Happy Jack
Embrace your future with the tenacity of a bulldog.
What can be more disappointing than highly talented people who sell themselves short?
The financial crisis is putting even the most talented and successful people at risk of questioning themselves and their ability. People sell themselves short when they surrender personal responsibility for their life, career and future.
Help your people build self-confidence and a positive outlook. Inspire them to look within themselves for direction, not to the organization they work for. Adversity presents you with the opportunity to discover how capable you are. The opportunity to venture into new areas of interest and personal development.
Apply these 7 bulldog traits and continue your success during this financial crisis.
1. Strong and Tenacious. Struggle produces strength. As a parent, I want to protect my children from difficulty and disappointment. Many leaders and managers feel the same way toward their people. But we know that isolating those we care about from real world challenges will stunt their development.
2. Show dominance. When you feel like avoiding the difficult task or throwing in the towel, do just the opposite. There is a time to step up and take charge of events in your life. Now is the time to take charge of your finances and your career. Refuse to be a victim.
3. High tolerance for pain. A low appetite for pain causes you to settle for less than you had hoped for and to lower your aspirations. Set financial goals that are meaningful enough to drive you through the pain toward achieving them.
4. Can’t be forced to do anything. The world is changing and the company you work for is forced to adapt. In these situations, you will to be forced into situations you might not like or want. The best way to counter these forces is to identify the rewards and results important to you. Be clear and confident about the future you want and pursue it with tenacity.
5. Never quit. My friend, John (Happy Jack’s Master), raises champion bulldogs. He tells me that once a bulldog focuses on something, they keep trying and trying and trying until they get it. But this is true of us humans as well. Disraeli said, “A human being with a settled purpose must accomplish it.” Do not allow the economic downturn to cheat you out of the future you dream of.
6. Tough, but emotionally sensitive. Tough times call for tough decision-makers. But, great leaders have the ability to cloak that toughness with the appropriate amount of caring. The ability to empathize, to project your ego into another persons situation and open yourself to how you might feel if the tables were turned, takes strength of character. Don’t be too stoic when delivering the hard message. People follow leaders who are self-confident enough to show they care.
7. Force strengthens resolve. The greater the resistance, the greater the willpower to overcome. Leverage the forces coming against you for advantage. Ask, how can I turn this misfortune into opportunity? Possess the strength of will to carry out your own plans and wishes.
Leaders and managers have an opporunity to lead by example during this historic time. Distinguish yourself by coaching your people through this uncertainty. It is critical that you see this as an opportunity to be confident in yourself so that you can push people up and encourage them to be confident in themselves. Your people do not need you to promise them a job. They need to be reminded that security comes from within themselves, not from the firm or company they work for.