ELEPHANT ALERT!

Things are bad. Retirement savings have been slashed. Unemployment is up. The value of houses is down. No one is buying what’s being sold. The future is bleak. What’s a person to do?

Here’s the elephant in the office: People are quitting everywhere. They’re showing up for work paralyzed. They’re talking about their fears, all the things they disagree with, who’s to blame, and how they feel hopeless. It’s ugly – and little work is being done.

There are options. We recommend you tell them to quit.

STOMP THE ELEPHANT

Do you know someone who is stressed and miserable? Encourage them to quit.

Tell them to,

• “Quit feeling sorry for yourself. Quit giving up your emotional control to a bunch of numbers generated by Wall Street. Quit trying to figure out who to blame. Quit perpetuating you fears by re-exploring them each time you see your friends. Quit thinking you’re the only one who is right. Quit thinking you’re always wrong. Quit replaying old, worn-out tapes of the would’ves, should’ves and could’ves. Quit pretending you’re somebody you’re not. Quit getting angry at others who reveal who you are. Quit putting everyone you disagree with in a box. Quit discriminating against things you don’t understand. Quit bringing the poison of your day home for your family to taste. Quit looking at the flaws in the details that make up your life.
• “(Most of all, quit quitting.)
• “And if you’re serious about quitting, stop focusing on what you intend to quit – and spend your time thinking about what you want.”

Today, stop and consider: What do you want? What’s important to you? Why is it important? And how will you take a step in that direction – beginning now?

Quitting is easy…when you know what you want.

Where will you lead – where will you stomp elephants – today?

ELEPHANT ALERT!

Who wrecked the economy? There’s a lot of finger pointing: lending practices, consumer debt, executive greed…the list goes on. In the end, the crisis can be traced to poor judgment and ill-advised human behaviors. 

Aliens didn’t descend from outer space and plant this problem. We created this mess. 

Here’s the elephant in the office: “You can’t blame me. I’m only a small piece of the system,” some might say. And they’d be right on two counts: This isn’t about blame, and they are a part of a system – the system of “us.” We – you and me – are responsible for the culture in which we operate. How we function – our culture – determines our results.

It is shocking how few people own this responsibility. Those who do take responsibility choose not to be victims – and become tomorrow’s leaders. 

STOMP THE ELEPHANT

We’re talking about accountability. And there’s good news: Businesses are the perfect and primary vehicle to create greater responsibility and a culture of accountability, for business is the grandest forum with which our society interacts. 

Countless people will spend time on blame and focusing on what went wrong; and while the causes for this malaise must be understood and consequences delivered, the only way we can move forward is if we lead ourselves forward.

Today, discuss these questions with your team:

1. In our environment, what’s the difference between “holding someone accountable” and “ensuring accountability”?
2. To what extent does our team reinforce and reward accountability?
3. What are the actions that build accountability in others?

The future belongs to those who choose to stand up again. Ensure your organization leads the way and makes a culture of accountability a greater reality today.

Where will you lead – where will you stomp elephants – today?

ELEPHANT ALERT!

When I was ten I had an experience I will never forget. It was a typical, oppressive, hot and humid day in Minnesota. I’d been in the field picking rock for hours and wasn’t happy.

Suddenly, an idea came to me that would make my life easier – and possibly change the world!

Walking into the house I shared my secret. “Dad! Someday I’m going to invent a very thin, lotion-like substance that will insulate me from the sun and keep me cool. It will be like an invisible suit you can wear in the heat.”

My dad looked at me and laughed. “It’s already been invented, son.”

I was shocked. “Really?”

“Yep,” my dad replied. “It’s called sweat.”

Here’s the elephant in the office: There’s a lot of people under stress who are functioning as if they’re incomplete, as if they lack what it takes to be a success. They whine, complain, and mope around…wishing they had what they already have. Such people function in a perpetual state of failure.

What does it mean to you and your chances for success knowing that most of your competition is probably using this “elephant in the office” approach?

STOMP THE ELEPHANT

Try this conversation with a friend or team: What is the difference between determining what we need to acquire in order to be a success vs. determining what we can do to leverage what we already have to be an even greater success? As you consider your results, include in your observations the varied impact the two approaches have on attitudes, confidence and momentum.

Consider that you don’t need to invent sweat to be a success – you simply need to sweat.

Where will you lead – where will you stomp elephants – today?

ELEPHANT ALERT!

Things just aren’t working out for some people, are they? They’ve got problems with their boss. They’ve got problems with their job. They’ve got problems with traffic and weather and a spouse and colleagues who don’t have a clue and – what the heck – let’s throw in the finance department, too.

Let’s face it: life is a problem.

Or is it these people that have the problem?

Here’s the elephant in the office: Too many people are sacrificing their happiness until things become perfect.

“But I want things to be better!” they lament. Yet, how many days are they willing to invest in being unhappy before things become perfect?

STOMP THE ELEPHANT

The idea of forgetting about perfection and striving for extraordinary holds great power. But what if you could go further than that? What would it mean to your life satisfaction if you were released from disappointments – permanently?

It begins with: relishing the mundane. Life (yes, even work), in and of itself, is extraordinary. Yet, we’ve become addicted to the rush, the excitement, the myth of perfection. This has left "all the rest of life" to be labeled as mundane. And that’s exactly what the marketers (and abusive managers) want us to think – that day-to-day life can’t be extraordinary just as it is.

And it continues with: discontinuing the futile strategy of changing people. If our happiness is dependent on another person behaving differently – we’re screwed. It’s completely illogical, and a form of self-abuse, to sacrifice our own happiness waiting for others to sprout angel wings.

Ironic, isn’t it? The moment we stop demanding others to be different than they are, we grow our own wings.

Are you ready to be happy?

Where will you lead – where will you stomp elephants – today?

WHAT APPEARS TO BE

What percentage of people around you, when faced with a difficult situation, run from it? Hide from it? Or use the “wish management” approach, as in “I wish this problem didn’t exist”?

In our upcoming book, Stomp the Elephant in the Office, we discuss how many people – regardless of position – rarely take action when there is a difficult issue taking place or a difficult decision to be made.

There is a better approach.

WHAT MIGHT BE

People who hide from difficult or uncomfortable situations speak the “cluck-cluck” language of leadership. I know. I used to speak it well. I figured that if I risked dealing with the issue I would expose my inadequacies. Because the truth is, it was far easier to be critical of others…than do anything about it myself.

WHAT CAN BE

Mi amigo bueno, Ezequiel Ruiz, shared the legend of the eagle with me. He said that eagles, if trapped by an on-coming storm, fly directly into the storm. These creatures do not run; they attack. They know that if they are to survive they must play the game on their terms.

Whether or not this is true doesn’t matter. It serves an important purpose. By playing chicken we perpetuate the very thing we don’t want to have happen. By addressing the ‘problem,’ or the elephant in the office, we begin the process of bringing about solutions.

Ironically, in the end, we discover that the biggest problem we faced was not the issue – but the lack of courage displayed in dealing with it.

What storm are you ready to fly into today?

What is the difference between what “might be” and what “can be”? You decide.