Your Emotions … Your Perception

They are linked so be aware …

“ONE WHO fears the future, who fears failure, limits his activities. Failure is only the opportunity more intelligently to begin again. Fear blocks every avenue of business – it makes man afraid of competition, of changing his methods, of doing anything which might change his condition.” Henry Ford 

1.  Acknowledge emotions – they permeate every business.
2. See emotions as a caution sign rather than a call to action.
3. Deconstruct the situation, reappraise it: “What does it mean, how did I decide that, and what else could it mean?”  
4. Reframe it: “Anything less than totally perfect offers the possibility of learning from mistakes.” “How is this an opportunity for developing resiliency, flexibility and a sense of humor?” 

“OUR STUDY shows that when in a positive mood, our visual cortex takes in more information, while negative moods result in tunnel vision. The up side of this (positive moods) is that we can see things from a more global, or integrative perspective.” Taylor Schmitz, University of Toronto Study ‘People Who Wear Rose Coloured Glasses See More,’ 2009

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Fuel Consumption And Competent Managers

Connecting the links
This started out to be simply two interesting links from Fast Company, but on reflection … perhaps there is a subtle connection? You decide.

Lower our reliance on oil and have our SUVs too?
Perhaps we can, if vehicle manufacturers would turn their creative energy towards mass producing innovations generated by people like Jonathan Godwin.  Where there’s a will, there’s a way … so what can we as consumers do to assist Detroit and others to discover the will? Interesting thought.

Motorhead Messiah by Clive Thompson
http://trax.fastcompany.com/k/w/mailman/fasttake/20071107/motorhead   

Management behaviours you don’t want to see
This one is worth reading even if you are the manager, since we all self-manage to some extent.  And perhaps discover connections. 

‘Ten Signs of Incompetent Managers’ by Margaret Heffernan
http://trax.fastcompany.com/k/w/mailman/fasttake/20071107/managers

My seven favorites follow, but why not check out Heffernan’s list for yourself.

A bias against action – no action also means no feedback about what will move your forward
Secrecy  – sure way to drain the power and passion from a Vision
Love of procedure – see previous post and think balance
Preference for weak candidates – leaders hand pick teams for excellence 
Focus on small tasks – what are they avoiding and why
Allergy to deadlines – energy and excitement comes from taking responsibility for meeting commitments and achieving goals
Addiction to consultants – avoid the dependency trap by ensuring your own people have time to absorb new skills