Leadership Quote: Those Who Win….

Leadership Quote: Those Who Win….

This month’s leadership quote: Sooner or later, those who win are those who think they can. — Dr. Paul Tournier

Today’s blogpost  is offered by guest blogger Mary Lore, Vistage speaker and author of Managing Thought.

Mary’s book and program are all about managing thought and getting the results we want.

In my experience, a lot of leaders think “positive thinking” is about thinking happy rah-rah or touchy-feely thoughts or re-framing a thought to make it sound positive, for example changing the word “sh—“ to “fertilizer.” Or they think of that Stuart Smalley character on Saturday Night Live who made positive affirmations in the mirror. (I don’t want to be that guy!)

That’s why I don’t use the term positive thinking,coined the term powerful thinking, and developed theManaging Thought® process. Because to me, positivity isn’t about getting rid of the negative thoughts we have and replacing them with positive thoughts. It is about being aware of the 60,000 thoughts our brains present to us every day – one a second – and choosing to hold thoughts that are in alignment with who we aspire to be and what we truly wish to create – as leaders and as organizations.

In my experience, most of our thoughts are based in fear, focused on what we don’t want vs. what we do want – and we don’t even know it.

When we think about the time we don’t have enough of, the opportunities we don’t have, the customer we lost, the payments we can’t afford, the sacrifices and cuts we have to make, cash we don’t have, customers who aren’t buying, banks who won’t lend, the decisions we are forced to make, and the competition we’re up against, we are not thinking powerfully.

When we think that we don’t want to be viewed as a commodity, the economy is bad, my organization isn’t innovative, my people aren’t engaged, or that I don’t like this or that about my employees or suppliers, again, we are not thinking powerfully.

When we think thoughts of fear, self-doubt, worry, criticism, judgment, anger, frustration, anxiety, negativity and other disempowering fight, flight or freeze thoughts, we are not thinking powerfully. And when we think about surviving, we are not thinking powerfully, because we want to thrive.

When we think powerfully, we are thinking thoughts of vision and purpose, wonder and possibility, focused on what we want, on what truly matters. Our thoughts are inspired, creative, and impactful.

Most of us have not thought about our thoughts. We have no idea what we are thinking in each moment.  We have taught ourselves to turn our power to think and to create our reality over to our brains.

Yet we have the ability to pay attention to our thoughts. We always have a choice to focus on what matters and think in powerful ways which affects our ideas, our decisions, and our results. This awareness creates stillness in this fast-paced, ever-changing world and affects how we inspire others, how we lead, what we create from any situation, producing a distinct competitive advantage.

It is time for us to take back our power, to stop re-acting, and start choosing thoughts that serve us in our lives, our relationships, our organizations, our communities, and, through the ripple effect, the world.

How are you using your 60,000 thoughts today?

 

Great Leaders Shatter Expectations

Great Leaders Shatter Expectations

Great leaders shatter expectations, so says Vistage speaker Michael Allosso. This is planning season for most companies. The time when leaders get together to begin strategic planning for 2013.

What will you do in 2013 to shatter the expectations of your leadership team and your customers?

Please share your thoughts/plans by commenting on this blog post.

Elisa K. Spain

Vistage Confidence Index: Q3 Results Dip Once Again

Vistage Confidence Index: Q3 Results Dip Once Again

The quarterly Vistage Confidence Index is now available.

CEOs of small and medium businesses say their overall confidence is down due to a continued slowdown in economic growth and uncertainty over the future of U.S. politics.  This is according to the Vistage CEO Confidence Index, which indicated a drop of nearly three percentage points from the second quarter and a 16 percent decrease since March.

Following are key highlights of the survey:

Economic Growth Slows: The continuing decline in optimism has been due to the slowdown in the pace of economic growth that is expected to continue though the start of 2013. Just 27 percent of all firms in the 3rd quarter survey reported that the economy had recently improved, down from 36 percent last quarter and less than half of the 60 percent recorded at the start of 2012. Moreover, the proportion fearing a renewed downturn in the year ahead jumped to 22 percent in the 3rd quarter, up from just 7 percent at the start of 2012. To be sure, the vast majority of firms do not anticipate a recession, but simply a slowdown due to inaction on fiscal policies.

Hiring Plans Remain Favorable: Hiring plans were unchanged from last quarter as half of all firms planned net increases in the number of their employees. Just 9 percent anticipate a net reduction, a clear sign that firms do not expect a downturn. One-in-five firms (19 percent) reported that the payroll tax holiday allowed them to expand their businesses, but fewer firms (12 percent) reported that they would hire more workers if the government offered them a $1,000 tax credit for each new hire.

Investment Plans Slip: Planned investments in new plant and equipment declined slightly, with the percent that planned increases falling to 36 percent in the 3rd quarter from 40 percent last quarter and 45 percent in the 1st quarter. Economic uncertainty has reduced investment plans to their lowest level since the start of 2010.

Revenue Prospects Remain Strong: Two-thirds of all firms anticipated revenue growth during the year ahead in the 3rd quarter survey, unchanged from last quarter. Retaining and attracting new customers was singled out as the biggest challenge by CEOs, with cutting costs their next biggest challenge since the majority of firms expected they could not increase the prices they charged for their products or services.

Stable Profits Expected: Higher profits were anticipated by 52 percent of all firms in the 3rd quarter, barely different from last quarter’s 53 percent but below the 1st quarter’s 60 percent. Although CEOs anticipated an even slower pace of economic growth than last quarter, firms were better prepared to offset the impact of the slowdown on their profits. The 14 percent of firms in the 3rd quarter 2012 survey that expected declines in their profits was slightly below last year’s 15 percent and less than half the peak of 36 percent in the closing quarter of 2008.

Elisa K. Spain 

Rush To The Urgent, Or Plan For 2013?

Rush To The Urgent, Or Plan For 2013?

As we enter the fourth quarter of the year, are you still focused on 2012 or planning for 2013?

At a recent meeting with a group of business leaders, all from the same company, we went around the table and asked “who is on plan or ahead of plan this year and who is not?” A common theme emerged amongst those who answered that they were meeting their plan or ahead of plan.

Here is what I heard:

  • 2012 is over – we are already planning for 2013. We did the same last year and hit the ground running in January (actually before then)
  • everyone on the team knows their contribution to the goal and where each of them stand – i.e. we set individual goals as well as team goals, measure performance and make it public

Seems so simple and yet, only about 1/3 of the people at the table were actually achieving their goals.

Here are some questions for your consideration:

  • I wonder what stops the two-thirds  from following the practices of the one-third? Is it perhaps rushing to the urgent and missing the important along the way?
  • How does this all fit with what you are doing this quarter?
  • How might the experience of these successful leaders perhaps impact the choices you make in the remaining few months of the year?

Elisa K. Spain