Page 252 - Just Promoted A 12 Month Road Map for Success in Your New Leadership Role

Settling into Your Renewing Organization 237

Within Brad’s own organization, both successes and failures are similarly
an opportunity to grow. It is primarily from his failures that he learns where
things should improve. Failure is his most painful feedback, which shows
where improvement is needed. A competitor’s successes provided Brad with
the impetus to pressure top management for more resources and new prod-
ucts and to pressure his own organization to improve. For him, both positive
and negative experiences and feedback are opportunities for growth, improve-
ment, and strength.

Achievement and Success Require a Positive Mindset
That You Can Learn and Develop
Achievement and success depend upon a positive mindset that can be devel-
oped. Whether it is inborn or learned, some people seem to approach life with
an outlook characterized by undefeatable optimism. In the face of disaster
they, like Brad, have the knack of finding solutions for turning problems into
opportunities.
More pessimistic leaders tend to view difficult situations as obstacles. They
are often more prone to responding negatively to pressure and are often unable
to convert tension and anxiety into energy. Those with a more negative mind-
set often have not learned to control their inner state.
The positive thinker tends to handle stressful situations with positive inter-
nal messages such as these:

■ Yes, this is a difficult situation, and a solution is out there waiting to be
found (“Yes, and,” versus “Yes, but”). I need to focus, to think, to control
the problem, but the solution is there.
■ Solving difficult problems is like walking a tightrope, one careful step
at a time.
■ I am going to do the best I can even though this is going to be a difficult
situation. I will be courageous. (A nationally known news anchor, in a
recent interview, confessed to almost daily feeling the fear of failure, the
fear in his job. But he also said that success is the ability to fight and, for
one more day, overcome the fear.)
■ I choose to reduce tension and anxiety by positively focusing on the
part of the task I am working on today. John Wooden, the legendary
coach and all-time victory leader in men’s college basketball while at
UCLA, always told his players not to focus on the goal but on the steps.