By Peter Jeff
The Leadership Mints Guy

Here’s an idea to enhance your ability to concentrate. Reading time: 2:52.

In the comic strip Family Circus a little girl is sitting in a movie theater with her mom. Mother and daughter are watching the coming attractions. Suddenly a ghost screams across the screen. The little girl gasps at the scene from a horror movie. Frantically, she climbs into her mother’s lap.

“Mommy, mommy, hold me. I’m scared.” Her mother comforts her. Sniffling and rubbing her eyes, the little girl blurts: “I don’t mind the scary stuff on TV at home because I can put a blanket over my head.”

Effective leaders always have that proverbial blanket at hand to block out any distractions. They preserve and protect a secure and safe environment for their staffs to work more creatively and comfortably despite the occasional “scary stuff.”

The most effective leaders I have known even designate Thinking Rooms -creative concentration centers -where staff can escape the rigors of the workday and focus their thoughts.

These effective leaders think of these Thinking Rooms the way Winnie The Pooh regarded his Thoughtful Spot: as a haven to concentrate with all the vigor of Auguste Rodin’s famous 7-foot tall bronze sculpture The Thinker.

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