ABT Wisdom: March 2005

Wednesday, March 30, 2005

Turn Turmoil to Advantage

When Asset-Based Thinking dominates how you look at experiences (past, present, and future), you can turn turmoil to your advantage sooner. Seeing your sense of purpose, mastery, courage, and determination before, during, and after you encounter difﬁ culty is incredibly rewarding. The encouragement of discovering who is on your side, who can help, and who can be committed to the cause is well worth the search ahead of time.

Friday, March 25, 2005

Asset Based Thinking Focus: ESPN

Conventional wisdom of most marketers and programmers at Cable and television networks is to view their audiences as ratings, and numbers to be sold to advertisers in a competitive environment. One network, ESPN, has delivered some of the best growth and performance in the Industry by not thinking that way. ESPN believes that fans are their single greatest asset. Their mission is to be in service to the sports fan by delivering programming, information, support, and entertainment that celebrates the fan’s afﬁnity and love of all things sport. So, when it came time for ESPN to celebrate its 25th anniversary, they applied that same Asset-Based Thinking with astounding results.

Wednesday, March 16, 2005

Asset Based Thinking Advantage

It is far easier to Change the Way You See Other People when you want them to join you in achieving worthwhile
and aspiring goals. This is the place to start. It is far more difﬁcult and more challenging to view people
through a positive, Asset-Based lens when they are pushing back on your ideas or are in conﬂict with the
direction you want to go.

Asset Based Thinking teaches you how to use positive ﬁlters to get more traction when interacting with other people, and shows you how to re-activate a special instinctive positive ﬁlter that we are all born with. Over the course of life, your inborn positive ﬁlter has been overshadowed and shut down by deﬁcit-based thinking, so you have to reactivate it. With ABT you will encounter people with a spirit of acknowledgement and praise for what they have to offer.

Thursday, March 10, 2005

Asset Based Thinking and Telling The Truth

Use Asset-Based Thinking to give constructive feedback that will have an impact and be heard over the noise of the defense
mechanism. Take all the time you need to formulate your messages. Then, tell the truth fast.

Many people shy away from telling their vision of the truth when it might cause hurt feelings, trigger anger or disrupt the relationship. They hold back the feedback that could potentially help another person change and actually strengthen a friendship because they don’t want the conversation to backﬁre. They let Deﬁcit-Based Thinking take over.

Wednesday, March 09, 2005

Asset Based Thinking Change in View

It is far easier to Change the Way You See Other People when you want them to join you in achieving worthwhile and aspiring goals. This is the place to start. It is far more difﬁcult and more challenging to view people through a positive, Asset-Based lens when they are pushing back on your ideas or are in conﬂict with the direction you want to go.

You can learn how to see each individual as an asset and recognize that they are a work in progress, just like
you are. ABT encourages you to compliment out loud and often and to notice others in the act of generosity,
brilliance, and productivity. The value you discover in people will stay with you so you can build on the
relationship over time.

Tuesday, March 08, 2005

Analyze Your Day - Asset Based Thinking Way vs. Defecit Based Thinking Way

Recount the story of your day from a negative, Deﬁcit-Based perspective. Be speciﬁc. (For example, I was late for my ﬁrst appointment. Not only did being stuck in trafﬁc throw off the rhythm of my whole day, being late reminded me of the fact that I am late too often and I must ﬁnd a way to correct that bad habit!) Go ahead, write (or tell someone else) the deﬁcit based version of today’s events – it’s cathartic!

Next recount the story of your day from a positive, Asset-Based perspective. Be sure to describe the same sequence of events. (For example, I was late for my ﬁrst appointment. Being stuck in trafﬁc gave me a chance to start the meeting by cellphone in the taxicab. We were lucky to have a clear connection all the way. Starting the day this way reminded me that being ﬂexible counts and that I am not in charge of trafﬁc patterns.) You will notice a distinct, positive difference in how you are feeling after recalling the ABT version of your day.

Monday, March 07, 2005

Morning Mental Workout

Begin each day with a Mental Workout. Focus your attention, intensify passion, and stretch the boundaries of your ideas. Extend your imagination, drive, and momentum in the direction of what needs doing – what you’ve promised and what’s expected of you.

Coaching your ﬁrst thoughts to be positive will keep you from wanting to roll over and go back to sleep. It is a vivid dress-rehearsal that shapes what you aim for and how you respond to what comes your way.

You look at what’s in store with conﬁdence and equanimity – no impatience – no urge for the “quick ﬁx”. Adopting this point of view allows you to savor the choices that lie ahead, wake yourself up with enthusiastic anticipation and inﬂuence how things turn out.

Then, when you step out of bed, you immediately enter into a lively interplay between providence and intention.

Friday, March 04, 2005

Asset Based Thinking After - Action Reflection

The most reinforcing question you can ask anyone after they have accomplished a task is, How did you do that? The question afﬁrms the importance of the accomplishment, but more importantly it allows a person to reﬂect on what personal assets (attitudes, knowledge, and skills) were tapped in order to succeed. Whenever you recognize or praise someone in that way, it will last.

Encourage conversations that begin with, How did you do that? Then keep probing until you gain new insight. Deﬁcit-Based thinkers most often ask “Why did you do that?” … setting the stage for a defensive explanation of an action.

Thursday, March 03, 2005

Reflect on Your Day

Reﬂect on your day. Give yourself points for being self-aware and proactive. Count the ways you authored your existence by inﬂuencing what happened next. Remind yourself of the moments when you let who you are and what you want to achieve and contribute guide you and show you what to do.

Note: People who have better recall for episodes of success than they do for episodes of failure are more optimistic,
selfconﬁdent and effective.

Wednesday, March 02, 2005

Act as if you were a toddler

Picture the moment when a toddler takes the ﬁrst steps. Imagine their parents’ reactions – their fascination and excitement. Cheering is automatic.Criticism is non-existent, wobbles and mis-steps are not even noticed. In your early years, it’s impossible to learn, grow, or develop a positive sense of yourself without someone letting you know just how amazing and talented you are.

Tuesday, March 01, 2005

Interacting with People with Negative Agendas

Some people ask, “What do you do when confronted by people driven by greed, arrogance, “my-way-or the highway”, revenge, envy? Isn’t it important to deal directly with an angry, impulsive, self-serving agenda?” The short answer is NO. Ignore these negative agendas unless they are fueling abusive, harmful, dangerous behavior. In those rare situations, take time out, remove yourself, call for help – do whatever you need to do to stop interacting until it is safe to do so.

Note: Human beings have a ﬁnely tuned Geiger counter. Most (if not all) disturbing behavior is fueled by both positive and negative motives. Engaging the negative motives throws the interaction further off course. Engaging the positive motives gets it back on track.

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