Helpful Insights Online» leadership

51 Amazing Articles on Leadership and Success in Life

Gil Pizano — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:39:23 +0000

With hundreds of thousands of different articles out on the world wide web, it can be extremely difficult to know which one to read. Being a lifelong student of leadership, I attempt to read as many articles on the subject as possible. Understanding that there are so many good articles out there on it, I wanted to share some of my recent favorites. Many of these are quick reads and have powerful nuggets of wisdom for any leader to digest. These are not the only good articles out there on leadership and success in life of course, but they are worth reading and I believe will help anyone who wishes to improve themselves, their business and the quality of life for them as well as those they share time with. Enjoy!

20 Qualities for a Successful Life — (by Dumb Little Man) How do you define a successful life? Is it by how much money or stuff you have amassed, or is it by the legacy you leave behind?
7 Tips to Manage Your Boss — and Yourself — (by Steve Tobak) Strategies for a healthy employee-manager relationship from a manager’s perspective.
A Daily Dose Of Gratitude — (by Chris Hammer) Cultivating and practicing a mindset of gratitude can go a long way to feeling good about our own lives and the world around us.
America’s Best Leaders — US News and World Report — US News and World Report highlights a key number of leaders in many functions across the country. A pretty good overview of a listing of high end leaders in their fields.
Better Illustrations = Better Communicator (by Tim Milburn) There is a powerful connection that takes place between speaker and audience when one can share the right illustration, at the right time, and for the right reason.
Businesses Don’t Fail — Leaders Do — (by Mike Myatt) If you’re willing to strip away all the excuses, explanations, rationalizations, and justifications for business failures, and be really honest in your analysis, you’ll find only one plausible reason –poor leadership.
Communication: The Most Important Key to Leadership Success — (by Lee Froschheiser) You hear it all the time … aspiring managers or vice presidents want to know the most important key to an esteemed business leader’s success. Their jaws often drop when they learn the truth.
Don’t be the Grinch Who Resists Change — (by Scott Franklin) Change is often presented as a technical exercise. While this is all well and dandy logically, it usually fails to create an emotional connection and makes the change seem like a lot of tedious work. Enlightened leaders know that there is a natural desire to be part of something larger than ourselves.
Feedback Is Key To Leadership Success — (by Lee Coates) Any successful leadership system requires that the leader knows what’s working, knows what’s not working and knows what to do different.
Five Lessons About Cooperation From The Creation Of A National Volunteer Database — (by Mark Bernstein) Businesses in the same industry can be loath to work with competitors. But sometimes working together can result in more good than harm.
Five Lessons in Leadership — (By Mary Brandel) Five Top CIOs share what their careers have taught them.
Four Lessons on Leadership from Russian Businesses — (by Konstantin Korotov) Russia seldom comes to mind as a place that can teach anything positive to Western companies. Despite the multiple criticisms and problems that businesses are facing in the country, talent development is one area where Russia could teach some interesting lessons to organizations worldwide.
General Douglas MacArthur’s Principles of Leadership — A list of the principles that MacArthur followed in order to be an effective leader.
Growing Leaders of Character — (by Don Jacobson) A thought provoking Q&A with Gene Klann, author of the book “Building Character: Strengthening the Heart of Good Leadership”
How Thinking Like a Child Can Help Any Leader Achieve More Goals — (by Lead Change Group) Lucie, the daughter of a friend of the author, wrote a list of “things I whant to do when I get older”. At age 8, she knows the first and most important rule about goal achievement: to accomplish your goals, first you have to set goals.
How to Break Free from Negative Thoughts — (by Rhonda Jones) A mind that is filled with negative thoughts is like a dark cave that limits positive and faith-filled thoughts from entering in. Having a chronically negative thought life is a mental mindset that focuses more on what is wrong, than all that is right in life.
How to Deal with Really Tough Criticism: Five Steps — (by Christing M. Riordan) We rarely discuss dealing with criticism as a necessary part of leadership. Yet the reality is that every leader, whether chief executive, politician, sports coach, or first-time supervisor, will experience criticism.
How to Find a Business Mentor Who’ll Help You Achieve Your Leadership Goals – (by Rene D. Petrin) Providing a nice 8-step approach for finding a mentor.
How To: Develop a Mentorship Program — (by Emma Johnson) Guidance from an effective mentor can be rewarding professionally and personally for both the mentor and mentee.
Inside Facebook: How Do You Resolve Conflicts? — Quick video of Joey Flynn, Product Designer for Timeline at Facebook, answering this very important business question.
Is “Command and Collaborate” the New Leadership Model? — (by Herminia Ibarra) It’s not “either/or,” but “yes/and” when it comes to which leadership style to choose.
Leaders At Alibaba, Youku, And Baidu Are Slowly Shaking Up China’s Corporate Culture — (by April Rabkin) Three top Chinese tech companies are remaking the country’s waning, hierarchical corporate culture with an injection of new ideas from the West.
Leadership and integrity — (by Michael Ray Hopkin) People who live with integrity are incorruptible and incapable of breaking the trust of those who have confided in them. Trait of a good leader.
Leadership Caffeine: Warning! Your Words About Change are Falling on Cynical Ears — (by Art Petty) Even the most credible of leaders have to step up their game when it comes to talking about and promoting change on their teams and in their organizations.
Leadership character: The role of collaboration — (by Col. Eric Kall) West Point Colonel speaks about the importance of collaboration in successful leadership.
Leadership Is a Gift Given by Those Who Follow — (by Grant McCracken) Here is General Mark Welsh, Commander of U.S. Air Forces in Europe. Welsh’s biggest theme? Leadership as an act of service. As the General says, “Leadership is a gift. It’s given by those who follow. You have to be worthy of it.”
Leadership Lessons From Community Maven Tara Hunt: When Not To Listen To The Crowd — (by Lydia Dishman) Any entrepreneur or community-building connector worth their salt should know when to crowdsource, and when to listen to their inner voice.
Leadership Success Always Starts With Vision - (by John Ryan) The president of the Center for Creative Leadership talks about not giving up on your dreams and how that, in his experience, is always the first major step toward leadership success.
Leadership Success is No Longer Measured by Money or Power — (by Glenn Llopis) What is leadership success? Is it money, promotions, happiness, raising a family, changing the world, or advancing your industry or community? This simple question has grown complicated over the years, so it’s more important than ever to clarify what success means.
Leading and the Multigenerational Factor — For the first time in human history, we have four separate generations working together in society. Each generation has its own characteristics, strengths, likes and dislikes, and working style.
Leading Older Employees — (by Jodi Glickman) As Millennials take on increased responsibility at office, they need to build management skills that allow them to work effectively with senior colleagues.
Lessons in Leadership – Flash, Bang, Wallop goes Kodak — Businesses fail for two main reasons – poor leadership and/or poor sales systems. In this case, the cause of the failure of one of the world’s greatest companies must be placed squarely at the door of poor leadership.
Mandela: His 8 Lessons of Leadership — (By Richard Stengel) Writer talks about his possible last visit to him and how Mr. Mandela talked with him about leadership lessons he’s learned in his 90+ years of life.
Multicultural Leadership Starts from Within — (by Jevan Soo) Only through knowing other cultures deeply can a manager effectively connect the dots between them and highlight meaningful differences between cultures that impact business strategy.
Performance Leadership: 11 Better Practices That Can Ratchet Up Performance — (by Robert D. Behn) A report where the author, a professor at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, offers an approach that encompasses eleven “better practices” that he has observed in use by successful public managers.
Principles for a Successful Life — (by Ron Kurtus) A highly cited author (cited in 112 published books) talks about principles for having a satisfying and successful life.
Principles for Successful Work-Life Balance — (by Mike Hawkins) Leadership coach Mike Hawkins offers 10 tips for balancing workplace pressures with life responsibilities.
Secrets of Leadership Success — (by Susan M. Heathfield) Nature or nurture is a question often asked about leadership. Key leadership success secrets set the great leaders apart from the so-so leaders in today’s organizations.
Self-Image Is The Key To Success In Business And In Life – (by Ethan Hale) Individuals who expect to succeed at a given venture are more likely to do so than those who expect to fail.
Six Questions to Help You Avoid Protestors at Your Doorstep — (by David Peck) Six questions to ask yourself as a leader
Steve Jobs: 10 Lessons in Leadership — (by Erik Qualman) While we can never become Steve Jobs, nor should we strive to be (follow your heart), what we can do is understand what is the greatness of Steve Jobs and, where applicable, apply these principles to help us develop as leaders.
The 200 mph Tune Up: 4 Critical Decision Filters For The Startup Leader — (by Terry Starbucker) Developing a critical “filtering” process that can make those “on the fly” decisions easier, and more effective.
The Four-Letter Word that Makes You and Your Work Irresistible — (by Mark Sanborn) A four-letter word that in the business world makes many uncomfortable. It seems inappropriate or even taboo among some circles. What could it be?
The Third Level of Leadership — (by John C. Maxwell) As you ascend the levels of leadership, it’s important to build an effective team.
The Toughest Choices a Leader Must Make — (by Ray Blunt) There is less said about something that is more important to your initial and long-term effectiveness. They are the three toughest daily choices a leader must make.
Training Yourself To See New Strategic Options — (by Kaihan Krippendorff) the strategic choices we make every day are determined by the “strategic narratives” we tell ourselves. One’s ability to see new strategic options is a function of the number and variety of stories one recognizes.
Where To Find Inspiration When The World Tells You To Give Up – (by Kaihan Krippendorff) We do not all always have someone or something to keep us motivated. What do we do when we need extra inspiration when the world seems to be telling us to give up?
Why Faith is so Important for Success — (by Stephen Kennedy) Conceiving all kinds of useful ideas but having a great deal of difficulty with believing. Consequently, not achieving all that I desired? In short, there may simply be a lack of faith.
Why Great Leaders Don’t Take Yes for an Answer: The Leadership Challenge — (by Michael A. Roberto) Leadership is more than getting others to do your bidding. True leadership requires that you listen to others and understand (even if you don’t agree with) those who criticize your ideas.
Wise Words – 106 Maxims — Sayings and quotes intended to help one grow as a leader, as a friend and as a person.
Your Greatest Asset In Life is Free (by John McBride) In our differing ways we are all engaged in the process of seeking success. Because of our aspirations, ability and commitment, we approach this in a variety of ways. Many will fail in their quest for what they have perceived as success, but need this be so?

Increasing Likeability

Gil Pizano — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 15:59:49 +0000

We all know there are many great blogs out in the online world of the internet. One of my personal favorites is Guy Kawasaki’s blog. Through his blog, he releases many tidbits of wisdom and knowledge. In addition to being the co-founder of Alltop.com (an “online magazine rack” of popular topics on the web) and the previous “chief evangelist” of Apple, he is also the author of ten books including Enchantment, Reality Check and The Macintosh Way. According to Guy, when it comes to being successful in life, your likeability is a key factor. Regardless of one’s age, nationality, knowledge or experience, how likeable they are will determine how effective they will be in most situations. What are ways in which you can increase your likeability?

When it comes to increasing likeability, Guy Kawasaki has some pretty down to Earth ideas. Below is a chart that he shares in his book Enchantment. I liked it so much I wanted to share it here with you…enjoy!

52 Powerful Quotes on Leadership, Action and Motivation

Gil Pizano — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 00:46:24 +0000

Why do we like quotes so much? A good reason for many of us is that you don’t have to read a book to get to the point. Quotes can be very short, straight to the point and thought provoking. Sometimes, there’s just so much wisdom and life experiences in one short sentence that you can almost sense and understand what the author has gone through to reach the point they are attempting to make! Here are some quotes that have thought provoking to me in my own leadership journey. Do you recognize any of these?

“I am more afraid of an army of 100 sheep led by a lion than an army of 100 lions led by a sheep.” —Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord
“A leader has to be able to change an organization that is dreamless, soulless and visionless … someone’s got to make a wakeup call.” —Warren Bennis
“Although some people think that life is a battle, it is actually a game of giving and receiving.” —Florence Scovel Shinn
“A boss creates fear, a leader, confidence. A boss fixes blame, a leader corrects mistakes. A boss knows all, a leader asks questions. A boss makes work drudgery, a leader makes it interesting.” —Russell H. Ewing, Author
“A frightened captain makes a frightened crew.” —Lister Sinclair, Playwright/Broadcaster
“As you enter positions of trust and power, dream a little before you think.” —Toni Morrison, Author
“Becoming a leader is synonymous with becoming yourself. It is precisely that simple, and it is also that difficult.” —Warren Bennis
“A life of reaction is a life of slavery, intellectually, and spiritually. One must fight for a life of action, not reaction.” —Rita Mae Brown, Mystery Author
“A teacher affects eternity. He can never tell where his influence stops.” —Henry B. Adams, American Historian
“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader.” —John Quincy Adams
“Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear” —Ambrose Redmoon, American Philosopher
“Difficulties are meant to rouse, not discourage.” —William Ellery Channing, Psychologist
“There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.” —Peter Drucker
“Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishments.” —Jim Rohn, Author/Motivator
“Don’t be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Everyone lives by selling something.” —Robert Louis Stevenson
“I have more fun, and enjoy more financial success, when I stop trying to get what I want and start helping other people get what they want.” —Spencer Johnson, Business Author
“A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable but more useful than a life spent in doing nothing.” —George Bernard Shaw
“I must follow the people. Am I not their leader?” —Benjamin Disraeli
“If the rate of change on the outside exceeds the rate of change on the inside, the end is near” —Jack Welch
“If you don’t think about the future, you won’t have one.” —Henry Ford
“Most people succeed because they are determined to. People of mediocre ability sometimes achieve outstanding success because they don’t know when to quit.” —George Allen, Football Coach
“It takes a tremendous act of courage to admit to yourself that you are not defective in any way whatsoever.” —Cheri Huber, Author/Zen Philosopher
“Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task.” —William James
“It’s so hard when contemplated in advance and so easy when you do it.” —Robert Pirsig, Philosopher/Author
“Leaders don’t create followers, they create more leaders.” —Tom Peters
“Most of the successful people I’ve known are the ones who do more listening than talking.” —Bernard Baruch
“Ninety-nine percent of failures come from people who have a habit of making excuses.” —George Washington Carver
“No pessimist ever discovered the secrets of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new heaven to the human spirit.” —Helen Keller
“Nothing great was ever created without enthusiasm.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson
“One measure of leadership is the caliber of people who choose to follow you.” —Dennis A. Peer, Management Consultant
“Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish.” —John Quincy Adams
“Nothing so conclusively proves a man’s ability to lead others as what he does from day to day to lead himself.” —Thomas J. Watson, Former CEO, IBM
“People can be divided into two classes: those who go ahead and do something, and those people who sit still and inquire, why wasn’t it done the other way?” —Oliver Wendell Holmes
“Question: How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg? Answer: Four; calling a tail a leg doesn’t make it a leg.” —Abraham Lincoln
“Show me a man who cannot bother to do little things and I’ll show you a man who cannot be trusted to do big things.” —Lawrence D. Bell, Founder, Bell Aircraft
“Start by doing what’s necessary, then what’s possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible.” —St. Francis
“The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good people to do what he wants done, and self-restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it.” —Theodore Roosevelt
“The best way out is always through.” —Robert Frost
“The first law of success is concentration, to bend all the energies to one point, and to go directly to that point, looking neither to the right, nor to the left.” —William Matthews, Journalist
“The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality.” —Max DePree, Business Consultant/Author
“The leadership instinct you are born with is the backbone. Then you develop the funny bone and the wishbone that go with it.” —Elaine Agather, CEO, JPMorgan Bank
“The older I get the more wisdom I find in the ancient rule of taking first things first. A process which often reduces the most complex human problem to a manageable proportion.” —Dwight D. Eisenhower
“The reason most major goals are not achieved is that we spend our time doing second things first.” —Robert J. McKain, Management Consultant
“The best way to predict the future is to create it.” —Peter Drucker
“The first duty of a leader is optimism. How does your subordinate feel after meeting with you? Does he feel uplifted? If not, you are not a leader.” —Field Marshal Montgomery
“Those that are most slow in making a promise are the most faithful in the performance of it.” —Jean-Jacques Rousseau
“Too many people are thinking of security instead of opportunity. They seem to be more afraid of life than death.” —James F. Bymes, Secretary of State
“What would be the use of immortality to a person who cannot use well a half an hour?” —Ralph Waldo Emerson
“When I’m getting ready to persuade a person, I spend one-third of the time thinking about myself, what I’m going to say, and two-thirds of the time thinking about him and what he is going to say.” —Abraham Lincoln
”Always think of what you have to do as easy and it will be.” —Emile Coue, Psychologist
“People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing — that’s why we recommend it daily.” –Zig Ziglar

Hope you enjoyed reading some of these quotes! If so, and you’d like to comment, please do so. If not, then let us know and why!

What are some of your favorite leadership, action and motivation quotes?

Is Someone Shooting Down Your Ideas?

Gil Pizano — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 01:26:33 +0000

Beware of the four gallingly common strategies that people use to shoot down a person’s ideas. These tactics are all the more common against a person who’s been identified as a leader within their organization…but why? In the world we’re in, there are many people who unfortunately don’t like to think about how to solve a particular issue. They’d rather do what is probably the simplest thing a person can do. Point out what may be wrong with an idea without giving an alternate solution for the problem the idea is attempting to address. I’m sure you’ve probably never witnessed such a scenario.

I always think back to the first time I read about an interview with the great statesman Dr. Albert Schweitzer where he was asked the question of what’s wrong with men today. His answer, “Men simply don’t think.” (Note: My last two sentences where not meant to give a feminist any extra fodder against men out there, the answer was given by a famous person who happened to be a man as well.8-) )

The four strategies that I’ve seen people often use to shoot down a person’s ideas are:

(1) Death by delay

(2) Confusion

(3) Fear Mongering

(4) Ridicule

These four types of “attacks” on a person’s ideas are often done through a couple of dozen questions, comments, and/or arguments. Any one of these questions can cause an unsuspecting person to cave in and give up on their idea.

We tried that before and it didn’t work (<– this one is one of my personal favorites).
No one else does this, why should we try it really.
You can’t have it both ways.
Ah! What about THIS? [“this” being a worrisome thing that the proposers know nothing about and the attackers keep secret until just the right moment].
Good idea, but the timing is all wrong.
It’s too much work to do this.
It won’t work here. We have a unique situation.
It puts us on a slippery slope.
We simply can’t afford this. / It’s just too expensive.
You’ll never convince enough people.
You’re abandoning our core values.
It’s too simplistic to work. / It sounds too simple.
Sounds like [something horrible] to me!
People have too many concerns to do that.
It’s too difficult to understand.
You have a chicken and egg problem here.
Your proposal doesn’t go far enough/your proposal goes too far.
We’re simply not equipped to do this.
Money [or some other problem a proposal does not address] is the real issue here.
You’re exaggerating the problem.
You imply that we’ve been failing!
What’s the hidden agenda here?
What about this, and that, and this, and that…?
We’ve been so successful. Why should we change? (if it’s not broken, why fix it?)

What’s Your Response?

One of the more common responses people often do to is often the first thing they should not it they want to succeed with their idea. All too often people push out the ‘troublemakers’. Why do that? Here is a golden opportunity. Why not just let them in and treat them with respect. Allow them to always be part of the solution. Listen to their concerns and criticism. The opposite of respect in that situation is shooting back. If you start shooting back at a person who is criticizing you, others will see that you are shooting at them and may become sympathetic to the other person even if his attack wasn’t fair!

Another type of response that often backfires is drowning a person in a half-hour’s worth of evidence. Drilling them basically into the ground with information as to why your idea is a good one that will definitely work. It’s better to communicate in ways that are simple, clear, short and to the point. Research by authors John P. Kotter and Lorne A. Whitehead had shown that the most effective people, instead of just spraying verbal bullets, respond in a way that is simple, clear and filled with common sense.

Never let it get personal, no matter how much you want to lash out. Just understand that the person is really attacking the idea, not you. Keep an eye on the entire audience and not just the one critic. It’s very easy to get hung up on the guy who’s attacking your idea.

Last Words…

The saying that states, “He who laughs last, laughs best!” is not one that I agree with. The phrase that often is more accurate to me is, “He who laughs last, doesn’t really need to laugh at all!” He lets his idea prove him right.

When one has an idea, it’s never simply the idea that makes it to be a working idea. One thing is to be able to generate an idea by digging up data, analyzing it, and putting it together in some form of logical way. But it’s another thing all together to gain the support one needs in order to get the idea off the ground and working!

Cheers!

Gil

Beware of the Chameleon Effect

Gil Pizano — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 15:19:47 +0000

You know what’s amazing? It’s the ability we all have to change our environment based upon our view of it. I’m not talking about any mysticism or hocus pocus, but a proven psychological ability that we as human beings have. This ability is known as the “Chameleon Effect”, also known as the “Pygmalion Effect” in some circles, it has to do with our natural sense of value attribution and how it changes life around us. Value attribution or the inclination for people to superimpose or imbue a thing with certain characteristics or qualities based upon our initial perception. The initial impression we have of something or someone will cause us to view that very same thing in such a way that’s consistent with our initial impression. When Joshua Bell (a Grammy Award-winning violinist who plays to sold-out crowds in symphony halls around the world) dressed in jeans, a baseball cap and sneakers pulled out his $3.5 million dollar Stradivarius violin on a crowded subway platform in Washington D.C. during morning rush hour and proceeded to play, very few people seemed to notice or even care. Why would that be? Value attribution acts as a mental shortcut to determine what’s worthy of our attention and based upon what people saw (first impression), they assumed that Mr. Bell was an average street performer simply trying to make a few dollars any way he could.

The Chameleon Effect takes value attribution one step further by super imposing our view on the person or object and having the result “be as we’d expect it to be”. A perfect example of this was seen in an experiment conducted with the Israeli army within one of its training programs in which 105 soldiers were selected to participate in a very demanding 15-week commander training program.

Commander Training

The program was a rigorous and intense process, requiring intense physical training, mental concentration and 16-hour workdays. For the experiment, this particular course was going to be different from any of the previous ones. Dr. Dov Eden, psychologist from Tel Aviv University, informed the training officers leading the program that the army had accumulated comprehensive data on each of the trainees. He told the officers that, based on this information, each soldier had been classified into one of three “command potential” (CP) categories: high, regular and unknown (due to insufficient information). Trainees from each category were divided equally into four trainee classes. “You will copy each trainee’s CP,” Eden told the officers, “into his personal record. You are requested to learn your trainees’ names and their predicted CP by the beginning of the course.” The trainees didn’t have any idea that any of this was going on. And the officers didn’t know that the so-called command potential, along with the supporting data, was completely fictitious. Scores were randomly assigned to the trainees and had nothing to do with their intelligence, past performance or ability.

At the end of 15 weeks, Eden returned and discovered something amazing. Upon finishing the course, the soldiers took a test that measured their new knowledge of “standard operating procedures, combat tactics, topography, and such practical skills as navigation and accuracy of weapon firing.” The effects of assigning soldiers to the different command potential categories became apparent in the test results.

The soldiers who the training officers thought had a high CP score performed better on the test (scoring an average of 79.98) than their “unknown” and “regular” counterparts (who scored 72.43 and 65.18, respectively). This was a 22.7% improvement. It appeared that being labeled as having high leadership potential translated directly into the soldier’s actual improved ability. Remember that neither the trainers nor the trainees had any idea what was going on. Without realizing it, the trainees had taken on the characteristics of the diagnoses ascribed to them by the officers

When Dr. Eden informed the trainers that the command potential scores had actually been made-up and assigned randomly, they staunchly disagreed. In an attempt to prove their point, they offered up evidence that the high-potential soldiers indeed performed better on their exit exams. In psychology this is known as circular logic. The exit tests confirmed the initial diagnosis; the trainees had merely molded their abilities to the diagnoses ascribed to them. This molding process becomes self-perpetuating. When we take on the characteristics assigned to us, the diagnosis is reinforced and reaffirmed. Have you ever witnessed this occur? When we brand or label people, they take on the characteristics of the diagnosis, displaying the Chameleon Effect.

In the book, Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior by Ori Brafman and Rom Brafman, the authors talk about the Chameleon Effect this way:

We’re constantly sending and receiving cues and subtle messages to and from one another — swaying and being swayed, even if our rational brain hasn’t been let in on the secret. As this study illustrates, we can’t help but take on the characteristics others ascribe to us. There’s a hidden dance at work within even the most seemingly straightforward interactions — and in this way, we’re all psychological chameleons.

The Chameleon Effect in the Workplace

This phenomenon is of course by no means limited to the Israeli military. A meta-analysis conducted by psychologists at SUNY Albany suggested that these same diagnostic effects operate in the workplace. I’m sure you know what I mean when asked if you’ve ever been fortunate enough to work for a boss who values you. If you have you’ll know that we as people have a tendency to rise to meet the high expectations set for us. On the other hand, there’s nothing that will make a person feel more inept and demoralized than a supervisor who is convinced you don’t have what it takes to do what it is he or she wants you to do.

Looking back on my life and career, I myself have been seen the Chameleon Effect both on the sending and receiving side. I wish I knew then what I know now because it definitely would have made some difficult situations a little bit easier.

What are your thoughts on this psychological phenomenon?

Have you ever experienced the Chameleon Effect?

What do you believe we as people need to do about this?

Check out some of the great reads below!

Helpful Insights Online» leadership

51 Amazing Articles on Leadership and Success in Life

Related Posts

Increasing Likeability

Related Posts

52 Powerful Quotes on Leadership, Action and Motivation

Related Posts

Is Someone Shooting Down Your Ideas?

Related Posts

Beware of the Chameleon Effect

Related Posts