“Stubborn.”  That is the best word for this person.

He will not listen to reason.  She will not budge.  This person is unreasonable and once he/she decides this is the way it will be done, it would be easier to work with three day old concrete in your organization.

For those of you required to work with someone who is stubborn, I have three suggestions.

First, ask this question, “If we proceed with your plan, what are the practical implications six months from today?”  If the person says, “I don’t care about six months from now,” respond with, “I am convinced the long-term results of this decision will cost us because….”

This first intervention will require your stubborn person to acknowledge there may be a downside to his/her intractable position.

Second, do not attack the resolute position, work on amendments.  Affirm the decision this person has made and then add, “Here are a few additional changes that will guarantee our success.”  If the stubborn person holds positional power, the best option you may have is to “enrich” his/her idea by “tweaking” the essential ingredients.

Finally, write down your reservations and then ask for a response.  Your inhibitions about the direction should be clear and listed in linear points.  When the stubborn person sees you have given his/her direction serious thought and have committed your opposition to writing, your position will be taken more seriously than a quick conversation over a cup of coffee.

When using any of these interventions, make sure you state your intent.  Your intent should be something like, “In our shared effort to provide the best outcome for our organization….”  If the stubborn person believes this is personal and not professional, watch the concrete harden!

Stubbornness is commitment without eyes or ears.

Strong, stubborn people are often weak, wasting egos.

Resolute leadership is visionary; stubbornness is blind ambition.

Back in 2000 he caught my attention with his best-selling book, Leading the Revolution.   He has another winner with The Future of Management (ISBN: 13:978-1-4221-0250-3, Harvard University Press, 2007).

Gary Hamel is a leadership futurist.  He adeptly looks at organizations that have prepared for tomorrow…today.  Hamel takes you into the boardrooms of Procter & Gamble, Toyota, DuPont and Burberry Clothing.  You will learn the qualities of innovation and risk-taking through the gutsy decisions of leaders like Carlo Ghosn (Nissan) and Rosemary Bravo (Burberry).

In 2000, Hamel touted the practices of Enron.  Well, we assume, he got that wrong.  It is my opinion that this risk-aversive management theorist did not get the practices wrong, just the people.  I keep reading Gary Hamel because he does not play it safe. 

There are too many “yawns” in leadership literature.  If you want to stretch your management skills in the new year, spend some time with Gary Hamel.

New Free Article

To accent the new year, I have written an article, “Your Organization’s Worst Nightmare in the New Year.”

If you see the economy spiraling into recession or your customers deserting you, you could have a more dire problem.  You could be growing. 

You will discover I believe extravagant growth is a greater challenge to any organization than double-digit decline.  If you are interested in a contrarian view to your future, you will enjoy this article.  My approach is especially good for workplaces that defy economic trends.

To download the article, please go to my website at www.execenrichment.com and choose the DOWNLOADABLE RESOURCES option.   After filling out a brief form, you’ll have access to the article.   If you use the article in an organizational newsletter, I ask that you give me credit for the piece and that you send me a copy of the completed publication.

Featured CD of the Month

Skills for Prioritizing My Chaos

If you cannot find things on your desk…or your desk, you need this CD. When chaos plagues your personal and professional life, you have to have a “plan,” and skills to be efficient. I will give you insight why you play games by making to-do-lists all over your desk, why procrastination is one of your favorite pastimes and why you are always exhausted. Then, I will provide you with a complete set of skills on how to organize your mess, prioritize the “drop dead” items that have to be finished yesterday and I will finally supply lifestyle choices that will make chaos comfortable…and always under your control.

To order the CD, please go to www.execenrichment.com and choose the OUR PRODUCTS option. You’ll see all the current CDs and books available to order using PayPal.

Two Openings in the Coaching Program

I presently have two slots for anyone interested in my sequential coaching program that will guarantee weekly contact between the two of us for three months.

If you need someone to understand your dream or despair and then hold you accountable for taking proactive steps, please reply to this LeMonAide and I will send you more information on how the program works and the fee structure.

Why do mature adults do stupid things? 

I do not understand why professional athletes would ingest knowingly illegal, banned substances.

I do not understand why someone would drive a car into the front of a convenience store when there are security cameras everywhere recording his/her license number.

I do not understand why a rational, highly-educated human being would talk 400 decibels higher than a normal voice on a cell phone.

I do not understand why smart people keep listening to one voice menu after another instead of just hitting “0” to get to a live, talking person.

I do not understand why Homo sapiens keep talking about the weather over which they hold no control.

I do not understand why smart people continue to drink and drive.

I do not understand why the adults in this culture pay someone who can run with a football 2,000 times more money than we pay someone who teaches our first grade children.

I do not understand why erudite adults continue to wait bumper to bumper in traffic when the HOV lane is moving at 70 mph.

I do not understand why well-educated people cannot figure out that you do not hunt deer with an AK-47.

I do not understand why millions of savvy, sophisticated people will use up minutes today keeping up with the latest news about Britney Spears.

I got it!!  We continue to do stupid things because “smart” and “stupid” are roommates between our ears.

Since I have been “off the road” for almost a month, I have taken time to catalogue the practical travel skills that often take the angst out of leaving home. 

**If you are traveling overseas, make sure you keep a photocopy of your passport in one of your suitcases. This will not guarantee exit or entrance to a country but it will provide credibility to your lost passport.

**When renting a car always walk around the vehicle before leaving the rental lot.  If you do not identify damage, you could be charged for dings and dents.

**Never work with a travel agent that does not offer 24 hour emergency service.  They will often contract this work to a third party but if you have just landed in Chicago at 1:00 a.m. and have to give a presentation in Columbus which is 500 miles to the south…you will need help.

**When you stay at a hotel always ask for a room that does not have an adjoining room.  If there is an adjoining room there will be a door between the two of you.  The lack of soundproofing in that door will quickly educate you about the character and values of the person(s) in the adjoining room.

**If you are in the market for luggage, choose a “ballistic” material.  This is woven fiber that resists the kind of brutal treatment that baggage handlers are obviously paid to inflict.

**When wearing a coat on an airplane, please take it off prior to boarding unless you are forced to climb a set of outside stairs.  Disrobing while everyone is trying to find a seat can be uncomfortable and guarantee you have just won, “The Fellow Passenger I Despise Award.”

**Carry a small flashlight when traveling.  You will have to put it in the tray for security screening but it may come in handy if your hotel loses power or you are in some emergency situation.

I have a million of these.

If you would like to personally meet with me during the month of January, here is my schedule.  Please call 800-373-4040 to set up an appointment.

If you think your spellchecker has been a divine gift to someone who is spelling-challenged, think again.  Look at the statement below.  Your spellchecker would give it a free pass.

I have a spelling checker

It came with my PC;

It plainly marks four my revue

Mistakes I cannot sea.

I’ve run this poem threw it,

I’m sure your please too no,

Its letter perfect in it’s weight,

My checker tolled me sew.

So, if you are a poor speller and want to depend on you and not a software program, here are four, practical suggestions on how to improve your spelling quotient.

**Keep a list of all the words you regularly misspell.  We do not misspell a lot of words, just the same ones over and over.  If you do not make this list and regularly review it, plan on repeating your errors.

**Buy a spelling dictionary. They are very compact and will just provide the correct spelling of a word.  When you cannot spell a word, pull the dictionary out of a pocket or purse and write it down.

**Record on a micro-cassette recorder the words you regularly misspell.  When you have a few minutes listen to the tape.  This is a form of audio-imprinting (like singing the alphabet as a child) that will give you the option of hearing the correct spelling.

**Create a visual mental cue.  It works like this.  If you have trouble remembering how to spell “calendar,” draw a balance beam with a fulcrum in the middle.  At either end of the beam put the letter “a.”  In the middle, over the fulcrum, put an “e.”  Most of us misspell calendar with a “der” at the end.  If you can see the balance beam with the “a” at either end, you will not misspell that word again.

It was going to be a “piece of cake.”

You know, a short presentation to just a few people.  “You can do it in your sleep.”

When I stood to speak to this group of 14 executives with a company I had worked for in the past…the thoughts and accompanying words were undisciplined and halting.  I tried over and over again to get my bearings but the presentation was a bust.

I have learned that overconfidence, especially about public speaking, is a harbinger for professional disaster.  I lose my “edge” when my experience is an acceptable excuse for laziness.

The written prayers in this section are Cal’s divine conversations reflecting the needs others have shared with him.

So, where were You at Christmas?

I did all the right things.  You know, candlelight service, watching the kids draped with terrycloth robes saunter to the stable.

“Silent Night” was nice and the scripture lesson was equally as nice, but, I couldn’t find You.

I’m not sure what I was looking for, but I just couldn’t find You among the fake trees and plastic Jesus.

Maybe that’s it…plastic.  In my world pockmarked with Blackberry’s to silence, lunches to make and traffic lights to beat…I need something more than plastic.

What did I miss?  Where were You hiding?  Where do I need to go to find Someone bigger and better than…plastic? 

Wait!  Wait!  I've got to turn down the CD player.  "Oh, come let us adore Him.  Oh, come let us adore Him."

Thanks.