Zig Ziglar taught in his training seminars (and books, tapes and videos) that “your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude.”
An attitude of gratitude is key
It was just Thanksgiving time in the US (Last Thursday, 25 Nov 2021). And I recently had an interesting conversation with a colleague about a porcupine (click link for my post) that happens to be on one of his teams.
Porcupines are everywhere!
Every organization has one or two of them. Typically, this type of person believes that they are surrounded by idiots and that they are the only ones that are ever (or always) right.
They also tend to be perfectionists.
Worse, they believe they can change everyone else (when the reality is that they are unable to change, let alone transform, themselves).
One of the most poignant stories on this topic is by Zig Ziglar. While he didn’t use the term porcupine, the woman described in this article and the following video is the epitome and embodiment of just that.
Fault finders are nit-picking perfectionists that demand perfection from everyone else, but not themselves. They don’t understand why everyone at their workplace is against them.
Deep down they know they have a problem, but either are unable to recognize the source and/or unable to admit that it is not everyone else — it’s them.
Zig demonstrated Kintsugi at its finest
Zig’s ability to turn the situation on its ear (and use shock therapy to transform the woman in this story) is amazing. But, guess what? You can use this strategy, too, with the angry porcupines you encounter in your life’s journey. What Zig did was Kintsugi at its finest (see link for my post on that).
Let’s deconstruct the Flow mindset Zig used:
- Understand that you cannot change anyone else if you cannot change yourself
- Confront and shock them with the brutal facts (in this case she would be fired)
- No organization, anywhere, can afford to have the much poison concentrated in a single person
- Refocus the individual from nit-picking fault-finding to gratitude
- It’s up to the porcupine to fix themselves (neither you nor I can do that)
- If they follow Zig’s advice, they will be amazed at “how everyone else has changed!”
You can lead a horse to water (or, in this case, a porcupine), but you cannot make it drink. And, if you are a porcupine and you are not willing start, then there isn’t much hope for you. You have met the enemy — and it is you.
Time to enter the arena and slay yourself (metaphorically, of course)…
Focus Led Organizations Win!
Flow is methodology agnostic and will deliver consistent, remarkable results regardless of what’s being used at the individual, team and product levels in an organization. That’s been proven over-and-over again during the past 26+ years on assignments in Europe, North America and Asia.
So, why is it that you aren’t using Flow yet?
__________
For those that are not familiar with the Flow Leadership Framework & Mindset, it is what’s next for businesses and organizations that are ready to succeed regardless of the methods, frameworks or management tools that they use throughout their enterprise. Flow is methodology agnostic.
Are you ‘in the zone’ of optimal performance right now as a person, team or enterprise? Did you get there by accident or by focused intentional acts?
“Flow” gives you the way of working and mindset needed to create and maintain an optimal state of high performance as an individual, team or organization.
The Flow Leadership Framework turbocharges everything you do, including “business agile” leadership and Scaled Agile.
__________
PS Here are the associated links to this blog post for:
#culture #scrum #agile #pmi #pmp #kanban #lean #flow #scaledagile #transformation #change #transform #leadership #digitaltrasformation #changemanagement #safeagilist #flowleadership #futureofwork #innovation