Beyond Rules!
hy do some people make multiple six figures and others don’t. There is something terribly wrong with that picture why? Because everyone deserves to make multiple six figures a year. So what is the answer? The answer is that the people who don’t make six figures a year don’t want to because they believe they can’t and even when they could they would not even try. Let me illustrate this:
Have you looked at a circus elephant and noticed that an iron ring is around one of its legs? That is a hook that keeps the elephant chained to a very short stake that is embed in the ground so he won’t run off. Now this stake is not that long it’s about a foot in length and the elephant could easily just pull it out with his massive strength and be free but he won’t why? Because his mind is now conditioned to believe that he can’t.
See when this elephants was young, the circus masters would chain him to a very long stake buried deep in the ground and so as he would try and try violently to free himself it was impossible for him to pull it out because of the length of the stake. As this elephant grew his mind became sold to the fact that it is impossible to be free from his chains and so when he becomes an adult he just does not bother to try anymore thinking that he cannot pull the short stake out and be free when in fact he could easily do so.
I think that’s where a lot of times we as human beings have conditioned our minds that it is impossible to be free from the chains of the employer when we could so easily free ourselves, and so just like the circus elephant we just don’t bother to try anymore! This breaks our hearts.
Diamond Directors have conditioned their minds to believe that there are possibilities even when the odds are stacked up against them. Now they haven’t just got where they are now on the dime, there are some ethics involved.
So where do you learn their ideas? You’ll be surprised that good people can come your way who can coach you, help you discover, and see the “big idea,.”
Here is an excerpt from Ethical Edge
Howard Gardner is a Harvard Graduate School Professor on Cognition and Education. His seminal work is Frames of Mind, written in 1983. In his book he presents research and insight into the theory of multiple intelligences. The March 2007 Harvard Business Review conducted an interview of Professor Gardner in which he spoke about his continuing research on intelligence, distinguishing Five Types of Cognitive Minds, the last of which Gardner describes as The Ethical Mind. The Ethical Mind, Gardner states, asks the questions, “What kind of person, worker and citizen do I want to be?” 1
Leaders have an ethical mindset that stay alert to choices and cause and effects and take responsibility for their thoughts, feelings and actions. They are experts at managing conflicts that come up through failures knowing it is always too soon to give up. But they are also contributors through practice of serving others using their talents, knowledge and abilities.
Let’s set ethics aside for a moment and talk about behavior. Psychology divides the mind in to 2 thoughts; first thought and second thought. The first thought is unconditionally defensive. Most people exercise their behavioral patterns in the first thought. When they see something they don’t like they address that thought immediately as a judgment, “I like this,” or “I don’t like this,” or ” I won’t like this experience” or “don’t do it!”
The second thought senses this judgment and then reserves it until all the questions are answered; “what is this about,” or “what do I need to understand with this judgment,” until the influence of this judgment can be pinpointed. Even though Diamond directors live on the ethical edge they know how to eliminate being the negative thinking expert. In the shadow of a hugely cynical society, they choose to see for themselves that they are not the victim of anything and by that tame the blame on someone else.
It is for this small reason that they are able to give a command performance with a personal credibility and commitment towards ethics, honor and TRUST. They succeed by believing in values, knowing the ethical journey is a journey of life not just business. They succeed stopping and restarting, going back and forth, jumping off and on!
There success is not influence by saying to themselves; ‘man I got to have what he or she is having,” but their mastery of SEARCH that cultivates them instead of inhibiting them. You’d be surprised when you peak through the purposeful minds of diamond directors as they think of you and want to be of one mind with you in a journey of trust. They more than anyone else understand when a trust is breached redemption must satisfy the individual who was hurt.
But redemption does come, when trust is breached. It comes to us through imperfection to take hold of us all because someone took a stand on the ethical edge. Someone cares enough for us through the highest level of thinking to take us along in this heroic journey to pursue integrity to take the upper hand. It all comes when we ask ourselves what kind of a person do I want to be. We have a choice to shape up our thinking and renew our minds but at the end a relationship becomes the agent of trust. It governs all economic activity in every culture.
Diamond directors know all too well that trust is the currency of consciousness that shape and build a partnership. We all have the ability to negotiate the trust matrix that help us identify the values and test them out. It is this consistency of reliability that has taken them to new heights because they address their people’s concerns. If you do not have your future business partners best interests in mind there is no way you can become a star diamond director.
It is impossible to miss the fact that they care and have a genuine interest in our financial circumstance. They understand clearly the practical aspect of you and me so that we don’t fade out but shine. So the questions that comes up for you and me is; will we rise as heroes of integrity and let our second thoughts lead the way? Diamond directors excel in reaching out and connecting to others. How about you? Is it time that you reach out to your mentor with the understanding that mentoring influence is not compliance, it is opportunity?
1 ethicaledge.org
