Matthew is the president of Kenney College.
If today were my last day on Earth and I could share 500 words of brilliance with the world, here are the important things I'd want to pass along to others...
When we graduate from school the temptation is to believe we will no longer be graded on our performance. However, the reality is that upon commencement is when the real grading of our performance begins. It can seem as if we're being continuously evaluated, or graded, by employers, customers, co-workers, family etc. There is no doubt that assessment is important and, when done correctly, can provide positive feedback and benchmarks for our professional development. Done incorrectly, feedback from the stakeholders in our lives can be painful and detrimental. It can also lead us to assess our own performance too harshly.
I always found acronyms to be a useful instructional tool. One I use to help early stage entrepreneurs stay focused is G.R.A.D.E.S. Following six simple steps can assure that we are making the grades in our personal and professional development. Regardless of what others may think, following these steps will lead to success. I have dedicated my career to the s...
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Check your GRADES | Inspire Me Today - Matthew Kenney
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The 46 stages of Twitter | THE CHRIS VOSS SHOW
You will or certainly should enjoy this if you are Twitter user. Enjoy the journey!
Are You a Dysfunctional Manager? | BNET
Everyone goes through the same stages of human development on the road to adulthood and maturity. Unfortunately, lots of us get stuck in one stage or another, stunting our growth and rendering us dysfunctional. We look just like ordinary adults, but we actually behave a lot more like children, acting out, throwing tantrums, and generally making life miserable for everyone around us.
Well, believe it or not, it’s pretty much the same thing with managers, executives, and business leaders. The rub is that, instead of just screwing up their own lives and maybe a spouse and some kids, dysfunctional managers have a far broader impact by influencing the lives of hundreds or even thousands of employees, coworkers, customers, and investors.
What percentage of managers are dysfunctional? Well, according to the National Institute of Mental Health, about one in four adult Americans “suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder.” I don’t know about you, but judging by the people I’ve worked with, myself included, that percentage seems low to me.
Just think about that for a minute. You’re sitting in an executive staff or a board meeting. Look around the room. One fourth of the people there have a diagnosable mental disorder. Not only that, but you’ve got a 25 percent chance of being one of them. Sobering thought, isn’t it?
In all seriousness, I’ve identified 5 Stages of Management Development to help each and every one of you determine if you’re stuck in one stage or another. Yes, I know, you’re reluctant to upset the applecart. Well, that’s entirely up to you, but don’t come crying to me when you self-destruct.
1. Sponge. You listen and learn from everyone and every situation as you try to figure out how things work in the real world. Although you’re prone to saying dumb things and making stupid mistakes, you’re not in a position to cause any real damage. So, every time you fall you pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and try it again until you get it right.
2. Proof-of-concept. Believing you’re actually capable of accomplishing something besides making a complete idiot of yourself by promising the world and delivering squat, you set out to prove yourself worthy of the management title that, in all too many cases, you’ve already been granted. It’s sort of like being thrown into the deep end of the pool before you can swim. Cruel, but effective.
3. Delivery. Congratulations, you’ve somehow managed to deliver the goods and succeed in doing something that can credibly be viewed as a business success. In other words, you made money for somebody and, for that, got a pat on the head and a gold star. You’ve arrived.
4. Reset. A little full of yourself, you try a repeat performance using the same tricks that worked the first time and realize, too late, that you’re going to need a bigger playbook to consistently make it in the big leagues. Failure doesn’t sit well with you. In fact, it sucks. So you set out to make sure it never happens again.
5. Maturity. After a few iterations of the third and fourth stages, you finally get reality and realize that you’re just like everybody else. You succeed at some things, fail at others, and learn from everything. In fact, it’s not that much different from the first stage, except that experience has given you confidence and stability, for all that’s worth.
So, think it over. Are you stuck in one of the stages? Just in case you haven’t figured it out, success as a manager or leader - reaching maturity - means having the perspective and humility to look at yourself and actually see what everyone else sees, the genuine you. If you can do that, you’ll make it, guaranteed.
Ref: National Institute of Mental Health
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/the-numbers-count-mental-disorders-in-america/index.shtml