Leading Thoughts for May 2, 2024

IDEAS shared have the power to expand perspectives, change thinking, and move lives. Here are two ideas for the curious mind to engage with:

I.

Robert Cooper on preparing for the unexpected:

“We don’t always handle difficult situations as well as we could. Consider that the most exceptional people in many fields—athletes, teachers, and artists, for example—spend more time rehearsing than they do performing, whereas for most people, it’s just the opposite: almost no time practicing and most of their time performing. In the rush to achieve objectives, there is little attention to actually learning, in advance, better ways to live and lead. It takes serious rehearsal to build new skills, especially when the task involves overturning deeply ingrained brain patterns and habits.

Mentally rehearsing a new way that you might behave in the face of adversity activates the prefrontal cortex, and your imagined activities begin firing neurons and wiring them into brain patterns that can be activated whenever they’re needed. Without attentive rehearsal, your brain will not mobilize in advance, and despite your best intentions, you will act out old, counterproductive routines instead—or new, counterproductive ones, fired not by calm effectiveness but by frustration, anger, and other emotions that can distract you from giving best. When you prepare the prefrontal cortex to activate ahead of time, you will be better at calmly, effectively performing the right action.”

Source: Get Out of Your Own Way: The 5 Keys to Surpassing Everyone’s Expectations

II.

Morgan McCall, Jr. on leadership development:

“People are complex tapestries of values, attitudes, beliefs, and abilities. It is misleading to believe that these ten or those ten virtues apply to all successful executives in all situations, even within the same company. How that tapestry is woven, not its individual threads, determines how it looks. The room it is hung in and the surrounding decor—not individual threads—determine whether the colors and patterns of the tapestry are a good fit.”

Source: High Flyers: Developing the Next Generation of Leaders

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Look for these ideas every Thursday on the Leading Blog. Find more ideas on the LeadingThoughts index.

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Posted by Michael McKinney at 10:35 AM
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