May 17, 2021

It’s Not Personal… But it Feels That Way!

May 17, 2021

A good friend of mine, Brian “Iron Ed” Hiner, Navy Seal Lieutenant Commander (Retired) has just released his latest book. Many of us know Ed from a few days of leadership training that we had with him a few years ago. Ed’s first book First, Fast, Fearless was a great intro into dealing with difficult issues effectively. His new book is GUTS… Greatness Under Tremendous Stress (A Navy Seal’s System for Turning Fear into Accomplishment). Endorsed by a bunch of great folks like authors Tony Robbins, Ken Blanchard and Mark Victor Hansen, notable figures from sports, business, education, and business (including yours truly).

There is a lot to be said about the fundamentals that Ed outlines. The best quote I find is that the book GUTS is a field manual for making things happen in our lives. GUTS is not about eliminating fear; its about using it to achieve excellence. It is a book worth studying and it is particularly valuable in addressing the world that we work in today and the environment that the electronics industry faces.

Stress in our industry and our business is at a peak. Probably not THE peak, however. The challenge that our industry and our clients face is not likely to subside in the next many months, perhaps longer. How we handle each stressful event is critical to each of us professionally and personally. Our first task in working through tough issues is to NOT personalize them or let anyone else personalize them. There are still many folks in the purchasing community around us that are deploying old PICOS tactics (google PICOS if you are not clear) to work to intimidate other people and make them feel personally guilty about “failing” to support them properly. This is simply a tactic meant to make you FEEL bad so that you will take extraordinary action to get them what they want, even if it is not really possible.

The art of deflecting personalization is in the art of “objectifying” it and not humanizing it. Kind of like you and the other party standing back and looking at the statement of the issue as it is written on white board across the room and acting in concert to handle the problem. You are in control of how all of the conversation goes and it is your choice to keep it “objectified”, non personal, and purely factual. These are not always easy things to do, I know, and many folks that we talk to are themselves overly stressed with their own challenges and they will likely truly appreciate your taking time and patience to bring things down a notch and seek out ways to help them with their challenges beyond us. That’s a big ask, and a big, challenge, and will be extremely valued by them when you accomplish it.

This is where CUSP comes into play in the ultimate way..

Taking time and effort to CARE about a client is not always easy, or appreciated. Too bad, because it is at the heart of “making a difference”. Only while engaging truly with a person do you get to UNDERSTAND them deeply. It takes effort and focus to dig deep enough to really understand deeply to be able to SERVE them well enough to make difference in a way that serves their PURPOSE.

OK, LET’s ROLL!

Mitch

It’s Not Personal… But it Feels That Way!

A good friend of mine, Brian “Iron Ed” Hiner, Navy Seal Lieutenant Commander (Retired) has just released his latest book. Many of us know Ed from a few days of leadership training that we had with him a few years ago. Ed’s first book First, Fast, Fearless was a great intro into dealing with difficult issues effectively. His new book is GUTS… Greatness Under Tremendous Stress (A Navy Seal’s System for Turning Fear into Accomplishment). Endorsed by a bunch of great folks like authors Tony Robbins, Ken Blanchard and Mark Victor Hansen, notable figures from sports, business, education, and business (including yours truly).

There is a lot to be said about the fundamentals that Ed outlines. The best quote I find is that the book GUTS is a field manual for making things happen in our lives. GUTS is not about eliminating fear; its about using it to achieve excellence. It is a book worth studying and it is particularly valuable in addressing the world that we work in today and the environment that the electronics industry faces.

Stress in our industry and our business is at a peak. Probably not THE peak, however. The challenge that our industry and our clients face is not likely to subside in the next many months, perhaps longer. How we handle each stressful event is critical to each of us professionally and personally. Our first task in working through tough issues is to NOT personalize them or let anyone else personalize them. There are still many folks in the purchasing community around us that are deploying old PICOS tactics (google PICOS if you are not clear) to work to intimidate other people and make them feel personally guilty about “failing” to support them properly. This is simply a tactic meant to make you FEEL bad so that you will take extraordinary action to get them what they want, even if it is not really possible.

The art of deflecting personalization is in the art of “objectifying” it and not humanizing it. Kind of like you and the other party standing back and looking at the statement of the issue as it is written on white board across the room and acting in concert to handle the problem. You are in control of how all of the conversation goes and it is your choice to keep it “objectified”, non personal, and purely factual. These are not always easy things to do, I know, and many folks that we talk to are themselves overly stressed with their own challenges and they will likely truly appreciate your taking time and patience to bring things down a notch and seek out ways to help them with their challenges beyond us. That’s a big ask, and a big, challenge, and will be extremely valued by them when you accomplish it.

This is where CUSP comes into play in the ultimate way..

Taking time and effort to CARE about a client is not always easy, or appreciated. Too bad, because it is at the heart of “making a difference”. Only while engaging truly with a person do you get to UNDERSTAND them deeply. It takes effort and focus to dig deep enough to really understand deeply to be able to SERVE them well enough to make difference in a way that serves their PURPOSE.

OK, LET’s ROLL!

Mitch

linkedin facebook pinterest youtube rss twitter instagram facebook-blank rss-blank linkedin-blank pinterest youtube twitter instagram