Wooden's Wisdom - Volume 12 | Issue 619 |
Craig Impelman Speaking | Championship Coaches | Champion's Leadership Library Login | |
"THE REALISTIC OPTIMIST" (LIZ WISEMAN AND JOHN WOODEN) Liz Wiseman is a bestselling author, researcher, and elite leadership coach. In her New York Times bestseller, Multipliers: she researched over 150 leaders worldwide.
Liz Wiseman and Coach Wooden both agree that you should be a "Realistic Optimist."
In her book, Wiseman describes how just being an Optimist in your communication can be counterproductive:
"Optimist" This positive,can-do manager always sees possibilities and believes that most problems can be tackled with hard work and the right mindset.
A colleague and I were in the middle of a high-stakes research project where we had a small window of opportunity to write an article for a prestigious academic publication.
I enthusiastically attacked the project, providing leadership along the way to my more junior colleague. At one critical meeting, he turned to me and said, "Liz, I need you to stop saying that!" "Saying what?" I asked. He replied, "‘How hard can it be?’" I looked puzzled. He explained, "You say that all the time: ‘How hard can it be? We can do this. After all, how hard can it be?’
"But why?" I probed. He paused and said, "Because what we are doing is actually really hard and I need you to acknowledge that."
When the leader sees only the upside, others can become preoccupied with the downside."
Coach Wooden put it this way: "Be a realistic optimist."
When you introduce a new program don’t just say: ‘This is going to be great!" You should say: "We have a new program. I don’t know if it’s going to work or not. I do know that if we just keep doing what we are doing we will just keep getting what we are getting.
All change doesn’t result in progress, but all progress is a result of change. Let’s give this our best effort and see if we can make it work. I look forward to your input."
How do you communicate?
Yours in Coaching, Craig Impelman
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The Little Velvet Suit Last night I got to thinkin' of the pleasant long ago, Edgar Albert Guest (1881-1959)
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