One of the environmental factors that influence our behavior and our performance is orderliness. Most of us agree that it is more pleasant to work in an organized, neat room. An organized workspace also saves time since it is easier to find things. But what you may not know is that orderliness is also related to our self-regulation and self-control.

Studies have found that sitting in a disorganized room increases the tendency to yield to temptation. People who sat in a disorderly room were more impulsive and were willing to spend more money on various items, some of them quite expensive, such as a high-end speaker or a ski vacation. Other studies show that compared to those who sat in a disorganized room, people who sat in an organized room made healthier food choices, such as an apple, rather than the less healthy, but probably more tempting, chocolate cake. People who sat in a neat room were found to donate considerably more than those who sat in an untidy room. In other words, they were more willing to do the right thing.

A disorganized room also influences our performance at work, in both negative and positive ways. People who sat in a disorganized room performed worse on a task that demanded attention. However, disorder is not always a disadvantage. An interesting study found that disorder inspired unconventional and creative behavior. It seems that when you sit in a disorganized room, your thoughts wander; you don’t think only of the obvious conventions. This will decrease your performance on analytical and detailed tasks that require focus but might increase the possibility that you will think of a new, creative idea.

Another factor that influences self-regulation is the intensity of light. Studies show that people yield more often to temptations in a dim room.

Strategies that Can Help Convince Customers:

Beyond your performance on independent tasks, you might be surprised to learn how order and disorder impact your success with customers. There are several methods to help you convince a customer to buy your product. Various websites and consultants give you advice such as to be natural, to be nice to the client, to describe the product in a positive way, and many more. I want to focus on the lesser-known but effective techniques to convince customers: 

Disorder Inspires Splurging

Studies found that a disorganized environment and a relatively dim room might decrease our self-control and lead us more often to yield to temptation. So, when you want a customer to yield to temptation, and spend more money on something tempting but expensive, try to do it in a more dimly lit room. If possible, try to do it in a relatively disorganized room, as well.

Order Encourages Sensible Purchases

On the other hand, sometimes you want the customer to buy the more practical and efficient product, or you want the customer to do the right thing and help others — for example, buy directly from farmers who suffered an economic crisis from the pandemic situation, or buy from companies that are now in financial difficulties. If this is the case, turn on the light and organize the shelves. Studies found that people behaved more morally in a well-lit room and adhered to social conventions in a well-organized room. 

Turn Up the Temperature

The temperature also plays a vital role in customers’ buying decisions. A warmer temperature increases the need to belong, connect, and be agreeable. Studies found that people in a warmer room were more willing to conform to others’ opinions, as opposed to people in a colder room. Warmer temperatures also increase the value people assign to various products. In one experiment, participants sat in two rooms, one was a bit cold 64⁰F), and one was a bit warm (79⁰F). They were presented with photos of familiar products, such as a cup of coffee and body wash, and asked how much they were willing to pay for each. Those who sat in a warmer room were willing to pay more than those who sat in the colder room. In other words, a moderately warmer temperature may lead to more purchases.

The Art of Mimicry

The way a salesperson behaves — with a smile, patience, and courtesy can positively influence buying decisions. But there is a much subtler technique that can help: mimicking the nonverbal and verbal behavior of the customer. Mimicking can take the form of mirroring — for example, by making the same gestures, such as touching your hair or face. The salesperson can also repeat a particular word or a sentence that the customer said. Studies conducted both in the laboratories and in actual stores found that people who were mimicked by the salesperson bought more often the product offered to them. However, this mimicry should be subtle and definitely not exaggerated.

The Power of a Clean, Crisp White Shirt

A salesperson should always wear clean and tidy clothes. Not only is it more delightful to interact with a tidy person, but people unconsciously associate dirt with immorality; there is more of a tendency to believe a person who is neat and whose clothes are ironed is moral. I also recommend including a white item in your clothing, since white is also associated with morality and positive characteristics.

Practice Proper Email Etiquette 

Be careful with the emails you send to customers. Sometimes, ambiguous messages can be misinterpreted, while the sender remains unaware. For example people don’t always distinguish between funny and sarcastic email messages and might interpret something meant to be amusing in the wrong way. Make sure to read your emails carefully before sending them, and that the emotion or the humor you want to convey is evident. If you don’t get an answer or get an answer you did not expect, try to find out if your email was misinterpreted.

PODCAST PEOPLE: A Summary from the Real Leaders Podcast

“Networking is the most complex and the most beautiful skillset and mindset that we can continuously practice in our lives.”

Gil Petersil (above) is a networking guru and international expert on business strategy. His expertise in these fields comes from years of experience living, studying, working and networking in Israel, Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States, Russia and Singapore.

The following is a summary of Episode 112 of the Real Leaders Podcast, a conversation with networking guru, Gil Petersil. Watch, read, or listen to the full conversation below.

Mastermind Methodology

A mastermind group is a mentoring group and support system for addressing members’ challenges and opportunities, eight is the magic number for participants

“For the entrepreneurs and the corporate leaders out there, we must constantly learn to ask for help and be open to receiving help. And it’s not feedback. It’s about sharing experience from your story; giving advice on something that I you’ve experienced personally. So it’s structured in a beautiful way… What actually happens is you get very up-to-date insights, opportunities, connections from relevant people.”

Energy management is key to business and life success, and the easiest way to achieve it is to think positively 

“First of all, it’s not about thinking positive, ‘Oh money, please come into my life.’ It’s thinking positive about others, specifically. When you think in a complimentary way about other human beings, whether they’re in front of you or not, your body will be completely filled up with energy.”

Networking Hacks

When networking, it’s important to ask “WHY questions”

“’Why did you choose to get into this line of work?’ Or, ‘What are you currently focused on that’s really exciting for you?’ Or, ‘What’s your top priorities that wake you up in the morning?’ These might sound like weird questions, but these are questions that are powerful. They’ll get people talking, they’ll get you listening. And if you’re listening, you’re actually the powerful one in the conversation.”

Pitching yourself is the worst thing you can do in a networking scenario (unless investors require it)

“When you’re selling to people what you do, you need to be thinking, “How do I open up their curiosity?” Not, “How do I sell them?” Not “How do I just give that answer?”

The most important part of networking is the follow-up

“Most people meet someone and they’re expecting, how can I convert this person right away? Networking is really about being able to continuously serve people… Because as we go through life, new challenges come in, new opportunities come in, we might need someone in a different industry, we might need someone in a different country. And that’s when you can go to that person because you’ve added value. Following up is this ability to add value to people until you’re ready to ask for value from that person.”

Quotes to Remember

“Because of changes happening in the world, we must not stay still. The worst thing that a human being can do when he sees change around him is to stay still and wait for it to go by.”

Sources Mentioned

Think and Grow Rich, by Napoleon Hill 

Customer Development Methodology, by Bob Dorf

Blinkist, book summarizing subscription service

Transcript

Download the full conversation here:

Connect:

Find Gil at: https://gilpetersil.com/en/

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Everyone is writing articles, op-eds, and features today on how to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. And most of them are regurgitations of the same analytic approach we see time and time again.

But the mindset begins to shift when we look at crisis creatively. What begins to emerge is a view that is different than what is readily available. A nuanced view. A view that is left undiscussed. And frequently, this view might seem unpopular or contrarian to existing norms.

And that is precisely why the Creator Mindset view on crisis is so important. Because it offers you a different way to look at the world, and in that difference is the opportunity to survive and thrive. 

Here are three things we need to do today to help our business overcome crisis and survive, but thrive in times of hardship:

1. Question Experts

Dr. Walter Freeman pioneered early neurology with a surgery he felt would help relieve patients of a whole host of symptoms. He was an expert. His intentions were grand. His results were tragic. What ended up happening was that this expert came up with one of the worst blemishes in the history of medicine. He came up with the lobotomy—a brutal surgery that removed part of the brain and left scores of patents in a zombie-like state.

Yet today, we treat experts like they are all-knowing and all-powerful beings. And when we do that, creativity is lost. Questioning the experts is a critical feature of the Creator Mindset. What are the experts predicting or doing today that in some years’ time will be seen as tragic—just like Dr. Freeman’s lobotomy? It allows us the freedom—and responsibility—of not taking what we are presented with at face value. It creates an environment where, yes, even the experts are challenged. This is not only a good thing in business— it’s a good thing for society as well.

In our business, we need to question why things are the way they are and apply as much creativity to counter analytics to figure out a unique path forward. When we ask the experts, we begin to awaken a more creative version of ourselves. A more authentic voice of who we are.

2. Be Yourself

Authenticity in times of crisis is critical. And this authenticity is ripe for creativity to be expressed in every facet of your organization, from leadership to staff. Take, for example, the Procter & Gamble reaction to Hurricane Katrina. P&G employees were savaged by the aftermath of that formidable hurricane in August of 2005, just like everyone else in the US. Many lost family and close friends, and many were desperate to help in any way. In an authentic move that received little attention or fanfare, P&G set up a mobile laundry truck, replete with washers and dryers, and sent it to New Orleans to give people affected by Katrina access to clean clothes, for free. P&G doesn’t sell trucks or washing machines, but they do sell Tide laundry detergent. And that gesture of giving away Tide complete with full laundry service was an authentic offer of help that built compassion.

What can you do in your business or career today when faced with a crisis to be an authentic version of yourself? When you think creatively, this becomes clear. Be true to who you are so that you can solve the problem as creatively as possible. It worked for P&G, and it will work for your business or career too.

3. Fight What Comes Naturally

A recent study showed that human beings think about negative things most of the day. That is what comes naturally to us if we allow it. But fighting what comes naturally to us will enable us to be in touch with our creative core—our identity. Just like P&G found their identity as a compassionate company through helping people during the Hurricane Katrina crisis, you will also discover what your business or career needs to do to fight pessimism and embrace optimism.

It is all about an attitude shift from the negative to the positive to allow us to find creative solutions to the crisis that we face.

Freaking out and losing control is what comes naturally to human beings in times of crisis. Being pessimistic and downtrodden are well-worn traits of humanity. But here’s the thing: creativity cannot thrive while our biological “natural” instincts dictate us. We need to fight what comes naturally to us—which is seeking comfort—because comfort kills creativity. 

What in your business or career are you doing today because you have been lulled into a false sense of security? It’s not a matter of whether change or crisis will emerge on the horizon. It’s a matter of when. And fighting our human nature to be negative about it will enable you to gain a competitive advantage in coming up with a creative solution to conquer the problem.

These three tools of learning how to thrive in hard times come from a deep reservoir of creativity that we are all born with, yet we choose not to use as we get older and face problems in our businesses and careers. Because creativity is indeed a central trait of the human experience that most of us, sadly, do not tap into, they are a good starting point the next time crisis hits. They will enable you to solve problems that people say are unsolvable. 

Creativity sees the world as it can be, not as it is. And how powerful can that be in our current climate of crisis?

We are all impressionable to fads. Remember fidget spinners? Just a few years ago, these toys became a craze practically overnight. Forbes once called them “the must-have office toys for 2017”, and at one point, they were so popular that giant corporations like Toys R Us had to airfreight tens of thousands of them to their various locations to barely meet consumer demand.

But it didn’t take long for the novelty to lose its edge. Fidget spinners once accounted for 17 percent of online toy sales, but there’s no longer a place for them. The target demographic that once begged to own a fidget spinner has moved on because they’re not considered ‘cool’ anymore.

Fads burn bright. Entrepreneurs often chase these fleeting trends because they’re guaranteed to make a quick buck. But fads don’t burn long. They’re all flash and no substance, so these endeavors are almost always short-lived. Don’t fall into the senseless cycle of building a business on the coattails of a trend knowing it will inevitably fail, and you’ll have to pick up, move on to the next trend, and be doomed to repeat this pattern forever. 

Be a leader in your industry, not a follower. When you start any business, you wager with your future. But when you chase fads, you put everything at risk for just a few months or — if you’re lucky — years of success. This isn’t sustainable, and it causes you to lose sight of the essential focus of your business: the value of your customers and the value you provide to your customers. Fads are volatile; value isn’t. Instead of chasing fleeting success, pour your time, energy, and passion into establishing and promoting what you want your legacy to be. If you keep these two things in mind, you’ll become the industry leader that everyone else wants to emulate.

Be a problem-solver, not a copycat.

Consumer buying behavior may be ever-changing, and market stability may be unreliable, but value will always be important. Because entrepreneurs are esteemed for being visionaries, people believe it’s effortless for them to beget success because they can predict future trends — but trends are unpredictable.

Instead, companies become household names because their entire mission is built around providing value to their customer base. They solve a problem that exists in the market and, as a result, cement themselves as industry leaders. Apple is an excellent example of this.

Steve Jobs didn’t take a gamble when he created the iPhone. He knew what the industry was lacking and envisioned a smartphone device that would solve for those inadequacies. Before the iPhone was announced, there were already 22 million smartphones being sold worldwide. Nokia, BlackBerry, Motorola, and Sony Ericsson were the market leaders; Apple was the newcomer.

Everyone predicted the iPhone would flop and waited with bated breath for news of its failure. But it didn’t. It was revolutionary. Walter Mossberg wrote in The Wall Street Journal that it was “a beautiful and breakthrough handheld computer … [that] sets a new bar for the smartphone industry.” What Jobs did was deliberate and purposeful. The iPhone provided value to consumers that no other smartphone device did at the time.

If Jobs would’ve imitated what Nokia and BlackBerry were doing, they probably would’ve done well for a few months, but they wouldn’t have the 100-million person customer base they do today. But Jobs gave consumers a device that featured design and user elements they’ve never had before. The aesthetic and user-friendliness of the iPhone set a new precedence for the entire smartphone industry. 

Fads can contaminate the market. 

Beyond being short-lived, fads can also have detrimental consequences on entire industries. I own a nutritional supplement company, an industry where the barrier to entry can be reasonably low. For a relatively small amount of money, almost anyone can start selling products virtually overnight. And for this reason, people sometimes get into the supplement business for all the wrong reasons.

When a get-rich-quick approach to business is someone’s primary motivation and their customers are second, it leads to harrowing behaviors and actions that erode a consumer’s trust in supplements altogether.

Consumers can become jaded by initial-experiences-gone-wrong and swear off supplements forever when the problem wasn’t the supplements themselves, but the way they were marketed. All it takes is one rotten egg to ruin the trust and reputability of an entire industry. 

Customers should always be more valuable than your sales. Their needs should come first, and this should inform your entire company mission — from the products you create to your marketing strategy and everywhere in-between. It’s impossible to build a company without a mission, and that mission should always be providing value to your customer

Just as IQ is an indication of your share of intelligence and EQ connotes your share of empathy, it is also possible to have a share of creativity or CQ. A creativity quotient is not fixed. It is dynamic and increases as you practice building it and exercising it. What’s more, CQ isn’t reserved for artists. Anyone in any field—farming, law, plumbing, architecture, perfumery, real estate, medicine, education, and technology, to name a few—can learn to be more creative and apply creativity to be more successful in their work.

Exactly how do you raise your creativity level—especially if you don’t think of yourself as particularly creative? Specifically, your share of creativity can increase as you expand your capacity for inquiry, become more willing to improvise, and hone your intuition. Moreover, creativity can be scaled: both individuals and organizations can have a creativity quotient.

Here are five questions to ask yourself and pose to your team to build a culture of creativity and your CQ.

1. Do you have a hobby outside of your daily job?

If you practice a craft or hobby diligently outside of your paid work, you regularly put yourself into a beginners’ mindset. This is crucial because it primes you to get good at embracing being clumsy, learning from mistakes, and asking the naive questions. Inevitably, the beginners’ mindset that hobbies cultivate transfers into your work environment. You will get better at questioning the status quo, one of the first steps towards innovating.  

2. Do you play regularly?

I mean, really play, have fun, and do activities that bring you joy. Joy is distinct from happiness. While happiness is something we expect to sustain long term, joy is episodic and all about your perspective. A corollary to being more playful is developing a sense of humor. A sense of humor signals your capacity for abstract thinking—instead of only focusing on what is literally in front of you. Note that having a sense of humor will also be developed from question No. 1 above: having a hobby. How could you not chuckle at your clumsy attempts while tinkering away at a hobby?

3. Do you deliberately do things outside of your comfort zone?

At least twice a year, visit a place outside of your comfort zone or go to a conference that is totally outside of your sector, where you will be sure to learn something new. This helps you to practice lateral thinking. You can also practice getting outside of your comfort zone daily. For example, if you do not consider yourself an artistically visual type, begin to doodle. Set the timer for 5 minutes, and doodle away. It is one of the best ways to make the mind more limber.

4. Do you experiment with technology? 

Sometimes we forget that at the end of the day, technology is a tool. It is there to help amplify what is uniquely human about us and free us up to do more creative work. In addition to the usual suspects of workshare platforms like Slack, Basecamp, and Zoom, also try experimenting with augmented reality tools and visualization tools such as Canva, Mural, or Ziteboard. Rather than fear artificial intelligence, welcome it. AI has the potential to up the ante on what makes us uniquely human.

5. Do you incentivize collaboration?

Even superheroes don’t go it alone, so why should you? It’s one thing to say you value collaboration, but until you incentivize it by linking collaboration to compensation or time, chances are your employees won’t put collaboration into practice. One of the best outcomes of collaboration is the necessary thought diversity that results. You quickly learn to invite in and lean on people from different departments and backgrounds. Remember: the more diverse the inputs, the more innovative the output. 

If you answered YES to at least 3 of these questions, you’re doing a good job. Make it your goal over the next 12 months to tick off YES to all five questions and share your techniques with others. Better yet, start with just one of these suggestions today!   

As you move forward, keep in mind: increasing your creativity quotient is about building on what has come before you. And that requires, well, building. Building can be messy. While you may start with a plan, plans shift, agendas change, and assumptions are challenged. It requires taking leaps—from prioritizing deep specialization to valuing broad experience and from deferring only to what’s rational to embracing ambiguity.      

I was preparing for a program on introverted leadership by interviewing research scientists at a Fortune 100 pharmaceutical company when a new word caught my ear. 

“Did you say ‘loudership’?” I asked a seasoned manager. Yes, he had. He told me that loudership was a company-wide code word for what it meant to be a strong leader. You have to speak loudly, act brashly, and be seen as someone who can audibly overpower the next person, he said.

I took a deep breath as I realized the challenge I had before me. How was I going to communicate the value of being a quietly powerful leader, someone who doesn’t use volume to get their point across, when the company culture openly promoted a diametrically opposed brand of leadership? 

The answer is that there were leaders on this project — as there are on many I encounter — who understand and value introversion. They also know the importance of taking the temperatures of the people they lead and modifying approaches accordingly. 

The following are vital approaches leaders can take to get the best out of the introverts they lead.

1. Face unconscious bias

Yes, there is a bias against introverts. Without realizing it, many managers buy into the stereotypes about introverts as slow, indecisive, antisocial and unhappy, and can ignore talent and potential in the many introverts in their midst. Managers may be unknowingly keeping them from career opportunities and the chance to make significant contributions. Leaders need to learn more about introversion, become aware of their biases against introverts, and take tangible actions. As diversity expert, Howard J. Ross says, “By understanding unconscious bias, we can learn to work with it and reduce its ability to dominate our decision-making.” 

2. Open up the conversation about introversion 

Too often, leaders focus on only the work at hand. They focus on the tasks, project milestones, deadlines, roles, and responsibilities more so than the people and personalities that are key to getting the work done. Opening up the conversation around the benefits of introversion is one crucial way that leaders, whether introverted, extroverted, or ambivert, can empower the introverts on their team to feel comfortable in their skin and embrace their quiet strengths. They can be intentional about opening up the discussion and model self-disclosure. 

Leaders can put these questions to their staff: Are we writing people off before giving them the time and space they need to contribute? Are we allowing them to reflect and write down their thoughts before answering essential questions? Are we ensuring every person has the opportunity to participate in meetings? 

When they encourage everyone to share information about their introverted or extroverted preferences, their strengths, and how they’d like to contribute to the team, the team builds trust. This can also be done in relaxed, one-on-one conversations. 

3. Share stories 

Talking about who we are and our likes and dislikes deepens our connections and understanding of each other so we can work together more effectively. Sharing stories about who you are is a way to humanize your preferences, create connections, and increase feelings of trust. Caroline McGregor, vice president at Merck, takes her story about being a senior leader to Employee Resource Groups and other departments throughout the company and serve as a role model of a strong yet introverted senior leader. In a hard-driving culture, this takes courage and has a significant impact on introverts who hear her speak (“If she can do it, so can I.”).

4. Slow down and listen

If someone seems reserved or quiet, don’t ask, “What’s wrong?” Most likely, nothing is wrong, and they will feel misunderstood. They are simply in their heads. In a live or virtual meeting, try waiting for three to five people to speak before offering input. Extroverts, especially, need to learn to refrain from interrupting, to pause, and to give others the space to respond thoughtfully. If not given a chance to speak, introverts become disheartened and demotivated, leading to lower performance. One respondent in the 2019 Workplace Survey wrote, “I wish that our executive director would take time to talk to me. With him, it’s all about who yells the loudest.”

5. Become an introvert ally 

Highlight introvert strengths and preferences. Sheryl Bruff is a human resources branch chief at the Space Telescope Research Institute, a division of NASA. One of her ongoing missions is to bring the value of introversion into the light. She explains, “One of the things we try to do is get [leaders] to pay attention a little bit. We do some training with them …and help them see how using questions can be a way to open up the conversation.” Besides, leaders can become sponsors and demonstrate their tangible support for Employee Resource Groups that address introversion awareness.  

Leaders who are introverted allies are key in shifting cultures and recognizing and applauding the contributions of introverted staff members. 

With news in April that the British economy has shrunk by 20.4%, several business owners became concerned about the recovery of their business and what the “new normal” might look like. Pete Reis-Campbell, CEO and Founder of Kaizen, discusses how he has navigated the pandemic and why remote working is the future for many companies.

It’s been difficult, almost very surreal. We were planning to move into our new office in May, due to our old office’s contract ending. Luckily, just before the lockdown, we were able to find a space that reflected our growing team, but just before the renovation began, COVID-19 delayed work, and we were unable to move into our new office. It felt strange, as I had to put everything in storage, register the office to my home address, and had thoughts that if COVID-19 negatively impacted my business, we might not be moving back into an office space at all. 

I’ve found it a lot harder to manage productivity and efficiency, especially with less face-to-face meetings. It’s been harder to collaborate despite all of the online tech and tools available. However, we’ve been able to get work done and keep the business running — a massive testament to our team. We’ve also had time to streamline several processes and change things we’ve wanted to address for many years. With this extra time, the change hasn’t been aggressive or disruptive, as people have been more open to change. Ultimately, I was worried about the business, and making the right decisions made these decisions difficult, but they were also essential to keep us afloat. This ranged from cutting costs, streamlining the organization’s structure, making the most of capacity and resources, and making use of government aid.

Remote working has made us realize the importance of hiring and the value of employees. As a business owner, you need people who are proactive, passionate, respectful, and willing to collaborate. I was worried about tracking and monitoring employees, but because it felt excessive and controlling, I decided against it. If you hire the right people, you’ll always have a productive workforce, no matter where they are. While we’ve found it harder to be collaborative and creative, we’re looking at ways to get better at it. 

Having a space to collaborate, meet with clients, and make group decisions is essential, and I think we’ve all missed that during this time of lockdown. During this time, an office seems like a Draconian concept, so I’ve decided to move towards a hybrid model of working from home and office. Employees can come into the office when they want, work from home when they want, or use coworking spaces if they prefer. As a business, we still have a central place to be social, collaborate, and see each other, but everyone is now also autonomous and independent in how they’d like to approach work.

COVID-19 has changed my perspective as a CEO. Overall, it was terrifying as I was worried about losing the business and had no idea what the future would look like. I decided to arm myself as best as I could. I asked for advice. I started reading, crisis management, and planning for the future. No one is motivated by making difficult decisions and cutting costs – but if I didn’t make these decisions, things would have spiraled out of control, and the long-term outlook would have been worse.

After comparing our year-on-year results, this might be the first year that we don’t see any growth, which can certainly stifle motivation. However, what made me turn the corner was seeing our team putting in 120% effort, and asking me about my mental health. I realized that it wasn’t just me going through a challenging time, everybody was. Fortunately, we’re starting to see an uplift, and now we’re able to start hiring again and move into the next part of our business plan. As CEO, this time opened my eyes to flaws, and how we should all conduct ourselves in the future.

Pete’s top 3 tips on working from home:

1. Have a shower and get dressed 

This might be a no brainer for some, but staying at home might make it feel more comfortable not to get ready for the day as we usually would. It’s essential to establish that routine, so getting up, having a shower, and sitting upright can make all the difference.

2. Get the right desk set up

I’ve created a desk space that makes me happy; I play PlayStation at lunchtime, which I’d never usually do, or even think about doing. At the end of each day, I put all my office equipment away – it’s essential to restore the concept of home.

3. Do what makes you happy, and then invest in it

Being at home means we have a lot more time to engage with the things we love. Growing up, I wanted to create video games, and this has meant I’ve been able to spend more time playing games and learning how to create them. This time has allowed me to get back to my grassroots — why I wanted to create content in the first place and to teach those around me.

Nobody likes arguments. Except for the most died-in-the-wool troublemakers, we all try to avoid them. Arguments cost time and energy—in any given situation, it’s always a good idea to ask whether an issue is worth arguing about. Nevertheless, people who avoid arguments at any cost will never make an impact or drive change.

At the managerial level, in particular, there are two different personality types: the ‘cuddly,’ harmony-seeking boss who would prefer everybody to agree on everything, and who above all wants to be liked by his or her staff; and the tough, success-oriented executive who is quite prepared to put up with significant clashes of interest within the company for the sake of change and progress.

Manager Of The Century

Jack Welch (above) is a prime example of the second type. In his 20 years as CEO of General Electric (GE) from 1981 to 2001, he increased its turnover from $27 billion to $130 billion, while annual profits went up by 600% to $12.7 billion. In late 2000, GE was the most valuable company globally, with a market capitalization of $475 billion. He also cut GE’s workforce of 400,000 employees by a quarter. Unsurprisingly, his style of leadership led to heated arguments and massive confrontations. In 1999, Welch was voted “Manager of the Century” by Fortune magazine. His leadership principles are well worth examining.

One of Welch’s most striking characteristics was his willingness to take on anybody in an argument. Of course, he did not start arguments for the sake of it, but he soon realized that the only way forward for the giant yet sclerotic corporation was by completely overhauling its fossilized structures. He knew that to make his company fit for the future, he would have to take on and overcome powerful special interest groups, ingrained nepotism, excessive bureaucracy, and laziness.

In his first two years as CEO, Welch sold the company’s 71 divisions and product lines, increasing productivity dramatically and triggering huge resentment. Many other executives might not have gone ahead with these radical changes in the face of such hardline opposition. 

When Welch sold off GE’s housewares division, he was bombarded with angry letters from outraged employees. “If email had existed,” Welch commented, “every server in the company would have been clogged up.” The letters all expressed similar sentiments: “What kind of a person are you? If you do this, it’s clear you’ll do anything!” 

In the space of five years, Welch fired 118,000 employees from unprofitable divisions. “Throughout the company, people struggled to come to grips with the uncertainty,” Welch observed. Instead of hiding away, he confronted his workforce openly, holding fortnightly round-table discussions with around 25 employees at each meeting. “I wanted to change the rules of engagement, asking for more—from fewer. I was insisting that we had to have only the best people.”

Always Stand Firm

Welch did not just confront the executives and employees within his own company. He also took on union leaders, mayors, and politicians trying to put pressure on him. On a visit to Massachusetts’s governor, Welch’s host voiced his hope that GE would create more jobs in his state. “Governor,” Welch replied, “I have to tell you. Lynn is the last place on Earth I would ever put any more work.” The plant in Lynn had been the only one to hold out against the national contract GE had signed with the unions. “Why should I put work and money where there is trouble when I can put up plants where people want them and deserve them?”

Fortune magazine named Welch as number one among the “Ten Toughest Bosses in America.” The magazine ran a feature article on Welch and printed numerous comments from employees who wished to remain anonymous, including: “Working for him is like a war. A lot of people get shot up; the survivors go on to the next battle.” The article claimed that being bombarded with questions by Welch was similar to a physical attack. On the other hand, he was generous with praise, acknowledging good work and rewarding outstanding employees with bonuses. 

He refuted any criticism of his “tough” approach. In his autobiography, he confesses: “I shouldn’t have agonized as long as I did on so many people who weren’t going to cut it. The consistent lesson I’ve learned over the years is that I have been too cautious in many cases. I should have torn down the structures sooner, sold off weak businesses faster than I did.”

Honest Communication

Welch was equally uncompromising towards employees who did not share GE’s corporate values, no matter how good their results were for their bottom line. His advice to other executives was not to fire them surreptitiously, using excuses along the lines of “Charles left for personal reasons, to spend more time with his family.” Instead, he recommended being upfront about the fact that an employee had been fired for their refusal to comply with the company’s values. “You can be sure that Charles’ replacement will act differently, not to mention anyone else doubting your commitment to the values.”

Welch could not stand whiners who always complained about everything that was wrong with the company and about not being valued and appreciated enough. Bosses whose employees acted in this way had only themselves to blame, he claimed, because they had created a culture of entitlement and fostering “a classic entitlement culture, in which your people have the deal exactly backward. They think you work for them.” His advice to “soft” executives was: “You are running a company, not a social club or a counseling service.” He recommended they change the culture within their company as fast as possible and told them to stand their ground: “Without doubt, you will hear yelps of pain as you dismantle your entitlement culture. Indeed, some employees that you like and value may leave in protest. Take the hit and wish them well.”

Above all else, Welch preached a culture of communication. That was the only way, he said, to ensure that each employee knew what was what and whether their performance was up to scratch. Many companies made the mistake of indulging “the very human tendency to soften hard, urgent messages with false kindness or phony optimism.” Too many bosses pulled their punches and were not prepared to “come right out and tell underperformers how badly they are doing until they fire them in a burst of frustration.” Managers prided themselves on being too “kind” or too “nice” to tell their employees “exactly where they stand—in particular, the real losers.”

This is because so many managers and executives are either unable or unwilling to stand their ground. It is easier to avoid arguments than to fight them out. Fighting costs time and energy and often involves risk because the outcome of an argument is always open. However, most people instinctively sense when they are dealing with somebody who is overly concerned with achieving harmony, consensus, and conciliation. Rightly, this trait is regarded as a weakness.

Seeking harmony is a good thing. But as with most good things, you can have too much of it. An exaggerated yearning for harmony usually results from fear. People who are scared of rubbing others the wrong way and are afraid of disagreement and disapproval often suffer from low self-esteem. Lacking the confidence to think that they can win an argument, they avoid arguments altogether. By doing so, they have already lost. People with low self-esteem, who are usually reluctant to stand their ground and engage in confrontation, will rarely win the respect of others. After all, anyone who sees weakness in themselves will be regarded as weak by others.

In this turbulent business environment, leadership requires taking bold steps. No matter what challenges your organization faces—a slowing economy, a merger, new rules, and regulations—the pace of change has never been faster. The sheer unpredictability of things can cause fear and anxiety among your team. Your job as a fearless leader is to throttle back the stress your team is feeling, help them be more agile, and ensure that they can survive and win.

Here are some ways you can boost your team’s resilience and help them shine in tough circumstances.

Clarify the Win

When the winds of change blow in, to stay on track as you are getting bullied about, continue opening the lines of communication. Ask your team, “What are we striving for?” When people are engaged with clear and meaningful goals, they have greater resilience and are more likely to see a challenge as an opportunity. Remind them what the win looks like, and warn them that there will be peaks and valleys. Your whole team may be cruising along, happy as clams—and suddenly get kicked in the teeth by the unexpected. I’ve been there, and it’s not pretty. Grab a box of Kleenex, wipe your eyes and nose, and ask one another, “Okay, what next?” Remember why you started—and remind your team often.

Know your team

Your people are your biggest asset. Remember those “kids” who operate on that flight deck twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, helping keep us pilots alive? You may be surprised to learn how much the average Air Boss knows about his shipmates working the deck. In between flight operations, you can often find the Air Boss chatting with the troops. I know this from watching flight ops up in the tower, hearing the bosses make funny comments over the flight deck radio for all to hear. Getting to know the kids on the deck is smart leadership. When the time comes to push that crew through crappy visibility, unbearable heat, or long stretches of uninterrupted flight operations, those teammates will feel valued—they will feel human.

You can’t expect your team to blindly follow your leadership if you haven’t bothered to invest any time getting to know them. A real human connection builds a solid foundation for when you need your team to power through an extreme situation.
Before a presentation with clients, I always spend time getting to know them, weeks before the event. What matters to them? What obstacles are they facing? What are they trying to achieve? But when discussing these ideas with executive teams, I’ll sometimes hear, “That’s just not possible—I’m too busy to do that.” Yet you’re not too busy to ask your people for extended working hours or pay cuts, or to “manage change” or to make other sacrifices. If you want a resilient team, you need to build one. The least you can do is make an effort to understand what drives your teammates.

Fearless leadership is a people business. It’s about getting your team together to do the impossible while keeping their health, sanity, and even humor intact. Fearless leaders always put the team first, and these team members know they are valued. Valued teammates will go to the mat for you, and you probably won’t even have to ask.
A business team in the pursuit of excellence may not face the same physical dangers and challenges as a fighter pilot or a Navy SEAL, but aspirational goals—the big bets—will require the same courage, tenacity, integrity, perseverance, and flexibility. Overcoming obstacles like chronic stress involves resilience. Choosing people with the right skills, talent, training, and attitude are essential. Without mutual support and trust, your team will get nowhere.

Prepare relentlessly

Now that you know your goal and your team, the question is: How do you achieve results consistently, even if you face adversity? The answer is simple: through relentless preparation and training. Insistence on preparation is one of the priceless gifts a fearless leader can offer his or her team. Being prepared alleviates pressure because your teammates know what to expect—they have already prepared how they will respond to any challenge the environment (or the competition) throws their way. It promotes resilience by increasing their ability to adapt and overcome barriers.
Continue that cycle of Prepare-Perform-Prevail, even on the fly. Adjust and adapt, adjust and adapt, adjust, and adapt—over and over, even while navigating the choppy waters of a crisis. Help your team stay focused on both near-term priorities and long-term goals. It’s like that circus trick of having one foot on two different galloping horses. Successful teams can do this because they have done whatever is necessary to prepare.

Remember the Navy saying: Train like you fight. Increase your team’s coping skills and resilience by practicing over and over. You can’t think that when stress pays a visit, your team will magically rise to the occasion and prepare them to do so. Grittiness is earned.

Continue learning

When change happens, uncertainty and ambiguity can paralyze your team. Fear sets in, caution envelops us, and instead of strapping into our fighter jet and going for it, we curl up and wait for the storm to pass, for things to settle down. But what if this change in your environment is your team’s new normal? You don’t have the luxury of waiting for something to blow over. To remain relevant, you must learn quickly by continuing the open dialogue about what is working and what isn’t. Find a way forward—or make one. Create your future by taking action. Don’t be a passenger in your own life, and don’t let your team’s future ail in the wind. Take risks and learn from your mistakes.

Culture Matters

The culture you promote as a leader could be one of the most significant barriers to success, even more so than the talents (or the lack thereof) of your teammates. When the chips are down, if you punish people who innovate or who dare to go first—or if you don’t reward those who build and maintain a strong team—you won’t attract and retain the types of people who can make stuff happen in a volatile environment. Period. You will quickly lose any competitive advantage, and your current success level will most likely start to slip.

You can’t talk about innovation without understanding that risk is inherent. When you’re trying something new, it will get messy; rarely is something new done the first time correctly. Nor can you give lip service to leadership development or “growing your people” or encouraging your team to be “on the leading edge” if you’re going to shove them aside at the first sign of a struggle. Instead, as a fearless leader, you must understand that culture matters—that you are responsible for growing and developing more resilient people and fostering a more resilient team.

Fearless leaders understand the importance of building a resilient, high-performing team. Resilience on an individual level can fluctuate from time to time, depending on external events in the lives of your employees or teammates. But by promoting the right culture—with your team aligned on a common objective and maintaining a high level of mutual trust and optimism—you can ensure unwavering resilience on a team level. Resilient teams can weather the chronic, high stress of a constantly changing and challenging environment— and those teams will always be more productive and successful in the long run.

Adapted from Fearless Leadership: High-Performance Lessons from the Flight Deck by Carey Lohrenz.

In times of crisis, people need leaders, not heroes, with the confidence required to listen and remain open-minded to expert opinion.

This isn’t always easy considering that humans are wired to listen and defend what they already believe and to disregard information that makes them uncomfortable. Stress and uncertainty further complicate the listening process when they cause leaders to develop tunnel vision, limit their perception of problems and solutions, and rely on the comfort of their ideas.

Leaders and interrogators share two potentially fatal afflictions — falling victim to their previous successes and believing they have it all figured out. When this overconfidence sets in, they stop listening for unexpected value, and they start listening to verify their assumptions. This confirmation mentality makes it very difficult to see the cliff before going over the edge.

Below are five lessons in listening from the interrogation room for enhancing the perception of your leadership during a crisis.

Follow the first rule of listening:
Talking is the most important part of listening. It is nearly impossible to listen and learn when we are concentrating on our voice. Thankfully, there are several techniques to limit this distraction. First, make a conscious effort to let other people finish speaking before you start, no matter how important you feel your thought is. Second, limit your internal monologue as it is your biggest barrier to listening for value. Our inner monologue often focuses on how we feel or what we want to say next, and it drowns out what other people are saying. The only way we can genuinely listen to other people is if we stop talking to ourselves.

Maintain a Learning Mentality:
Before entering every critical conversation, realize there is a strong likelihood you don’t have all the information you need and ask yourself, “How can this conversation help me achieve my long and short term goals?” During the conversation, listen to each idea that is presented. More importantly, listen to the perspectives, motivations, and fears influencing each concept. Leaders who can tie ideas other people share to their objectives will be far more successful, fostering a sense of collaboration and trust.

Leverage Your Introduction:
Thorough and instructive introductions are the key elements of leading non-confrontational interactions as well as great strategic meetings. Excellent introductions start with a warm greeting and quick check-in to make sure everyone has what they need. Next, they should cover the reason for the meeting, the meeting objectives, and the expectations of the group. This is also an excellent opportunity for leaders to set the tone of the meeting by demonstrating empathy with their volume, tone, and speed of delivery as well as demonstrating humility by being self-effacing.

Let the conversation come to you:
When you chase people, they run away. Few things will kill investigative interviews or strategy sessions quicker than interrupting people. When people feel rushed, coerced, or threatened, they become defensive. When leaders set clear goals, patiently wait for their team to share their thoughts, and politely encourage them to continue sharing when necessary to gather greater amounts to strategic intelligence while cultivating a superior organizational climate.

Prove you listened:
The only way to prove you listened to someone is to follow up with them. Demonstrating attentive non-verbal behavior is excellent, but it is not enough. Following up gives people tangible evidence that you listened, you remembered what they said, and that you found it valuable enough to revisit at a later time. This validates their contributions and increases the likelihood they will continue to contribute to future conversations.

American leadership coach, Marshall Goldsmith, likes to say that the biggest mistake CEOs make is believing that they have to be right all the time, even if it doesn’t benefit them. Being right doesn’t help anyone after they’ve fallen off a cliff. People perceive how their leaders communicate with them as evidence for how much their leaders respect them. Leaders who don’t listen will undoubtedly struggle to inspire trust and solicit assistance while fighting to survive a crisis. Leaders who learn to listen will often generate high levels of trust and receive assistance without soliciting it.

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