Anonymous Distributor
Steve Tobak, a managing partner of Invisor Consulting, tells the following terrific story about how red-tailed hawks face adversity.
“How you handle adversity, challenge and competition plays an enormous role in determining how things turn out for you in life. If you try to avoid those factors, I guarantee you won’t be happy about the outcome. The business world will chew you up and spit you out. Sorry to be so blunt, but that is the truth.
“This is nothing new. It’s fundamental to all living things and deeply rooted in the basics of biology, namely natural selection and survival of the fittest.
“Here’s a great example. I live on a mountain range that borders Silicon Valley. The area known as Hawk’s Hill is named after the many red-tailed hawks that live here. These are beautiful creatures. They’re carnivorous predators that mate for life and don’t seem to mind being around humans one bit.
“I often watch them protect their territory in aerial dogfights with invading black crows. High winds are frequent here, and it’s not uncommon to see them soar high into the sky on warm air currents or use their enormous wingspans to fly against powerful winds exceeding 50 mph.
“The prevalence of these raptors all across North America is largely a result of how well the species has adapted to adversity, challenge and competition in its ecosystem. They’ve adapted well to human incursion by using remaining trees for nesting, manmade poles for perch-hunting, and deforestation to more easily sight their prey.
“Red-tailed hawks haven’t just survived adverse conditions; they’ve thrived in them. And that’s why they’ve been so successful.
“Likewise, some of the greatest and richest entrepreneurs in the world started with nothing and built their empires using the skills, drive and street smarts they acquired growing up under adverse conditions to face all sorts of tough challenges and come out on top.”
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U.S. President and five-star General Dwight Eisenhower used a simple device to illustrate the art of leadership.
Laying an ordinary piece of string on a table, he’d illustrate how you could easily pull it in any direction.
“However, try and push it,” he cautioned, “and it won’t go anywhere. It’s just that way when it comes to leading people.”
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Harvey Mackay says, “Managers have a specific role in dealing with employee mistakes. You want your employees to make as few mistakes as possible. But workers do need to know when they make mistakes, so that they can learn and grow in the workplace.
“As a manager, you need to think about the problem and assess how important the mistake is. If the mistake was made out of lack of awareness, let the person know what has happened, and explore whether he or she knows how to prevent it in the future. If the mistake was made out of carelessness, then talk to your employee. Find out if something is distracting him or her. If the worker is feeling overworked, see if you can provide some help.
“Remember, when an employee fails, you share the blame, just as you share the credit for your workers’ successes. Make sure that you don’t abdicate your responsibility. Verify that you have communicated clearly, so that employees know what you expect. And most importantly, be available to help. Because if you fail your employees, you are making the worst mistake.”
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A man went to a rabbi and asked, “Rabbi, you’re a wise man. How is it that you’re wise?”
The rabbi replied, “Study and hard work.”
Then, the man asked, “What made you study and work hard?”
The rabbi replied, “A lot of experience.”
Then, the man asked, “And how’d you get a lot of experience?”
The rabbi answered, “I had good judgment.”
And the man then asked, “What gave you good judgment?”
The rabbi said, “A lot of bad experiences.”
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Contact the Anonymous Distributor at anonymous.distributor@gmail.com or read his blog at www.anonymousdistributor.blogspot.com.
