Future@Work

An Employee Survival Guide
for the 21st Century

 

Attitude

 

Why is managing your attitude part of your job?

 

It wasn't until the end of the 20th century that many companies encouraged employees to become decision makers and business team members. Being a partner in the business, not just a pair of callused hands and a strong back, became the new job description of the future.

 

 

 

 

 

At this same time, as employees became more involved in business teams, I began to hear conversations about keeping employee attitudes positive. Up until then, employees may have talked about attitudes, however, a person's attitude was often considered to be separate from his/her job performance.

 

Since I had personally struggled with the importance of keeping my attitude positive, I paid attention to these discussions.

 

For many years, it was easy for me to look at successful people and to write off their success to the advantages they were born with or given. Advantages, as I saw them, included: intelligence, education, family connections, personality or even one's height.

 

Putting these factors together, success was easy -- that is, if a person had a high IQ, had family connections, was well educated, personable and over six feet tall.

 

 

All of these thoughts converted to a simple formula.

 

Great Advantages = Great Success

 

Applying this formula to me, was not comforting. "No reason to even try," I thought, "I just wasn't born lucky enough." I was of average intelligence, came from a working class family and was of average height. In every respect, I was AVERAGE!

 

Therefore, I wasn't accountable for being anything but -- well, average.

 

However, at the same time, I had somehow acquired a fierce desire to be much more than average. "How much could I achieve if I really tried?" I needed an answer.

 

Eventually people I met along the path of life began to perplex me. I knew people with all the best advantages who weren't achieving much success. I also knew seemingly average people who were living abundantly successful lives.

 

Questions. "How could advantaged people fail? How can average people achieve such great success?"

 

I later concluded that successful people simply must work harder than everyone else. I called it multiplying hard work times the "advantage factor."

 

The formula for success became:

 

Advantages x Work = Success

 

That's it. It's simple. I recalled that even a great artist like Michelangelo, who had enormous artistic advantages, also painted everyday in the Sistine Chapel. In his head were his advantages. In his hand and paint brush were the work.

 

Hallelujah! There was a chance for me. Although I did not have the skills of a Michelangelo, I sure could work harder. Working hard and enjoying it was an advantage I possessed. I'd be like Teddy Roosevelt and remind myself, "I am just an average person who works much harder than the average person." So with renewed energy, I worked and worked.

 

It wasn't long until I was working like crazy and, still, just getting along. Success seemed as elusive as ever. "What was I missing?"

 

Years and many books later, I eventually found the answer. It is . . .