What are you walking into the room with?

In a study done by two psychologists in November it was hypothesized that "the psychological states individuals bring into newly formed groups can produce meaningful differences in status attainment." The tests conducted studied the effects of triggering three approach-based psychological states: promotion focus (defined as a focus on aspirations and goals), happiness, and a feeling of power.
In other words, what mindset did you walk into the room with?

The side of the brain activated by thinking certain ways resulted in neurological, hormonal, and psychological effects that lead to behavioral changes: "For example, people primed to feel powerful are more likely to take action such as turning off an annoying fan, while those primed to focus on promotion and happiness offer more ideas in brainstorming and guessing tasks. In our studies, we wanted to know whether these mind-sets would make people more proactive—and thus boost their status—in live, face-to-face group interactions."

The effects were clear. People made to feel promotion-focused, powerful, or happy before the group task behaved more proactively and achieved significantly higher status than those in other states. For example, in one experiment, 60% of those primed with an approach orientation were described by at least one teammate as the “leader of the group”—nearly double the rate expected by chance. 

The researchers concluded "it’s pretty easy to push yourself into the kind of proactivity that marks you as a person worthy of respect—someone others want to follow."
Further testing showed "the temporary mind-set that you bring to an initial group meeting can have a lasting impact on your status and influence with your teammates."

But what if you made the decision before you entered the team or group meeting room to be the most servant-like? The most humble? Listen more than anyone else? Be the most encouraging?

Read the full study here.

boost the boosts.

"Market leaders today are those that define what performance means in their respective categories:

Volvo sets the bar on safety, shaping customers' expectations for features from seat belts to airbags to side-impact protection systems and active pedestrian protection; Febreeze redefined the way customers perceive a clean house; Nike made customers believe in themselves." -HBR

When you look at brands you truly care about and why those companies stand out, chances are it's not because of how sexy their products look or even a great experience you had with their organizations. Brands who communicate real, transferable values do more than just create profits, they ensure that returns will continue.

Before you dive forward with something that has the potential to grow you or your business fast, make sure that it happens on your terms. It's your values that are communicated. Everything that comes out of or is associated with you and your company should point at the same message every time.

The hook, the virality of the surprisingly effective marketing ploy you're endlessly seeking will undoubtedly produce profit if you gain that delicious spike in sales. But do you have the structure and the commitment to a singular message behind that power boost to ensure the returns will continue until long after the buzz has died? 

why?

The major shareholder in an investment firm with an annual funding of over $20 million, Permjot defined with unmistaken clarity a pivotal moment in their company's future. He said he'd been at a conference in Canada and sharing their vision for growth there, and afterwards a man he'd read about, seen speak, and respected greatly approached him. He greeted Permjot, then looked at him and calmly asked "why Canada?" 

Then he allowed the ensuing silence to run it's course as Permjot struggled through the limitless volumes of answers he could give but he knew wouldn't be enough.

The firm went on to invest in 33 companies a around the world in 4 continents.

My wife read to me from a case study in her grad program tonight. "When you answer a question you ask your students, you cheat them out of the discussion that follows unanswered questions."

Jerold Panas wrote in his book about how to successfully raise money that it is of the highest importance after the question is posed to the constituent if they would like to give, to not fill the silence that follows. The potential donor MUST be the first one to speak afterwards. This allows them a chance to ponder the decision as long as they need and be fully responsible for their answer, not simply made to feel comfortable and become blanketed by voiced assumptions about their feelings. 

In a world increasingly filled with ambient white noise and distractions, silence has become even that much more paramount to our decision-making processes. Allow yourself to do more than just react all the time. Maybe you'll find something in those pauses you hadn't seen yet, or may have missed otherwise.

William Benson.

November 22nd, 1963, John F. Kennedy was shot while riding in the back of car with his wife.

That afternoon, as the events unfolded on the television, a man by the name of Warren Benson was writing an orchestra piece for stringed and woodwind instruments. Stricken by the abrupt loss of America's leader, he rewrote the last movement of the song to incorporate the gentle, strained, yet unmistakable chord progression of the hymn "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God."
The composer of more than a hundred works, this honest and sorrowful work titled "The Leaves Are Falling" became the most notable of his career.

Your job isn't just your job. What part of you is allowed to affect your performance?
How can you translate that into work that becomes the most notable of your career?

forgiveness builds.

Below is a excerpt from an award-winning article by Rosabeth Moss Kanter, titled "How Great Companies Think Differently"
This story exemplifies the power behind processing each disagreement or conflict with emotional intelligence, identifying the core issues rather than heated emotions being the forefront of leaders' priorities.

Read the anecdote below and try NOT learning anything. Good luck.

"In South Korea, after the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s, Shinhan Bank set out to acquire Chohung Bank, a larger and older bank that the government had bailed out. The moment the acquisition was announced, 3,500 male employees of a Chohung Bank union, whose ranks extended to management levels, shaved their heads in protest and piled the hair in front of Shinhan’s headquarters in downtown Seoul. The acquirer then had to decide whether to go ahead with the acquisition and, if it did so, what it ought to do about Chohung’s employees.

Shinhan’s leaders applied institutional logic. They negotiated an agreement with the Chohung union, deferring formal integration for three years, giving equal representation to both Shinhan and Chohung managers on a new management committee, and increasing the salary of Chohung employees to match the higher wages of Shinhan employees. The acquirer also handed out 3,500 caps to cover the heads of the protestors. Shinhan invested heavily in what it called “emotional integration,” holding a series of retreats and conferences intended not only to spread strategic and operational information but also to foster social bonding and a feeling of being “one bank.” According to financial logic, the acquirer was wasting money. In terms of Shinhan’s institutional logic, the investments were an essential part of securing the future.

The result: Within 18 months, Shinhan had grown both banks’ customer bases, and the Chohung union was having a hard time fomenting discontent against the benign acquirer. Although a formal merger wouldn’t occur for another year and a half, Shinhan and Chohung employees were working together on task forces and discussing best practices, and ideas were spreading that began to make the branches look more similar. Employees were, in essence, self-organizing. By the third year, when formal integration took place, Shinhan was outperforming not only the banking industry but also the South Korean stock market."

http://hbr.org/2011/11/how-great-companies-think-differently/ar/1

about the person.

There are always two stories you can tell -- one with names, and one without.
Check out the difference in what you feel about these two sentences from a tragic event that happened to day in New York City.

"Three members of two popular Iranian indie bands who were living and working in the United States were shot and killed in Brooklyn early Monday by a fellow rocker who then turned the gun on himself, police said."

And now this.

"The dead included Soroush Farazmand, 27, whose rock band the Yellow Dogs was featured in a 2009 CNN report about Iran's burgeoning underground rock scene. Farazmand's brother, Arash, 28, a drummer with the band the Free Keys, was also shot and killed at the same location as was a third Iranian musician, Ali Eskandarian, 35."

The human element is incredibly powerful in storytelling. We as humans have an innate desire to connect with other people. It's how we're created. The first paragraph is significantly more ambiguous, and we're noticeably more isolated from the horror because it's happening to nameless, faceless individuals.

Paragraph #2 hits the reader hard in the face, jarring our evening. With a name like Soroush we instantly pair the word with a foreign face, creating a person, an identity. Then in the second sentence the weight of what happened truly starts to hit home as the victim's brother is named.
I have a brother.
He has a name.
The third man is named.
The ages of all three are listed as well. These were people. We know people that either are or are close to those exact same ages.
And what was initially an news story about a tragedy starts to sink in far more than it did when we started reading.

---

When telling your story, whether it's about your business, your family, funny or sad, a sales pitch or referral, use the human element. It's what we connect with. It brings what we're saying to life. The ambiguous takes shape, a name, face, and identity appear to your listener. Tell your story well. Make it not about merely people, but individuals.
If it's a product or a mission statement, who is involved, what are their names and what do they look like? What did that product or idea do for a person specifically? Which person?

Marissa Mayer

"Marissa has create billions of dollars' worth of value in her time at Google. She's not the key brain in the programming department, nor is she responsible for finance or even public relations. 

She applies artistic judgement combined with emotional labor. She makes the interfaces work and leads the people who get things done.

Marissa led the way in forcing Google's start page to be as spare as it is. She counts the number of words on that page and fights to keep the number as low as possible. 

Google works because the interface between the engineers and what the public wants and needs is so tight. Someone at Google has figured out how to help the company solve our problems (ones we didn't even know we had). Marissa is often in the position of being that interface.

She didn't get assigned to those jobs. She just did them. 

If you could write Marissa's duties into a manual, you wouldn't need her. But the minute you wrote it down, it wouldn't be accurate anyway. That's the key. She solves problems that people haven't predicted, sees things people haven't seen, and connects people who need to be connected."

-Seth Godin about the current President and CEO of Yahoo! who appeared on Forbes' list of 14 Most Powerful Women of 2012