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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