Eaters and Bakers

Guy Kawasaki’s book Enchantment is brilliant and yes… enchanting… for its practical yet insightful content. In his chapter on trustworthiness he discusses Bakers and Eaters. He describes eaters as people who want a bigger slice of an existing pie, while bakers want to make a bigger pie. With eaters it is always a win or lose game; somebody is going to get more of the pie. Bakers believe everyone can win with a bigger pie. They enjoy the benefits of the bigger slice and don’t get hung up on the perfect split.

This completely connects with my experience and I do everything I can to stay away from the eaters. You can recognize them because they try and conceal intent, think they can “outsmart the other party” with clever or cute negotiating techniques, and mostly think they’re of superior intelligence. Their effort is always to take more than the “other side.” Bakers try to really understand what everyone one wants and tries extra hard to expand the size of what might be available. This is the essence of comparing abundant versus scarcity people. Bakers are fun and trustworthy because they declare what they want to achieve and actively work with others to do the same. The mind set and focus is on growing and sharing versus protecting and taking.

This does not imply we shouldn’t be shrewd and good negotiators but “shrewd” does not equate to “screwed,” ourselves OR others. Stay away from anyone who brags about “putting one over on someone”…you’ll likely be on that list one day too.

Character Move: How much are you and I eaters versus bakers? Are we surrounded more by bakers or eaters? What action can we take to surround ourselves with bakers?

Bake in the Triangle,

Lorne

Do You Live in a Grass Hut?

I have borrowed a saying and it goes like this…

“Often when you ask someone who lives in a grass hut to build a mansion; they build a great BIG grass hut.”

In the world we live and compete in we can’t afford to build great big grass huts. At a personal and organization level, we need to open ourselves up to what is possible. This means having the courage and awareness to raise the game by challenging all of our assumptions about creating value. If we allow ourselves to be stagnant or closed to this dynamic environment we will likely be left behind; it’s only a matter of time. This can feel threatening or invigorating.  That is a matter of mind set. 

What’s your mind set? Are you stuck in a grass hut or are you looking to build beyond the metaphorical limitations of grass and mud.

Character Move: I talked to a leader of a system design company and he introduced me to the concept of responsive design. My challenge to all of us is to learn about the concept of responsive design and think about it’s relevance to us as leaders and individual contributors. It will help us peer out of that grass hut.

Live in the Triangle (not the grass hut),

Lorne

Does Your Mindset Grow?

In previous blogs, I’ve written about the importance of having the right mind set as a foundation to practicing the three elements of the Character Triangle.  In her book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, Stanford Professor Carol Dweck outlines two distinct mindsets people tend to have about their basic personal qualities:

  • Fixed Mindset:  People believe that one’s talent, skills, and capabilities are mostly fixed and finite.
  • Growth Mindset:  People believe qualities are a starting point and learning, effort, and persistence will expand skills, talent, and capabilities.

 

In a recent HBR blog, John Hagel III and John Seely Browne refer to this in describing the mindset paradox: the greatest threat to success is avoiding failure! People with a fixed mindset tend to be protective by avoiding or rationalizing failures. Those with a growth mind set, focus on learning and development. They actively pursue activities that will likely result in both failures and learning.

If we want to excel and succeed at work and apply the Character Triangle as a personal value guide, we have to have a growth mindset. Then of course we have to relentlessly practice with purpose and serious intent.

What is your mindset? …really? What are you waiting for then?

Live the Character Triangle,

Lorne

Do You HAVE to Go to Work? Or, Do You GET to Go to Work?

I know some people who have been unhappy in every job they’ve ever had. Even when they change jobs or organizations, things are “great” from the beginning but before too long, the bloom is off the rose. Most of us have changed jobs and there are many solid reasons to do so, but the belief that we will be happier in one versus another may be the wrong reason to change.

If we look for them and dwell on those things, we can find shortcomings in every job.  And if someone analyzed and compared jobs objectively, definitely some situations are better than others.  But the one constant in every job you and I have is our “mind set” (read another one of my blogs on Mind Set). We have to be happy in our jobs on purpose. I really believe we need to be self accountable in bringing a happy and satisfied approach to work. It is almost always our perspective, attitude, and choice. The ’job” doesn’t do it for us. This doesn’t mean things can’t be improved; in most cases they can be. But we have so much daily control over our job happiness. I’m reminded of the story where two bricklayers who worked at the same construction site described their jobs this way: one complained of the boredom of the routine, and the other the beauty of building a cathedral. One has to go to work, the other gets to go to work.

So you and I can start a new job right now. What parts of the job could we change our perspective on? What could we do differently to have a more effective working relationship with people whom we struggle with? What would we do differently if we were starting our jobs for the first time tomorrow? The Character Triangle puts us in control. We decide. We determine happiness in our jobs.

Live the Triangle,

Lorne

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Lorne Rubis

Lorne Rubis

The constant in Lorne’s diverse career is his ability to successfully lead organizations through significant change. At US West, where he served as a Vice President / Company Officer, Lorne was one of only seven direct reports ...
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LISTEN TO LORNE'S RADIO INTERVIEWS

Revolutionizing Relationships - with Trevor Crow radio host, 3/27/2012

Mind Your Own Business Radio - with Debi Davis, WLOB 1310 AM, 3/10/12

Paul Miller Morning Show, WPHM-AM, 12/5/11

Dr. Alvin Jones Show, WHFS-AM, 12/1/11

Kathryn Zox Show, VoiceAmerica Network interview

 

The Character Triangle

Character Triangle Book CoverBuild Character, Have an Impact, and Inspire Others

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hudson-news-character-triangle-bookAlso available at all Hudson News Bookstores in major U.S. airports.

 

 

Character Triangle

Our character is exclusively ours. We define it by how we think and what we do. I believe that acting with Character is driven by what I call the Character Triangle.

What, exactly, is the Character Triangle (CT)?

The CT describes and emphasizes three distinct but interdependent values:

Be Accountable: first person action to make things better, avoiding blame.
Be Respectful: being present, listening, looking again, focusing on the process.
Be Abundant: generous in spirit, moving forward, minimizing the lack of.

Read more about the Character Triangle

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Be Accountable

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Free Resources

Podcasts
 

Revolutionizing Relationships – with Trevor Crow radio host, 3/27/2012

Mind Your Own Business Radio – with Debi Davis, WLOB 1310 AM, 3/10/12 radio interview of Lorne Rubis

Paul Miller Morning Show, WPHM-AM, 12/5/11 radio interview of Lorne Rubis

Dr. Alvin Jones Show, WHFS-AM, 12/1/11 radio interview of Lorne Rubis

Kathryn Zox Show, VoiceAmerica Network interview of Lorne Rubis

 

Articles
 

Take Responsibility For Yourself; Others Will Follow

Use the Character Triangle to inspire your team

Leadership Excellence articlein the January 2012 issue

Mercer Island author inspires others with ‘Character Triangle’

Problem Solving STP Model – click to download (304KB pdf) 

 

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