As a trainer, leader, colleague, friend, mentor, subordinate, mentee, partner, business owner, etc. I have found the following to be so true in just about everything in life. I guess it really comes down to the law of averages and the law of large numbers. With anything that is repeated enough you will eventually see a pattern, so what do you do with it.
People will fall into one of the following categories in just about every situation in everything.
Some will be clueless: Meaning they won’t even know what the heck is going on. They are not even in the same book, much less on the same page. If you are attempting to make changes in your life or your career and they are not, they are clueless to the motivation that is pushing you.
Some will be perplexed: Meaning they don’t understand. The thing you have to figure out is “Are they capable” of understanding. Sometimes you may have to spend valuable time to help them understand and it might not be worth it. Some people just don’t know why things are the way things are. You have to be willing to know this is true and either invest or eject.
Some will laugh: How do you know they are laughing, well sometimes they are doing it in your face and most of the time they are doing it behind your back. You can find them and identify them pretty easily. Use the laugher as motivation to make it happen.
Some will mock: A mocker is a little bit different from a laugher in that they do it in your face with their questions and their sarcasm. They attempt to challenge you and push you to engage with them. Where does this come from? Who knows, why even stay around and find out, just move on. Let your results tell the story.
Some will have faith and believe: These are the ones that say, “We should probably take a look at this”, “Why not give it a try”, “It beats what we have been doing”. These are the ones you want to be around.
So if this is true and I have found it to be true. What do you do about it? Focus on finding the ones that believe and have faith. In leadership, you must find the ones that believe in your mission, believe that the way they are headed is the right way. If they don’t then it is best to move on for you or for them.
Be around the believers and the ones who have faith, cut out everyone else. But remember the more people you attempt to influence the more you will see of all the above categories. You just have to know how to handle them and when to move on. Some people’s criticisms should be looked at as compliments.
Brian Willett
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