“If you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.”

~ Henry Ford

It all starts with attitude, which is the foundation for Psychological Swagger. There are countless quotes and motivational stories related to the importance of attitude. Quite simply it is the differentiator between those who complain and those who train. Everyone faces challenges in their pursuit of success, but few have the grit to stay the course and maintain their focus. A core aspect of attitude is belief, your belief in yourself as well as your belief in how the world works. The lens through which you see things takes you either toward your success or away from it.

We all have insecurities. Those of us who use them can lose them. Insecurities can limit our progress in life. An example of this is letting a thought about the past predict your future. For me a major insecurity was my lack of “traditional intelligence.” I always struggled with standardized tests and getting good grades. Earlier in life, this was what I focused on because it’s what most people valued and where emphasis was placed. Over time, I made my insecurity my greatest strength.

A story I heard years ago illustrates this point rather well. A husband and a wife were driving along the highway and the husband was complaining about the windshield being dirty. He pulled off to a rest stop and asked a gas station attendant to clean the windshield. After the windshield was cleaned, the man started complaining about the incompetence in the world and how the windshield was still dirty and all he could see was dirt and blurriness. When the husband was done with his rant, his wife leaned over and took off her husband’s glasses and asked “How do you see things now?” To the man’s surprise, everything was crystal clear. It wasn’t the windshield that was dirty it was his glasses. This little story is a great illustration of how the lens in which we see things through impacts our experience.

Excerpt from Simple is the New Smart, Career Press

“It’s not what happens, it’s what happens next”, “It’s not about the fall, it’s about getting up”, “A lot of people dream of success, few get up and work at it.”

We’ve all heard the motivational quotes that sound great and feel better. But what separates losers from winners? Yes, I know it’s insensitive to call out such a dichotomy as “losers” and “winners”. But I like straight talk – talk that is clear and gets results. The truth is that some athletes have what it takes to excel and some don’t.

Now we can go around in circles about nature vs. nurture and if people are born with mental toughness or if they develop it. I can tell you from first hand experience working with athletes and executives that the skills that elite athletes use to excel can be learned. I can also tell you that the skills that elite athletes use can be leveraged to make you a more effective and successful business person. From the hedge fund manager who makes decisions on investments under pressure, to the CEO who needs to get quarterly results while getting beaten up by the media and board requests, to the first time manager who is in uncharted waters.

There are countless skills that athletes use that can be leveraged in business. I’m going to let you know about three core skills that athletes use to win: Swagger, Focus, and Grit. These core three, if mastered, will elevate your game and separate you from those who haven’t put the time in to excel.

Swagger
Confidence, but not arrogance, is the foundation for winning. Recently I spoke to over 200 senior leaders at a Fortune 200 business. My charge was to teach them mental toughness and how sport psychology can help executives excel. I presented my case, provided insights, and equipped them with select skills.

I ended my talk with a photo of an approaching bear and discussed different potential reactions to being presented with a crisis. That had impact. What happened next, however, had more impact. Hall of Famer, Ronnie Lott, came up to the front of the room, placed his four Superbowl rings down on a table, and told everyone to pass them around. And then he said, “Well, about that bear, I would just knock it out!”

In seconds, Ronnie Lott had taught them what I had spent an hour teaching them. What he said and how he said it had swagger. And I realized as he spent the next 45 minutes with the group, that’s how he played the game – with confidence and swagger. Over his career he excelled at playing at multiple positions. Many others in his time had similar physical talent, but none had his swagger, focus, and grit. He has translated that swagger into countless other successful business ventures. My favorite part of our time with Ronnie Lott was when asked why he is so confident and comfortable passing out his Superbowl rings to hundreds of strangers, he responded, “I still have one good hit left.”

Focus
The best athletes keep their eyes on the prize. They eliminate the noise and perform. How do you do this in business? Find the synergy among what makes money, what you can do well, and what you enjoy. If you can have laser focus on staying true to a few initiatives that fall into this space, you will get results that reap sustainable rewards. The challenge is selectively listening by tuning out unhelpful noise and keeping your focus. Warren Buffet is one of the best examples of a business person who exemplifies focus. He doesn’t get caught up in the noise or the naysayers – he stays his course, keeps his focus, and he wins. His strategy isn’t sexy, but his success is seductive and best of all works.

Bouncing Back
Do you know what Michael Jordan did after he missed three shots in a row? He played defense and got ready for the next shot. What did Lindsay Vonn do after her injury kept her out of the Olympics? She started her comeback for her next major event. I had the opportunity to advise someone who started a private equity firm, and got thrown out of his own fund. You can imagine how challenging that would be. He picked himself up, learned from his mistakes, and became the head of an even larger fund. What’s my point? People who know failure is feedback, fall forward. They get up fast, learn, and move forward.

If you want to see what this looks like in action, watch Heather Dorniden’s devastating fall and inspirational bounce back in the 2008 Big Ten Track Championships: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70UF82nysIU.

The OnPoint Point: If you want the edge, sharpen your edge – and don’t cut people. Pay attention to the athletes that perform year after year. Walk with swagger, have laser focus, and bounce back. Build those skills and you will have the mental toughness to deal with business roughness. Start now and see your ROT, return on toughness.

We will all face a crisis at some point in our careers. The two keys are to be prepared and to not let how you handle the crisis become fuel for a larger crisis. Below are some tips and guidelines on how to Read before you Lead and create purpose out of a challenge.

• Anything you communicate externally, you need to communicate internally
• Communicate in a way that connects with people
• Your behavior will define your brand and the organization’s perceived values
• Whether you experience a crisis or not, the characteristics of a Growth Leader
are practical and will help you achieve your goals
• Feel slow, Think Fast
• Manage yourself before you manage the crisis
• Be proactive rather than reactive
• Respond rather than react
• Build your people’s confidence so everyone can get done what needs to be done
and then hold people accountable once the crisis has been stabilized
• Have team, everyone has blind spots, and they can be the difference between
success and failure during a crisis
• If you run a business, and the business made a mistake, giving something up
builds good will and loyalty

What to do and When

The steps in leading in a crisis are simple but not easy. See-Feel-Think-Act gives you a foundation for what to do first.

See (Wide) – Maintain a wide field of vision and collect as much information as possible. Based on what you choose to see will determine how you feel, think, act, and see.

Feel (Slow) – Step back and understand your initial reactions. Your emotions can act as barometer and help you make strategic decisions. Realize that your emotions are a data point, not the data point. Your feeling can cloud your judgment. Leverage them wisely.

Think (Fast and Far) – Integrate what you see and feel and make strategic decisions. You need to use your logic to think through your options and not just jump at the first solution. Think through options from various points of view (i.e. stakeholders, employees, board members, customers and etc.)

Act (Confident) – Move forward with confidence and empathy. Demonstrate integrity and alignment in what you communicate and what you do. Taking action may be as simple as genuinely communicating what you know and instilling confidence and a ensuring that you are working to address the situation with the best intentions.

What to Focus on First

S-Safety – Ensure that you do everything you can to restore safety and stabilize the situation. You want to demonstrate immediately that you are taking all steps necessary to keep people out of harms way (if the crisis includes physical or emotional danger).

P-People – People are your most important resource. You want to demonstrate that you care about people. This is a time of high physical and emotional presence. People need to see you as often as possible and as empathetic as possible. It’s important that people are being informed and being heard.

E-Emotional Intelligence (EI) – The stakes are high in times of crisis and extreme change. Your ability to be aware of what your responses are and how to communicate appropriately is crucial. Feelings can be overwhelming during these times. You also need to be able to accurately anticipate and read emotional reactions of those around you who are affected by the crisis. EI also includes the successful integration of feelings and thought.

A-Articulate Your Vision – Clarity is paramount. Your message needs to be clear and instill confidence in those around you. You need to find the balance between acting to stabilize the crisis and demonstrating your passion for the future. Display leadership behaviors that are consistent with your vision and suggest you are doing everything you can to ensure stability and growth in the future. You want to communicate early and often.

K-Knowledge – People look to leaders in times of crisis to have information and communicate that information. Have people around you feed you essential information and continue to learn as you handle the crisis.

E-Evaluate – Get feedback on how you are doing. Seek input from people who are being affected. It is alright to get feedback and decide that you need to change things, stay the same, or seek more feedback. It is not alright to fail to see how effective or ineffective you are being as a leader.

R-Reach Out – Consult with as many experts as your time and resources will allow. Gaining different perspectives from a variety of sources will assist you in decision-making and ensure diversity of thought. You have a certain expertise; during a crisis rely on experts around you that you can trust. Examples of people who you should reach out to are media contacts, lawyers, counselors, and people who are directly affected. The “go it alone” attitude that may have gotten you to be successful in the past, will not serve you well in a crisis. It is a time to pool resources and consult experts.

S – Slow Everything Down – This step, along with Safety, is often one of the first steps. Things move very fast when the stakes are high. Most people will have the normal reaction of getting tactical and taking action. Depending on the amount of physical and emotional harm present, force yourself to slow things down and be strategically tactical. In other words, execute rapidly, but execute with purpose and strategy. Making the decision to take a step back and reflect and consult, maybe the difference between moving backwards and moving forwards in the future.

Where to Spend Your Time and Energy

Personal Leadership – Ensuring that you have a strong sense of your strengths, weaknesses, and derailers is essential, especially in times of uncertainty and crisis. As a leader people will be looking to you for answers, and you need to minimize your blind spots and maximize the positive impact you have on others. You are the most direct link to the Organizational Atmosphere. The healthier, more energizing and engaging you are, the more motivated people will be to meet the challenges of the crisis and grow through the experience. Personal Leadership includes managing and communicating your brand and taking care of yourself (i.e. managing your stress). The more effectively you are able to lead yourself, the stronger the platform you will create for leading others. Everything will seem out of balance during times of crisis, and that is because most things are out of balance. It is your job to find a way to maintain some type of personal homeostasis in order to keep you grounded and allow you to make strong strategic decisions that will help your organization grow.

Team Leadership – Your ability to understand your direct reports and peers as well as rally their support will be crucial. You need to focus on taking care of your team as they take care of the crisis. Be sure that the messages that your team receive and send are consistent with your messages and are aligned with the overall organization’s Crisis Growth Strategy.

Business Leadership – Business results are more important than most people would think when considering crisis situations. Safety and taking care of people are core components. However, if the organization fails, it will cause an avalanche of additional crises. It may seem contradictory to say to focus on the business and focus on people. They actually can go hand and hand if you think through the proper strategy and the implication of each step along the way. Growing the business may not happen within a short time frame, that is precisely why decisions made early on need to be informed by insights into the future of the organization.

Social Leadership – Whether you care about making an impact on society or not, people will be watching how socially responsible you are in a time of crisis. How leaders handle crises becomes how outsiders permanently view the leader and the organization. Therefore, it is absolutely critical to ensure that you take steps to connect with people outside the organization. Depending on the crisis, this may include family members of those affected by the crisis, media, investors and other key stakeholders.

Leadership During Layoffs: How Those Staying Can Empower Those Leaving from Philadelphia Business Journal 12/02/2008

Leadership is written about in countless books and online resources. However, there is a gap. Not many leadership gurus talk about the true test of leaders, leading in times of adversity.

The financial crisis, war for talent, and integration of multiple generations has created the perfect storm and, quite frankly, the perfect mess. People go into their offices consumed with concern for their career rather than purpose and passion for achieving. We know from years of research that employee engagement is critical to success because engagement keeps people loyal, motivated, and keeps people with the company. However, what about during Undesired Transitions, such as layoffs?

Today, leaders need to be tremendous influencers. They need to be able to read and influence quickly and effectively so they can increase employee engagement rather than watch people be fearful.

What executives can do during Undesired Transitions:

Empower those leaving

Connect, Care, and Challenge: People don’t care what you know, until they know that you care. It is critical that leaders demonstrate behavior associated with caring for others (empathy, listening, support). These three C’s are a foundation for growth in times of adversity. Connect represents building relationships, Care represents letting the person know you are on the same team, and Challenge represents inviting the person to grow and develop strategies to take action.

Build Sensible Hope: Be straightforward and honest. As a person who has positional power you are someone who has natural influence. Use that to be realistic about the situation and offer ways to build hope for the future. This doesn’t mean creating cheesy slogans or lines. This does mean finding ways to make this transition a catalyst for growth. For example, you can communicate stories of people you may know who have used Undesired Transitions as an opportunity to pursue a different career or re-create their brand.

Discuss their Story and their Brand: Some people are better at creating and telling their story than others. I had a friend get laid off from a large investment bank and within two weeks he had a new job. This is because he had his story straight. Having a story of who you are, why you are in this situation, and what you want is very helpful. Find ways to develop the person’s brand so they can go into an interview or speak to their network with confidence.

Engage those staying

Navigate the V-SEA: We know that people have a need for clarity and direction, especially during transitions. V-SEA stands for Vision, Strategy, Execution, and Accountability. Leaders need to keep sharp and communicate the where, what, why, who, and when related to the organization’s future. Even if there is uncertainty, leaders must continue to have a future focus and create a sense of moving forward.

Match your Intention with Your Impact: Know what message you want to send, know what message is being received, and know what to change until there is a match. In my work with executives I teach them how to apply skills related to executive emotional intelligence. The key ingredients are the ability to read and influence yourself, your people, and your situations. The most successful executives receive consistent feedback and aren’t afraid to hold the mirror up to themselves. These executives become trusted and influential.

Involve Key People in the Transition: One of the most important gifts you can give your people that are staying is the opportunity to help those that are leaving. This is a winning strategy with impact. The people who help those leaving feel good and offer support and strategies, the people who are leaving feel supported and strengthen their network, you (the leader) gain from taking action and creating value, and the organization benefits from how it is perceived. This gives people a sense of purpose and the focus shifts from what you can’t control (layoffs) to what they can control (supporting colleagues). Create a plan to leverage the strengths of each person.

The bottom line

People do not want to feel helpless and hopeless, and you can prevent that. The more an executive can put others in a place to take action, the more engaged employees will be. The decisions that you make today and your behavior will create a brand that will be woven into the fabric of an organization for years to come.

Now is the time to let the people know who are being laid off not to take time off. It is essential that they have a sense of urgency. It is almost like a house that sits on the market for too long. People begin to wonder why. Urgency is not desperation; urgency can be a tool that is integrated with confidence. The impression this makes is that the person is competent and has a results-orientation.

As a leader do you want to sit back and watch the results of this crisis and be a victim, or do you want to be a leader and positively influence the people around you?