In an era where information travels and technology spreads almost instantaneously, success requires that we look inside ourselves for solutions to our work-related problems. Morris Shechtman, author of Fifth Wave Leadership: The Internal Frontier offers the following pithy insights on change, growth, conflict and thriving in the 21st century workplace:
1. Teamwork Is A Result Of Conflict And Confrontation, Not Consensus And Agreement
2. Feedback Is Constructive When Its Goal Is To Give People Information That Helps Them Learn, Grow, And Change
3. In The Absence Of Feedback, People Will Always Assume The Worst
4. Leadership Can Be Defined As An Exercise In Continual Disappointment
5. Great Risk Goes With Great Opportunity—You Can’t Have The One Without The Other
6. Uncertainty Requires You To Identify Your Values
7. Nothing Will Lower Your Credibility Faster Than Avoiding Conflict
8. You’ll Never Maximize Your Opportunities Unless You’re Willing To Put Everything At Risk
9. Clarity Creates Advocates And Enemies
10. There Are Only Two Types Of Professionals: Trusted Advisors And Vendors. The Former Determines The Fate Of The Latter
11. If You Can’t Set Boundaries, You’ll Get Commoditized
12. Challenge Is A Test Of Your Ability To Engage And Invest In A Relationship
13. People Want Reciprocity And Responsiveness More Than Answers
14. All Change Is Loss—It Doesn’t Matter Whether It’s “Good” Change Or “Bad” Change
15. Your People Are Your Greatest Asset And Your Greatest Risk
16. Information Inevitably Creates More Conflict
17. Leadership Is A Perpetual Exercise In Managing Conflict
18. Sustainable Organizations Have Charismatic Cultures, Not Charismatic Leaders
19. Any Relationship Worth Having Is Worth Leaving
20. Desperation Always Creates Abuse And Abandonment
21. The Easier You Are To Read, The Better You’re Able To Lead
22. Don’t Expect People To Grow Without Feedback
23. Feedback Is Truly The Gift That Keeps Giving
24. The Quality Of Your Life Will Be Determined More By How You Say Good-Bye, Than By How You Say Hello
25. Risking Early Has The Greatest Likelihood Of Creating Quick Credibility
26. Time Spent Together Is One Of The Poorest Indicators Of Intimacy Achieved
27. Intimacy Is Impossible To Achieve Without A Commitment To Engage In Self-Disclosure And Conflict
28. The Two Key Skills In Life Are The Ability To Make Decisions And The Ability To Build Relationships. Everything Else Is A Distant Second
29. If You’re Not Judgmental, You Don’t Really Care
30. Unconditional Acceptance Is Simply A Slick Form Of Abandonment
31. Goals Are Where You’re Going. Values Are How You’re Going To Get There
32. We lead Our Lives Based On One Of Two Theories: The Theory Of Plenty, Or The Theory Of Scarcity. We Learn One Of These Well Before We’re Five
33. The Theory Of Plenty Allows You To Be Selective, Focused, And Collaborative
34. The Theory Of Scarcity Traps You In Desperation, Fragmentation, And Isolation
35. Affluent People View Relationships As An Investment In Life; Rich People View Relationships As A Drain On Their Resources
36. No Emotion Will Enhance Your Success More Than Anger
37. Anger Is The Outward Manifestation Of Disappointment. Disappointment Is The Gap Between What You Have And What You Want
38. Harnessing Your Anger Gives You The Ability To Act In Your Own Behalf
39. Mediocrity Is The Choice To Live With Disappointment
40. All Relationships, At Some Point, Are Disappointing
41. Disappointment Is The Catalyst For The Next Stage Of Growth
42. All Business Is Personal
43. There Are No Business Problems—There Are Only Personal Issues Which Get Manifested At Work
44. People Don’t Suddenly Forget How To Do Their Jobs. Undealt With Personal Issues Cost People Their Jobs
45. Caretaking People Breeds The Need For Revenge
46. The Best Leaders Have The Most Uncompromising Values And Beliefs
47. Mediocrity Is A Buffer Against Loss
48. Relationships Don’t Have Problems, People Do
49. Addictions Are A Replacement For Conflict
50. Successful People Use Feedback Immediately
51. People Don’t Resist Change, they Resist Loss
52. Personal Growth Is The Key To Retention
53. One-Way Relationships Disable The Recipient
54. Loyalty Should Be Based On Mutual Growth
55. Professionals Don’t Compromise Their Recommendations
56. The Most Difficult Risk To Take Is To Overcome Your History
57. If They Aren’t Causing Your Problems, Then The Only One Left Is You
58. If You Want To Change, Then You’ll Have To Do Things That Scare You
59. Growth Isn’t About More; It’s About New
60. The Pain And Discomfort Of Change Are Nothing Compared To The Alternative
61. In A Survival Organization, Disappointment Is Cataclysmic; In A Growth Organization, Disappointment Is A New Beginning
62. In Today’s World, If You Do What You’ve Always Done, You’ll Get Less Than You’ve Always Gotten
63. It’s Comforting To Believe That Success Is Just Something That Happens To The Lucky Few. If We Believe This, Then We Don’t Have To Deal With The Painful Realities Of Why We’re Not Among Them
64. We Gravitate Toward Leaders Who Possess An Emotional Core That Doesn’t Vary
65. Many People Make The Mistake Of Equating Caring With Comfort
66. In Relationships, We Get Just What We Bargained For. We Choose Partners Or Colleagues Who Reinforce Our Familiars And Then We Mistake That Comfortable Feeling Of The Familiar; For Intimacy Or A Productive Work Relationship
67. When We Reach Adulthood, We Lose The Right To Keep Waiting For Someone To Change Our Life
68. What Stops People In Their Careers Is Not That They’ve Gone As Far As They Can Go, But That They’ve Gone As Far As Their Familiars Will Allow
69. Any Organization With The Goal Of Never Letting Anyone Down Is Doomed To Failure
70. Speaking The Unspoken Truth—Making The Covert Overt—Can Be Liberating
71. The Familiar Causes Us To Misperceive A Comfortable Job As A Growth-Oriented One: It Makes Us Mistake A Terrific Opportunity As “Wrong For Us” Because It Makes Us Uncomfortable
72. Personal Transformations Produce Extraordinary Influence And Attraction
73. It Is Empowering To Give People The Dignity Of Their Struggles
74. You Don’t Always Get Your Way, But You Always Get Your Say
75. If You Can’t Grieve, You Can’t Grow
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