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Executive Insight Tip of the Week, May 7, 2009
Sent Thursday, May 7, 2009
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Executive Insight Tip of the Week Issue #6, May 7, 2009 ISSN 1947-2889 --------------------- Hi ! Welcome to this week's issue of Executive Insight. Role Modeling Can Be Bad for You One of my clients commented that she picked up a bad habit from her manager, which is checking her BlackBerry while she's talking to someone. She was embarrassed to talk about this, because she knows that it's rude. On the other hand, she rationalized the behavior by saying that she unintentionally absorbed it. This made me think about role models. When we purposefully model someone's behavior, we select the good characteristics. When we're not consciously thinking about it, however, it's possible to adopt bad characteristics. Since my client talked about this, I've paid closer attention. Even the smallest things can be transmitted in a short time. For example, at the beginning of a meeting, one person was fidgeting with a pen, and by the end of the meeting two others were doing it. In another case, someone who is normally quite articulate started injecting a lot of "ums" into his speech, because someone else in the conversation was doing so. None of these are earthshaking behaviors. But they're symptomatic of worse things that you can unconsciously adopt. You can absorb bad moods or lousy morale even more quickly than you can start tapping a pen. Leaders need to be keenly aware of how they appear to others, so learn to be acutely conscious of how and what you do, especially in front of others. Use this check list as a guide: - Am I focused or distracted? - Have I chosen to have a good attitude, regardless of what's happening in the environment? - Am I aware of the behavior of those around me and how I may be absorbing it? - Do I want to be emotionally engaged in a conversation or be more objective and analytical? - Does my current behavior reflect the person I want to portray? The good news is that you can change bad habits. Observe yourself for a few days, and shift away from what doesn't work for you. Have a great week! Lisa © 2009 Lisa M. Aldisert Lisa Aldisert is the president of Pharos Alliance, Inc., a management consulting firm that works with organizations in the areas of strategy, business development, and organizational/leadership development. Give us a call at 212-332-3241 to see how we can help you create strategies that make sense for your organization, and result in increased revenue and profitability. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Leadership and the Bottom Line: Take action sooner rather than later when you see a problem brewing. If you let it go too long, it often takes longer to fix. Personal Power: People often minimize what they complete in a given day. Keep an "accomplishment journal" where you keep a daily record of your achievements. Trend Watch: "Going green" doesn't need to be monumental. Little things make a difference, so remember to reduce, reuse or recycle. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Our goal is to provide you with timely tips so that you can more effectively run your business. We know you have a ton of mail in your inbox, so we're committed to brevity and practicality. Add Us To Your Address Book To help ensure that you receive all email messages consistently in your inbox, please add our address to your address book or contacts list. Have Any Questions? Feel free to hit the reply button to any of the messages you receive. Have A Topic Idea? We'd love to hear it! Just reply any time and let us know what topics you'd like to know more about. Read Lisa's blog: http://www.lisaaldisert.com Visit Lisa's LinkedIn page: http://www.linkedin.com/in/lisaaldisert Executive Insight Archive: http://www.pharosalliance.com/resources/ezine/e-zine-archive -------------------------------------------------------------------