outside my control.  This is why I am committed to give others the opportunity to achieve their full potential.  This is why I joined the board of Marathon Scholars.  I invite you to learn more about the organization, become a mentor, invest in a scholarship for a worthy scholar, and find other ways to get involved.

Never Apologize for Being Great

“Never apologize for being great at something, or wanting to be great at it.” - Kia Nurse

The Last 2%

"It's the last two percent of a job that ensures your successful completion of the project." - Art Gensler

Life

"Life is not what happened to you, but what happened for you." - Timber Jim Serrill

From the Inside Out: what to do when air gets dense

I just returned from a vacation in the mountains and thought it was hilarious that the unopened bag of chips, which were popping at the seams in the higher altitude, were back down to the normal again when I arrived back home.  And that empty plastic bottles that we packed in the mountains and brought down to recycle, collapsed in our kitchen.  Clearly, the air was different there.

Everyone knows the air is “thinner” at altitude.  The contents of the air spread out in the lower air pressure.  As if each molecule of oxygen also wanted to go on vacation and get away from it all.  At sea level, the air pressure is higher because it bears the combined weight of the air molecules in the atmosphere. At the depths where scuba divers dare to do, that density is even more pronounced.

Life is like this as well.  Sometimes, when you are on a mountain-top of emotions, the air seems lighter as attitudes are buoyant and optimism is high.  In other times, you can feel the weight of the atmosphere bearing down and the density of the air surrounding you.  The heaviness of life.

Adjusting to different physical altitudes is a science and an art.  Scuba divers and mountain climbers know the risks of pressure imbalances.  I have read that the builders of the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City were subjected to unprotected dive conditions and developed symptoms like leg weakness, headaches, dizziness, and the like.  Symptoms that were often confused with drunkenness to their neighbors, but were in fact decompression sickness.  We can develop our own debilitating conditions when we don’t adapt properly to changing conditions.

Yesterday, I went from a relaxing vacation get-away to hearing of a family friend’s losing battle with cancer. Although those are both personal examples, we have all experienced professional highs and lows in rapid succession.  A big win followed by a loss.  A project triumph followed by new frustrations or set-backs.  Times of breathless amazement and times of defeat when we can’t seem to catch our breath.  Such is life. 

So, does the treatment of decompression sickness teach us anything about dealing with the ups and downs of our circumstances?

The first thing they do to treat decompression sickness is to administer 100% oxygen, preferable in a high-pressure chamber.  Something that would stabilize the person at a level before they move to normal conditions.  Something that would put the gasses in their blood back into solution.  Medical professionals also recommend fluids to fight dehydration.  This kind of nourishment works from the inside out. 

Sometimes we need the same at work – nourishment from the inside out.  When things go from good to worse, it is critical to maintain our perspective and force ourselves to be grateful and mindful of the goodness that surrounds us.  To remember the successes.  We can take a break from the frustration, focusing our attention on something that can be done with ease to build momentum – returning to the original problem with more energy and creativity.  We might need a nourishing talk with a friend or colleague.  We might not be able to change the external circumstances, but we can change the internal conditions.  And we can remain compassionate – with others and with ourselves – when they experience these symptoms.   

When the air gets heavy, remember when it was light to avoid collapsing under the pressure.

P.S.  Most of us cope with this oscillation between fair and foul weather with some finesse, although I understand that there are millions out there that need to seek professional help.  I am not addressing the real and debilitating disease of depression in this article, but encourage you to find whatever help you need to manage your own pressures.

This article was published on LinkedIn Pulse.

Exhausted Genius

“I’m exhausted. But the success is glorious.” – Albert Einstein, after presenting his decade-long quest on the theory of relativity, November 1915

Feedback...it's the breakfast of champions.

“Feedback…it’s the breakfast of champions” – Dharmesh Shah

Success is making those around you look brilliant

“Success is making those who believed in you look brilliant.” – Dharmesh Shah