Tag Archives: circumstances

LEAVE IT To the BEAVER in You

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By Peter Jeff
The Leadership Mints Guy

Here’s an idea to help you cope with adverse circumstances. Reading time: 3:26.

You lost a big account. You were passed over for that big promotion. And now you feel like you’re being pushed down the proverbial Blame-and-Shame River, drowning in your sorrows and kicking in your despair.

Stop! Dam it. And beaver_looking_cameraleave it to the beaver in you.

Build a dam over those chaotic circumstances in your life, just like a beaver does naturally and systematically.

Take control like a beaver. Push back against that river. Prop yourself up against that stream. And create a new, more viable environment where grasses and water plants now flourish and where the brush and willows along the shore now attract deer.

That’s what leaders do: they create more viable working environments. Especially when the circumstances they find are lousy. Then these beavers leaders create their own circumstances as playwright George Bernard Shaw once observed:

“People are always blaming
their circumstances for what they are.
I don’t believe in circumstances.
The people who get on in this world
are the people who get up and look
for the circumstances they want and
if they can’t find them, make them.” Continue reading →

Creativity: Reinventing Yourself With Versatility

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By Peter Jeff
The Leadership Mints Guy

Here’s an idea to help you extend your viability especially in tough economic times.

If you’re struggling on the job or worse yet- you have NO JOB in this era of high unemployment — read on. Let’s see what the history books say about some famous leaders who donned a new hat, a new role, a new persona in leading a new and different life when circumstances changed. Perhaps their leadership in reinventing themselves with versatility will help you extend your viability as your circumstances change.

Actor Gene Barry played Bat Masterson in a TV series

  • Bat Masterson, the sheriff of Dodge City in the old west, became the sports editor of a newspaper in New York City.
  • Artists Paul Gauguin and author Jules Verne were once stockbrokers.
  • Poet John Keats, educational pioneer Marie Montessori and astronomer Nicholas Copernicus were once physicians.
  • Architect Christopher Wren, creator of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, was first an astronomer.
  • Lewis Carroll (a.k.a Charles Lutwidge Dodgson), author of Alice in Wonderland, was a mathematics professor.
  • Inventors Samuel Morse (telegraph) and Robert Fulton (steamboat) were accomplished artists.

I have always liked the leadership observation of playwright George Bernard Shaw. Boldly step into the future and shed any woe is me sentiment:

“People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don’t believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want and if they can’t find them, make them.”

If your circumstances don’t warrant a career makeover then become more versatile in your current role. Play a different position on the same team. Consider these versatile players from the world of sports:

George Blanda played four different positions in his National Football League career.

Paul Hornung, the only college football player to win a Heisman Trophy at one position (quarterback at Notre Dame) and the National Football League’s Most Valuable Player at another position (running back, Green Bay Packers.

Cal Hubbard, the only man enshrined in both the baseball and football Halls of Fame. He was an umpire in baseball and a lineman in football.

Otto Graham, the Hall of Fame quarterback who led the Cleveland Browns to seven league championships, is still the only collegiate athlete ever to earn All-American honors in both basketball and football in the same year. How do you stay versatile in your leadership role? I look forward to your thoughts. Use the Comments section below.

Today’s ImproveMINT
Stay nimble and versatile
to keep your leadership thinking in mint condition.

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