Leadership
Apartment Marketing – Negative Capability
A good deal of insanely great change is influenced from the bottom up.. Why is that? It’s precisely for the reason that a front-liner’s negative capability meter is on par with Shawn White’s eXtreme fearless factor. John Keats brought the theory of negative capability to light back in the early 1800’s – negative capability defined as one’s ability to embrace uncertainty. For many property management firms across the country, embracing social media in all it’s implications will rest on those with the ability to exercise or greatly influence negative capability within their respective organizations.
Fighting the good fight
What will these champions of change face as they venture into corner offices across the country? The famed Edward de Bono calls it Rock Logic. You might recognize it as linear, pragmatic, methodical or even orderly thinking. Where negative capability thinkers thrive on ambiguity their counterparts want the back up, the proof in the pudding and they want it in solid Rock Logic spreadsheet fashion. Your best bet is to make the case for Good Enough.
Good Enough vs. All
Most C level property management executives live for the numbers. They also demand that they have ALL the available information to back up the numbers. They will delay decisions for months on end if they think [not feel] that any piece of information evades them. When in comes to developing a premise for decisions in uncharted territory, Good Enough loses to All every time. Think about that in the context of making the case for incorporating social media into your on-line strategy.
The rub is that the industrial age, where Rock Logic thinking absolutely applied, has given way to the knowledge age and this generation thrives on making things happen in the midst of chaos. They thrive on making decisions based on Good Enough information knowing full well that they will remain nimble enough to change direction if need be. They thrive on trying new things and changing course at the drop of a hat. Fail fast succeed sooner is part of their DNA.
All that in mind, convincing C level types that Good Enough, as it relates to embracing social media, will/should become their motto for the stump of 2009. Encourage and massage those negative capability muscles so that Good Enough has space in their thought process. Go for it and fight the good fight as your organization will be all the better for it.
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Quotable Friday: The Reason You Must Trust Yourself
“A man should learn to detect and watch that gleam of light which flashes across his mind from within, more than the lustre of the firmament of bards and sages. Yet he dismisses without notice his thought, because it is his. In every work of genius we recognize our own rejected thoughts: they come back to us with a certain alienated majesty. Great works of art have no more affecting lesson for us than this. They teach us to abide by our spontaneous impression with good-humored inflexibility then most when the whole cry of voices is on the other side. Else, tomorrow a stranger will say with masterly good sense precisely what we have thought and felt all the time, and we shall be forced to take with shame our own opinion from another.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
@sbrewer10 – thank you for the reminder.
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MapsKrieg
The more foolish the more better
Came across this quote and felt compelled to share. Take it for what it’s worth and in the same respect I think it’s worth a lot.
"If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid."
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4 Steps to growing Property Managers
There are many variations of the following principle out there so I’ll make no claims of a new approach. That being said I think there is a tremendous value in creating goals and or targets to shoot for in your personal and professional life. To illustrate, I heard a speech sometime back given by the famed Zig Ziglar where he quipped, "How can you hit a target you do not have?" It was an a-ha moment for me and I have since made it an annual exercise to write down some goals, usually around New Years Day.
The goals were usually targeted for the following year and they were more about things that I wanted as opposed the person I was to become. Please note that I am not suggesting that "thing goals" are not good or necessary. They are very necessary. However, that should not be the end of the exercise. If it is, that is somewhat short-sighted. I decided that my targets should really be further out there, more big picture if you will.
All that being said, I want to share this as an exercise you can do with those you lead. Try it and let me know how it turns out.
1. Have your direct reports Imagine that they are deceased. Morbid I know but stick with me.
2. Then have them imagine that they get a chance to come back to address those they provided influence to in their lives. Both Good and Bad.
3. Have them write a speech or create a power point presentation. *Note, it’s not an apology speech. It is a speech about the lessons they have learned via this vehicle we call life.
4. Have them deliver that speech to their associates.
What does this accomplish? Clarity and Purpose. Do you want to develop amazing leaders in this industry? Do you want to be one yourself? Do you want to be responsible for the development of amazing people? Take the time to have them complete the above steps and be patient.
The assignment will be challenging and heartfelt if taken seriously and it will define the absolutes that guide ones life. Values, if you will.
Once those goals and or targets are defined we can go to work helping the person(s) become the great leaders of tomorrow.
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