Thomas Edison

Don’t focus on your weakness.

strengths and weaknessNever compare your weakness with someone else’s strength. What may be easy for others can be difficult for you. I am going to let you in on a secret – you have strengths that others call their weakness.

Here are three tips for not focusing on your weakness:

Don’t give up. Don’t say I can’t because, say I can if…You may have tried ten, twenty, or even more times already. But if you didn’t succeed yet, then you just haven’t tried the way that works for you. Think of what you have done that has worked before and try it again. Research what others have done in your situation and adapt it to your strengths.

“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” – Thomas Edison

Work together. I recently heard a very successful person say that he could easily count the mistakes that he made on his own, but they are far outweighed by the successes he had while working with others. Don’t just do what you can do alone, partner with people who share your dream and support each other on your journey.

“An arch consists of two weaknesses, which, leaning on each other become a strength.” – Leonardo Di Vinci

Build your strengths. If you want to achieve the best from life, then you have to give your best to life. In whatever you are naturally good at doing, become great. In whatever you like to do, love it.  Be the best you!

“Success is achieved by developing our strengths, not by eliminating our weaknesses.” – Marilyn vos Savant

 

Imitate or Innovate? You can do both!

Imitate or InnovateLeaders have a choice to make. Should they imitate what has already been successful done, or innovate away from the past and chart their own course?

Can a career be summed up in three words: Imitate or Innovate? In my career I have found that the answer to the question on whether to imitate or innovate is – it depends.

Imitation is preferred when you are following success. Innovation is preferred when you are defining success. Sometimes you job is to do it the right way; sometimes it’s to invent the right way.

Imitate and learn, Imitation has its purpose in learning from those that have successfully accomplished what you desire.

George Bernard Shaw said, “Imitation is not just the sincerest form of flattery – it’s the sincerest form of learning.”

And Niccolo Maachiavelli wrote in his book The Prince, “A prudent man will always try to follow in the footsteps of great men and imitate those who have been truly outstanding, so that, if he is not quite as skillful as they, at least some of their ability may rub off on him.”

Imitate and leverage. However, we all have different strengths, our own style of leadership. For that individual part of us, innovation is the choice.

Tom Peters summed up the question on imitation or innovation by saying, “Swipe from the best, then adapt.”  

You don’t always have to do it differently, you can win by just doing it better.

“Keep on the outlook for novel and interesting ideas that others have used successfully. Your idea has to be original only in its adaptation to the problem you are currently working on.” – Thomas Edison

Imitate and lead. I know that everything I set out to accomplish is possible, not because I know how to do everything, but because somewhere, someone has either already done what I want to do or has the skill and knowledge to accomplish what I want to do.

Leaders are successful when they enable their teams to use the best of each person on the team to achieve more than any one person on the team.

Marcus Aurelius said, “Because a thing seems difficult for you, do not think it impossible for anyone to accomplish.”

For those who are at the fork in the road and have to decide if they should imitate or innovate, I say, imitate what you have learned from others that worked, but innovate in your own style of implementing those successes.

 

 

The road to success is paved with mistakes

mistakes - Thomos edisonHave you ever see a toddler become a success learning how to use a spoon to feed themselves? It all starts with mistakes: Miss their mouth -> Spill, Closer to their mouth -> Spill, Spoon in the mouth -> Spill, Spoon in the mouth -> Success -> Success -> Success…Once the toddler perfects the method of using the spoon, they continue the same process with all current and new food. They forget the mistakes, and remember only how to be a success.

This is the same process we should follow in every new opportunity: Allow yourself to do it wrong before you learn how to do it right, then keep doing it right.

You have to try things that don’t work to find what does work. Thomas Edison said, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”

This works for individuals and it works for teams. Leaders make the environment where their team can try new ways to find what works.   When they do find what works, leaders focus on the success, not the mistakes that led them there. A large part of success comes from what you focus on. Since the leader sets the vision for achieving the purpose of the team, they also determine where the team will be focused. Bruce Lee once said, “What you habitually think largely determines what you ultimately become.”

The first company that launched the combo gas and convenience stores found that in their first year of operation more than half of the stores exceeded expectations while the rest fell short. The company assigned a team to analyze the results. They produced a list of all the reasons that the underperforming stores didn’t succeed. For the next year, the company focused on not making the mistakes on the underperforming store list. At the end of the second year, more than half of the stores fell short of expectations.

What happened? Why didn’t they improve?

They didn’t improve because the focus of the company was to avoid mistakes instead of achieving success. There were no celebrations of what did work, only reprimands for what didn’t. They didn’t know that the road to success is paved with mistakes.

The four biggest mistakes that leaders make.

mistake-quote photography negativesYou’re the leader.  You are in charge.  Your team depends on your decisions.  Maybe the entire company depends on your decisions.  Can you afford to make mistakes?  Truth be told, leaders can’t afford to not make mistakes.

Read on to see what great leaders say are the four biggest mistakes that leaders make:

Not trying for fear of making a mistake. “Because that is the way we have always done it.” That has to be one of the most annoying answers to the question, “Why do we do…that way?” What the person is really saying is, “I am afraid to try something new because it might not work.”  Remember, if you are trying to improve you are trying something new, different, hopefully better.  Of course you will make some mistakes, that’s what happens when we try to do something we haven’t done before.  If you don’t try something new, you won’t have the opportunity to improve

“One thing is certain in business: you will make mistakes.  When you are pushing the boundaries, mistakes are inevitable.”– Richard Branson

Giving up after making a mistake.  Ok, so you tried something new and it didn’t work as you had hoped – so what.  You are still farther ahead than before you tried because you now know what doesn’t work.

“I am not discouraged because every wrong attempt discarded is a step forward.”– Thomas Edison

Not admitting when they make a mistake.  Make it part of your culture to try new things and openly review the outcomes together as a team.  Like football teams that review yesterday’s game film to look for opportunities to improve, make this a positive event that is used to make the next attempt better. 

“Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes.  It’s best to admit them quickly and get on with improving your other innovations.”­ – Steve Jobs

Not learning from their mistakes.  Mistakes are only useful if they are used as a means for improvement.  Making mistakes is fine, repeating the same mistake is not.

“The successful man will profit from his mistakes and try again in a different way.”– Dale Carnegie

 

Whenever Possible, Follow the Road More Traveled

GPS and MentorI have traveled quite a bit in my adult life.  Some for family vacation and a lot for business.  I have also moved often over my career.  I am telling you this to explain why I rarely get into a car (mine or a rental) without having the GPS on.  I am in so many different cities over the span of a few years, that it just isn’t possible for me to memorize every street and every set of directions I need to navigate to appointments, hotels, or in some cases my new home when I have recently moved.

What I really like about the GPS systems is that I don’t a have to memorize all of the directions – I don’t have to figure it all out on my own.  Someone already mapped out all the possible ways to get from where I am to where I want to go, and programmed them into my GPS.

“Keep on the outlook for novel and interesting ideas that others have used successfully. Your idea has to be original only in its adaptation to the problem you are currently working on.” I was surprised that this quote came from Thomas Edison. Yes the same Thomas Edison that is the holder of 1,093 United States patents.  It gave me comfort in my use of the GPS when I drive because it explained what I was doing – using someone else’s ideas and adapting them to my current situation.

As an executive leader, I applied the thought of the GPS to leadership. So many times leaders feel they need to blaze their own trail; which is sometimes the right answer, but sometimes not. “Why couldn’t I simply follow the path of successful leaders who traveled before me?” I thought.  Well I did, and it brought me great success.  So much so that I wrote a book titled The Leadership GPS to share what I had learned.

In my book, Michael Tennyson is mentoring his grandson Brian Alden, a new leader.  He says “In my many years of business I discovered that most people are genuinely convinced that their situations are so unique and so difficult that no one has faced quite the same circumstances before, let alone found a way to solve them.  In some way I think it is a bit of pride in the human condition that makes people want a difficult solution for their difficult problems.  But it doesn’t need to be difficult.  Eighty percent of most problems have been solved before; the other twenty percent is taking the initiative to accept the solution given to you and implement it.”

If you want to learn more about the many leaders who traveled across history and built successful teams and how you can follow this same path, The Leadership GPS is the answer.

 

Whenever Possible Follow the Road More Traveled

“Keep on the outlook for novel and interesting ideas that others have used successfully. Your idea has to be original only in its adaptation to the problem you are currently working on.”

I was surprised when I first read this quote from Thomas Edison. Yes the same Thomas Edison that is the holder of 1,093 United States patents and the inventor of the phonograph and the incandescent light bulb among many other inventions.  Leaders are many times told to blaze their own trail; which is sometimes the right answer, but sometimes not.

In my many years of business I discovered that most people are genuinely convinced that their situations are so unique and so difficult that no one has faced quite the same circumstances before, let alone found a way to solve them.  In some way I think it is a bit of pride in the human condition that makes people want a difficult solution for their difficult problems.  But it doesn’t need to be difficult.  Often, eighty percent of a problem has been solved before, the other twenty percent is taking the initiative to accept the solution given to you and implement it.

Sometimes, we don’t need a better mousetrap; we just need to understand how to use the ones that are already out there.

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