Step 3 of the 7 Steps to Becoming INVALUABLE is “Suspend Judgment.” Let’s take a look at how one winner used this concept to his advantage.

As American Idol is about to launch its new season, I couldn’t help but reflect on last year’s contest. The surprise win of Kris Allen over the favorite, Adam Lambert, offers some valuable insights into competition.

The importance of Winston Churchill’s famous 5-word speech to England’s citizenry, “Never, never, never give up,” was exemplified in Kris Allen’s American Idol win. Throughout the competition Adam Lambert was considered the person to beat. His performances were rewarded with glowing reviews from the judges and standing ovations from the audience. Yet, during the final two weeks of the competition it was Kris Allen who garnered the majority of the votes.

It would have been easy for Kris to embrace the idea that:

• Adam Lambert was more talented than he was
• Adam was more popular and, thus, unbeatable
• His chances of winning were nil

All of these thoughts could have, and probably did, enter his psyche. They all have one thing in common. They’re judgments; judgments wrought from emotion. These judgments limit our potential and the value we bring to society.

The reality is that there will always be someone a little brighter, a little more skilled, more experienced or more of a natural talent than we are. Their abilities make life miserable for us. No matter how hard we try we’re never going to surpass these people – or are we?

We can, and we will, if we follow Kris Allen’s example of setting aside these judgments and doing our best every week. It’s counter-intuitive, but there is only one competitor in your life – yourself. If you compare yourself against those who are brighter, more skilled, possess greater experience or are more naturally gifted, you’re likely to become disheartened and give up.

Conversely, if you compete only against yourself, every time you improve upon your previous performance you gain confidence and you position yourself for greater and greater success. It won’t matter what your competitors are doing, you’ll know that your success is assured because you’re continuously improving in areas that have value for your customers.

Learn from Kris Allen! Set aside those judgments that limit your future. Focus on your customers‘ needs and competing only with yourself. You’ll not only enjoy greater and greater success, odds are that you’ll have others in your industry viewing you as the one who is brighter, more skilled, more experienced or more naturally talented.

…how reliable is history?

Our pastor made the comment that memory is a function of history?  Is it? 

In his book, Stumbling on Happiness, Daniel Gilbert shares scientific studies of memory that show that, contrary to popular opinion, our memories aren’t full-length features stored in exacting detail.  Instead they are more like holograms where what’s stored are the key elements of the story.  The details get filled in as we recall the episode.

Professor Gilbert goes on to say that “the least likely experience” is often the “most likely memory.”  Why is that?  Because the least likely experiences trigger emotional reactions.  Indeed, it’s the emotional reactions that we have to the situations we face that determine what memories we retain.

If you doubt that think of your last trip to the grocery store.  Was it memorable?  If not, there were no surprises; nothing that triggered an emotional reaction.  Conversely, if it was memorable, it’s likely that someone allowed you to go ahead of him in the checkout line, shared a kind word with you or raced to get ahead of you in line.  Each of these actions triggers an emotional response that forms a memory.

Why is this important?  Because, as Professor Gilbert notes, this natural tendency can “wreak havoc with our ability to predict future experiences.”  If our primary recall is of unusual experiences, how accurate is our historical perspective?  How well can we predict future outcomes if we’re focused on the least likely results?

It’s counter-intuitive, but memory is not an accurate historical perspective.  That’s why, when predicting an outcome, it’s wise to recall:

1. The last relevant experience you had
2. What emotions were triggered during that experience
3. Whether this was an isolated instance among many other similar, yet less memorable, experiences

Then ask yourself, “Is this memory an accurate predictor of what I can expect?”  This simple approach will help you avoid creating unrealistic expectations and improve the historical accuracy of your memory. 

The 7 Steps to Becoming INVALUABLE program I offer is designed to help you see more effective ways of doing business – ways that dramatically improve your bottom line while making your life easier.  In today’s blog I used Step 3, Suspend Judgment, to show you that emotions trigger memories and influence our expectations for the future. Then I used Step 1, Contributory Negligence, to demonstrate how we contribute to the outcomes we get – favorable or unfavorable – by our penchant for using “least likely experiences” to predict the future.  Finally I used Step 5, Contrarian Mindset, to show you how to overcome this natural tendency.  For more information on the 7 Steps to Becoming INVALUABLE visit www.furtwengler.com/theinvaluableleader/

Please share your experiences and wisdom with Invaluable Leader readers by posting your comments.  If there are topics you’d like me to address, please send me an email at dale@furtwengler.com.

Is it in America’s best interest?

This is one of the most controversial acts being considered today.  Why?  Two reasons. 

There is concern among business owners and leaders that the new rules, which eliminate the need for secret ballot votes by employees, could result in some employees being coerced by their colleagues into signing.  The second concern is the 120-day mandatory arbitration rules which could leave businesses with economically untenable contracts.

Before we get into these issues, let’s take a look at what’s spawned this interest in unionization.  For decades we’ve been seeing the erosion of the middle class.  When the middle ground is washed away you’re left with a chasm bordered by competing factions on each side of the chasm.  Part of the interest in unionization is the desire to stop the erosion of the middle class and avoid a much costlier “economic civil war” later.

This interest in rejuvenating the middle class has been heightened by the recent outrage over rising CEO pay and executive bonuses despite poor performance, something that Fortune magazine has been railing about since at least 2006. 

Whether or not it will achieve this goal the Free Choice Act is an attempt to reconstitute the middle class and avoid the inevitable civil war that’s developing.  If anyone doubts that a war is coming, review some of the recent news broadcasts highlighting threats of violence against the AIG executives who received bonuses.

With such a lofty goal, why would the business community fight unionization?  They fear loss of control.  Unfortunately, these leaders fail to realize that control is an illusion.  We can’t control anyone’s activity unless they grant us permission to do so.  Anyone who’s spent more than a few hours in a management role knows how readily employees ignore our requests, and even more so, our demands.  If they feel sufficiently threatened, they’ll “agree” to our demands and provide what we requested instead of what we wanted.  

What’s the solution?  It’s counter-intuitive, but whether you’re dealing with a CEO, individual workers or a union, the issue of compensation revolves around one question.  That question is “How are you going to produce results in excess of the compensation you’re requesting?”  You see it doesn’t really make any difference how much a person makes as long as the value of what they produce exceeds what they make.

For those who have grown up in the union environment the concept of providing more than what your being compensated may seem foreign, but in business we realize that we have to provide more value than the consumer is paying for if we want them to part with their dollars.  The same should be true of workers, after all the companies that employ them are their customers.

With those thoughts in mind, let’s assume you’re a business owner sitting at the table with the union representatives and they say they want their workers to get a 6% annual increase in pay and benefits each year for the next three years.  Your response should be “That’s fine, we’re happy to honor that request if you can tell us how you’re going to increase productivity by 6.5% per year.  What’s your plan?”

Let’s say that the union doesn’t come up with a plan, the 120 days elapse and you’re forced to go to arbitration.  The union states its demands as it did to you.  You, again, state that you’re willing to agree to those raises if the union could demonstrate how it was going to increase employee productivity by 6.5%.  After all, any fair exchange requires that each party receive comparable value.  What’s the likelihood that, if the union fails to present a plan, their demands will be granted?  Arbitrators are schooled in the art of creating equity between competing parties and they look at the reasonableness of each party’s position.  The party that seems to be doing the most to create equity, in this case you, typically gains the arbitrator’s favor. 

You can further enhance your position with the union if you use the same question in negotiating pay with non-union employees.  If your records show that pay increases in your company are always accompanied by the employees’ indication of how they can improve their performance to produce more than their increase, you go along way to building a strong case for the arbitrator and a stronger company as well.

The 7 Steps to Becoming INVALUABLE program I offer is designed to help you see more effective ways of doing business – ways that dramatically improve your bottom line while making your life easier.  In today’s blog I used Step 3, Suspend judgment, to demonstrate how to avoid judging unionization as being either good or bad.  Judgment leads to bias which limits the number of alternative solutions you see.

Then I used Step 2, The Persuasion Myth, to show you how to craft a negotiation that makes sense for both parties.  The Persuasion Myth is equally effective in demonstrating to an arbitrator that you’re approach is fair and equitable, thereby increasing your odds of gaining an economically feasible contract.  You can learn more about how the 7 Steps to Becoming INVALUABLE program and how it can help you deal with the business challenges you face by clicking on http://www.furtwengler.com/7steps.htm

Please share your thoughts, whether you agree or not, by posting a comment.  If there are topics you’d like me to address, send me an email at dale@furtwengler.com.