We all know them. The movers and shakers that catapult humanity forward into new ways of thinking and doing. They appear in so many walks of life.
What makes movers and shakers different? And why aren’t we all movers and shakers?
The answers respectively are; their minds and we can be.
Think Like a Mover and Shaker
Having worked with some of the biggest movers and shakers in the Silicon Valley, I can tell you they do not think or act in the traditional ways we’ve all been taught to believe is “normal.”
- They constantly look for a new way. In fact, they show disdain for the way everyone else does it. For example, one big name CEO literally throws people out of meetings if they even mention a status quo process, belief or action. The only way to thrive in his organizations is to step beyond the box and think about markets, customers and products in creative and very unique ways. Being wrong or silly or way way out there with fresh ideas is rewarded as brilliance. The only wrong answer is a tried and true answer.
- They believe they can think and do anything they believe they can. They have NO limits in their beliefs about themselves and their businesses. If you tell one highly success mover I know that she can’t do something – you’re waving the proverbial red flag in front of the bull. She’ll work twice as hard to show she CAN do it. There is no room for can’ts in this organization. Only “Here’s how we can,” or “What if we change this – then we can do that.” Unstoppable is the rule, and their numbers prove it.
- They refuse to follow their competition. Want to get something tossed at you? Use the competition to prove your point about why this company needs to do the same thing. For this CEO – the competition simply doesn’t exist, except as something to run over on your way to success. As this great CEO taught me, “It’s impossible to be a market leader if you’re following others.” Instead, look for the next opportunity, the next shift in the market, trend in your buyers, breakout product innovation that has yet to be discovered. Beat your competition to the new idea – instead of copying it from them. Shift your focus from the competition to your future and the opportunities unfolding.
- Change is their fuel. One of my favorite clients of all time thrives on shaking it up. He’ll take a different route to work, come into the building thru the loading dock, rearrange his desk, shuffle people around in meetings. You never know what to expect with him, and that keeps everyone around him in the mood for change. He’s taught his executive leaders to be change artists too, and they lead their teams in the same way. The entire organization learns to thrive on changing dynamics. They lead their market because of this very mindware.
That’s just a few of the traits I’ve been blessed to learn from these giants of high tech. Every one of their lessons applies to every human organization on this planet. Yet if we ask ourselves, “How do I respond, think, act in the above situations? ” we’ll find our own status quo mindware at play.
The Bottom Line
We’re all programmed to think very differently from the movers and shakers. It’s part of being human .
We can all learn to think and act as movers and shakers. All we have to do is step out of our unconscious and highly automated mindware responses and into the power of our conscious mind.
Yet, 95% of our decisions and actions are automatically generated by our unconscious mindware. We don’t even know it happens. So how can you step in front of something out of your awareness?
We’ll chat about how on Thursday.
