So here is an assumption about people and work I deeply believe in: The competition for top talent will become more ATTRIBUTE intense than ever. I do expect to hire very smart people who are exceptionally proficient in performing certain skills. But a great formal education is table stakes to just get in the talent competition pool. However if I can hire a hungry, self-accountable, respectful, abundant thinking individual who is capable of connecting, translating, collaborating and creating… WE THRIVE and SUCCEED in a sustainable way! Why? People with these attributes realize THEY are the key to defining and contributing to success. They are mega collaborators. They do not depend on somebody leading “change” because improvement, growth, and personal change management is built into their mindset. This type of talent is happy to be engaged AND engaged to be happy! They expect to navigate through tough challenges and even seek out that kind of environment. Agility helps define who they are. They are content and yet realize good is the enemy of great. And the better lead the organization, the greater leverage and value results from this attribute talent.

Character Move:

1. When you think about how much you’re improving, think about describing it in terms of attributes along with numeric results. The good news is that the distinguishing variables to find these desired attributes are not necessarily resident in any particular age, gender, IQ, size, shape, GPA, University, country, or region. They are evident through results and behavior.
2.  Self-evaluate and build a development plan on the following attributes: A. Self-accountability, B. Respect, C. Abundance, D. Hunger, E. Connector, F. Creator, G, Translator, H. Catalyst, I. Collaborator. These are not necessarily ALL of the right attributes but they are a great list to work from.
3. If you were asked to provide a story as evidence of how you have displayed each of these attributes and achieved results that have had an impact and inspired others, how would you do? If you haven’t been asked to do so, expect that you might in the very near future.

Attributes in the Triangle,

Lorne

1. Recognition: Too often it is thought of as something we have to do (an additive task) versus part of how we think and act. When we constantly observe the action of others and acknowledge the positive impact they have, we not only reinforce desired activity but we also benefit from constantly sharpening our observation and personal development skills.

35 percent of workers and 30 percent of chief financial officers in an Accountemps poll cited frequent recognition of accomplishments as the most effective nonmonetary reward. Thanking people for their hard work and commitment is a vital element for helping people to appreciate they are adding value.

2. One-On-One Connect: In many organizations people get so busy with daily work, they forget to check in with each other to really examine if the work people are doing is really what’s needed and valued. Who is the customer? Do internal or external customers willingly pay for the work being done? Do they really care? I often see employee survey data where it is evident that people don’t sit down for those talks until some serious redirect of activity or behavior is involved. And then the conversation is obviously more challenging for all. In most cases waiting for annual performance reviews is too reactive and too late, (and often an administrative exercise with minimum benefit to anyone).

Character Move:

Apply 2×4 leadership this way. It is simple but effective. Do your own research to see if it works!

1. Regular Personal Recognition. Focus on your key value drivers and recognize people who are having an impact on those drivers at least four times per day or week. Make it specific AND personal. Use whatever method you want but make it clear that the behavior the associate you are recognizing is having a positive impact on the company, others, you and them. It needs to be part of what we do and who we are. Set up a process in your management system to make it a positive habit.
2. Regular Personal one-on-one connect: Ask four simple questions in your regular one-on-ones and you will likely have a constructive discussion. They are: What is going well that we want to keep doing or do more of? What is tricky or challenging? What can we do better going forward? How can I help you help yourself get valued results?

That’s it. I don’t want to over simplify but I have historical data and lots of experience that doing these TWO things; regular personal recognition and regular personal one-on-ones (AND applying the FOUR recognitions and questions) will result in significant positive outcomes! Obviously the 2×4 leadership idea is to help provide a framework… No reason it can’t be your 2×5 or 2×3, etc. Just try it.

Using a 2×4 in The Triangle,

Lorne

Most of us have heard of the concept of learning from our mistakes. But, do we really embrace and understand that concept? Richard Rohr in his challenging book entitled Falling Upward makes this difficult point: any attempt to engineer your own enlightenment is doomed to being incomplete because it is ego driven. That is, we are choosing where to focus our improvement. But when we really fail and face humiliation, we are forced to look where we haven’t or have preferred not to. When we are open to looking in our darkest more hidden areas, real profound learning emerges. This becomes real self improvement; not just reading about it.

Leaving involves stepping out of our comfort zone. Sometimes we choose to leave an affiliation. At other times the change is not our choice. But, leaving always involves the opportunity of letting go of validations, smallness, securities, and even hurts that limit us. It is the time for renewal. Some believe that leaving is when the greatest personal development occurs.

Character Move:

1. Embrace failure and recognize it is going to happen to every one of us, and likely more than once.
2. Use failure as a mirror. Look and learn where you normally might not see. Accept and let it make you more authentic.
3. Embrace leaving and rejoice in the ability to renew. Yes it will be uncomfortable. But everything ends. Move on and know that you will develop if your mind set is open to renewal.
4. Recognize that relative to failure and loss, you don’t really have a choice. Both will happen. As the saying goes “God comes disguised as your life.” It is the way we chose to react and move forward that allows us to “fall upward” as Rohr so wonderfully describes.

Falling upward in the Triangle,

Lorne

The father helped his son reel in his first fish, and it was a beauty. “Great catch, son,” the father said.

“Yes, but I’m worried I’m missing out on better fish,” the son said.  “What if I could catch a bigger, tastier fish?”  “Maybe you should try,” the father said.

And the son did, catching an even bigger fish an hour later. “A real beaut,” the father said.

“But what if there are better fish out there?” the son asked.

“Maybe you should try,” the father said.

And the son did, catching a bigger fish, and then wondering if there were better fish, catching another, and so on.

At the end of the day, the son was exhausted. The father asked, “How did the fish taste?”

The son hesitated. “I’m not sure. I was so busy looking for better fish that I didn’t taste any of them.”

The father smiled contentedly, patted his belly. “Don’t worry. They were delicious.”

_______

The parable above is from Leo Babauta’s popular blog http://www.zenhabits.com/. I like it because it captures the frenzy we find ourselves in from time to time. Often I find people at all levels so worked up about getting to the next big step they forget to take a moment to digest what they’ve learned. They know there is a bigger fish and they forget to fully appreciate the one they’ve caught. Before one knows it, they end up like the little boy and lose sight of the main objective: to nourish oneself and add value to others. I really do think it is important to move forward and evolve. In fact our purpose in life, I believe, is to be constantly growing and developing ourselves while contributing to others. In fact in the highest order of spiritual thinking, even God is defined as a verb as much as a noun. However taking the time to learn lessons and “feed ourselves” is important to govern the pace of movement. “Fishing,” as a metaphor for our personal evolution, then takes on a somewhat more deliberate context.

Character Move:

1. Recognize that we are going to miss some things. I accepted the role as President of Ryzex and two weeks after I started and introduced myself to the company I was asked to do a high profile job that I wanted to do so badly that I was sick about passing on it. However if I had jumped to that “fish,” I might have missed the time at Ryzex where the Character Triangle became a fully developed concept. Accept and be accountable to feed and nourish yourself in the best way possible in your current role.
2. The time to move on and to “cast the next line” will become clearer if we are present enough to fully appreciate and absorb what we have in front of us. If our antenna is “up” we will know and use better judgment. When I look back on my career, there were a few times when I got anxious and probably took my eye off what was already on my line. The dot com era was such a time; I think I got so blurred by all the “fish” out there that I didn’t get the most out of the one in my hands. I left the COO job of a company I worked my tail off to transform and jumped to a “can’t miss” start up that of course crashed and burned in the dot com bust. I did learn a lot from that “catch,” trading a trout for a minnow. Be opportunistic but act based on what you want, NOT what you’re missing.

Full Fishing in the Triangle,

Lorne

Many who rise triumphantly never label what they go through as bad and lament over it. They simply take it as a given as if they were a civil engineer surveying the landscape through which a road is being built. In this view, a swamp is not a bad thing. It is merely something that has to be addressed in the construction plan. This is quote from Srikumar S. Rao, Ph.D and the author of Are You Ready to Succeed and Happiness at Work. His class, taught to MBA students, on Creativity and Personal Mastery is literally world renowned.

Here is what I know as a leader of organizations and observing people who thrive at work. When adversity hits them, they do not focus on bad. They quickly realize that it is a waste of their energy. In fact they seem to understand that they really are often not in a position to know if it is good or bad (although it feels bad).  As an example, how many people have been demoted or worse, only to realize that it was the classic “blessing in disguise”?  They also see these situations as great opportunities for personal growth and development.

This may sound like “mushy happy” talk to skeptics but I’ve observed the benefits of people applying positive resilience over and over again. At the same time I’ve seen people wallow in the world of bad. They mentally give up or shrink and often mope around for extended periods of time looking like Eeyore in Winnie the Pooh.

Abundant thinking is a mind set and belief that we have the right and ability to choose happiness. When we’re in the swamp, that means accepting the situation and finding an alternative to move forward. Our best choice is to find the good. It is there if we look hard enough.

Live in the Triangle and Drain the Swamp, 

Lorne

• 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

I sometimes wish it could be different. The myth of what drives success can be a convenient excuse.  But as Peter Orszag of the New York Times notes in the September 8th commentary we just have to sweat our way to success. Orszag refers to the research and writing of Matthew Syed and his recently published book Bounce. By focusing on the science of success, Syed shatters the “talent myth”, that top performers are born not built.

Syed introduces and reinforces concepts like chunking and purposeful effort. The nature and intensity of practice makes a huge difference.

I am going to be writing more on this because while the Character Triangle is a foundation, we all need more tools and skills to help us on the journey.

What do you and I practice with intensity and purpose? Hey… self accountability is looking in the mirror. It doesn’t mean we will like the answers to our questions but it does mean taking action; one small forward step at a time.

with Character,

Lorne