5 Traits
Continued from Page 23
The pessimistic person would say the bad event was
permanent, pervasive and personal. The pessimist might say,
“I’m a lousy sales person and last month confirmed what has
always been true. I should have known the market was going
to change, but I never look ahead and think about an alternative.”The pessimist can eventually talk himself or herself into
feeling helpless and hopeless.
Conversely, when a good event happens to you, talk about
it as being permanent, pervasive and personal. These are Seligman’s three Ps.
The optimist would say,“The customer surveys say I did a
great job with customer service and I am not surprised at all. I
always pay attention to important details and I do it for every
customer, no matter how big or small they are.”
The pessimist makes the good event sound temporary,
specific and external. The pessimist would say,“The customer
surveys say I did a great job with customer service, but it was
really only about one week’s worth of service. I’m really not as
great as the surveys say I am. In that one situation I did well,
but overall I’m very average in customer service. Besides, I had
a lot of help at that event from other people who really stepped
up and saved the day for our customers.”
This kind of self-talk makes all the difference. If you want
to be a person who makes a positive difference in your organization, then consciously control the conversation you have in
your head and guide it toward an optimistic perspective. One
where the causes of bad events are seen as temporary, specific
and external and the causes for good events are seen as permanent, pervasive and personal.
Remember: Optimism is enhanced, or diminished, by how you
talk to yourself about past events.
Trait #4
Cross the bridge from intention to action.
the person to go for a walk and genuinely listen to his or her
situation.
6. Look at your business from your customer’s point of view.
In fact, become a customer if that’s possible, and see if you can
understand something that would make the experience better.
Then, meet with the appropriate person in your organization
to share your thoughts in private. If the other person likes the
idea, then let it be his or her notion, not yours.
We could come up with 20 more ideas, but that’s a starting
point.
Remember: Actions make intentions a reality.
Trait #5
Make learning a part of your everyday existence.
Any person can learn more about how to make a
positive contribution in an organization. Obviously not
everyone is going to be the CEO today or in the future, and no
one will become an expert on every aspect of an organization.
The goal isn’t to become incredible at everything. The goal is
to learn and then to apply those learnings in ways that make a
positive difference in the organization.
If your desire is to become a more effective leader in the
organization, I encourage you to study leadership, teamwork,
strategy, execution, innovation and branding. I believe these are
six critically important aspects of effective organizational leadership. The more you learn and consciously apply that knowledge, the more you will be able to add value to your organization and be a life-long positive difference-maker.
Remember: Growth comes when you learn from an activity.
Conclusion
Making a positive difference in an organization is not
a function of your labels, such as gender, race, height, size,
personality type, authority, title, income or industry. It is a function of these five traits: desire, dignity, optimism, actions and
learning.
In other words, you are the driver of your capacity to make
a positive difference. Your boss, school and family cannot make
you into a positive difference-maker, nor can they make you
into a person who avoids trying to matter.
You’re in control of making a positive difference, and I
think that makes it all the more exciting. S
25
SCORE | 2015 Issue 1
DAN COUGHLIN works with leaders in business, health care
and education to improve results in a sustainable way by
impacting teamwork, execution, innovation and branding in
their organizations. Visit Coughlin’s Business Leadership Idea
Center at www.thecoughlincompany.com He is the author of
the book, “The Business Leader’s Impact: five critical drivers of
sustainable profitable growth.” His clients include McDonald’s,
Cisco, Anheuser-Busch InBev, Abbott, General Electric Co.,
Marriott, Coca-Cola, Shell, Toyota, RE/MAX, Boeing, Subway,
Kaplan Higher Education Group, Cardinal Health, Washington
University, BJC Health Care, St. Louis Cardinals, Belmont
University, Prudential and more than 200 other organizations.
THE
Of course desire, personal dignity and optimism are
nice to have, but they are not of value to other people
in and of themselves. You have to move—actually move—from
intention to action. Intentional actions are cons