Facial expressions…

To this day my wife reminds me to watch my temperament.  You see, when I get into a dispute – it shows.

Of course, my contention is it’s an argument and I should show displeasure.  Otherwise, it would simply be a conversation.  (No, that doesn’t work with her. HaHa!)

How about you?  When you get into a quarrel does it show on your face?  Or, do you maintain more of a peace maker’s disposition?  I know it depends on the situation:

There is a saying that an appeaser is someone who believes that if you keep on throwing steaks to a tiger, the tiger will eventually become a vegetarian.

William Ury

The other side may look like this:

Braxton Bragg's irascibility was legendary, he argued with everyone including himself.

Robert I. Girardi

Sometimes we just have to stick up for ourselves.  It can be a delicate matter when the quarrel is with an unreasonable boss:                       

I didn't say it was your fault, I said I was blaming you.

Unknown Sage

Thankfully, in my career I worked for managers who accepted my willingness to fight for my position; and my people.  Except once… during the single worst business meeting of my entire, 40+ year career.

Russ Deloach was VP of Sales for ADP’s Major Accounts segment back in the day.  I was a Major Accounts Sales Manager.  I was “participating” (aka being “inspected”, aka facing “interrogation”) during an “Ops Review” Russ was infamous for.   The word irascible comes to mind when I think of Russ’ approach.  Coincidentally, it was also the year the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 was enacted.

Sure enough; two of my sales people requested FMLA leave to start their families.  Beyond that, they each requested returning part-time (3 days per week) so they could spend more time with their children.

The leave was a legal provision; returning part time was at my “discretion”.  Russ Deloach didn’t agree with either the leave nor the flexibility of their return.  Weakening my position, my sales team was under quota.  Further, I did a poor job of getting my Division VP of Sales, John Harris, to support me. 

So there I was; out on the proverbial limb; arguing with the top sales executive of the company before the term “family friendly” was accepted.

Thankfully, the VP of Sales Operations, Tom McSweeney, Russ’ “right hand man” who just happened to be my friend, finally stepped in to rescue me.  Tom queued me to shut up and check my facial expressions; Russ finished berating me; I licked my wounds; my sales reps returned to work after their leave (part-time); and my team eventually returned to over-quota performances.

At ensuing President’s Club celebrations my wife continued reminding me to check my facial expression every time I was around Russ.

GAP

When life gets tough we could get a helmet… or… we could leverage the peace and share the power of a positive perspective.

Stressed?

Seems like stress is the new normal these days, true?  Stress at home; at work; in the media; I think we’re surrounded.  The good news is we can handle stress regardless of the cause:

Stress is caused by being "here" but wanting to be "there".

Eckhart Tolle

At work, companies have been stressing us with unrealistic performance expectations for years.  I get it. After rising to the top, many executives want to leave their mark.  It’s not the business goals that cause us stress; it’s the extremes our leaders want us to go to reach them:

Goals...Business school professors suggest they should come with their own warning label: 

Goals may cause systematic problems for organizations due to narrowed focus, unethical behavior, increased risk taking, decreased cooperation, and decreased intrinsic motivation.  Use care when applying goals in your organization.

Daniel H. Pink            

It can be difficult to get motivated when one of our leaders sets an unrealistic goal.  It’s OK though.  There are many skilled and experienced employees at our companies who know better:

Or as Fred Brooks, the droll engineering genius from North Carolina who led the project, once wrote, “the bearing of a child takes nine months, no matter how many women are assigned.”

Thomas J. Watson Jr.

Truthfully though, we are capable of raising our level of performance to match the challenges of our time.  We come from generations before us who succeeded.  We may not all be entrepreneurs like Phil Knight was when Nike was a fledgling start-up, but we’re up to meeting our challenges – we have no choice:

The cowards never started and the weak died along the way.  That leaves us…

Phil Knight

So here’s to raising our level of performance while keeping stress at bay.  Someday we will be “there” where stress will be merely a mile marker memory on our path to success.   

GAP

When life gets tough we could get a helmet… or… we could leverage the peace and share the power of a positive perspective.

March Madness…

I love this time of year.  The NCAA, D-I tournament; the “Bracket Challenge”; “Prime time, baby!” as Dick Vitale says with great enthusiasm.  This is the tournament that separates the “Blue Bloods” from the pretenders.

For a few weeks the intensity of competition is raised unlike any other sport.  Oh, others have big games; but we’re talking about dozens of big games played back-to-back in a “Win or go home!” setting.  Madness!

There are parallels between sports and business competition.  We relate because we compete in our jobs on a daily basis, too.  Of course, maintaining a high level of enthusiasm, maintaining our “edge”; remaining tenacious back-to-back is difficult.  After all:

Only the mediocre are always at their best.

Jean Giraudoux

To be a Blue Blood the business person in general and the salesperson in particular benefit greatly from competition, coaching, and motivation.  Especially motivation:

Our competition got me out of bed in the morning; paranoia is a wonderful motivator. 

Scott Deeter

Lord knows I have felt paranoid on more than one occasion when I’m trying to close that big deal; finish that big project; or win recognition from my Manager.  Though we might agree that a little paranoia goes a long way.  If we get too carried away they might start padding our cubicles. 

There are other sources of motivation.  How about personal pride; a never-give-up mind set; staying the course no matter how difficult. That tenacious mind set can be very motivational, individually and in our teams.  We see it on display in the NCAA tournament.  How fun!  We also see those with mental weakness vs. toughness. They collapse in the face of competition; “over-rated”; “pretenders”.  In March and throughout life winners - Blue Bloods - stand out. 

Whatever we do to find inner strength; however our toughness is displayed to the outside world; regardless of our life pursuits, we can always think of March Madness, basketball, great coaches, and great players that find sources of tenacious strength to overcome obstacles in pursuit of success .  Jimmy V summed it up best:

Don’t give up.  Don’t ever give up.

So let’s enjoy some round ball and leverage the hype of March Madness towards meeting our personal goals.  And every day let’s visualize success by repeating the mantra over and over and over again in our mind – nothing but net!

GAP

When life gets tough we could get a helmet… or… we could leverage the peace and share the power of a positive perspective.