Business Insights / Talk
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Let’s be positive despite everything
The Coué method is certainly not always the right way to motivate yourself, but it must be said that in these uncertain and turbulent times, it can be a good antidote to the prevailing gloom.
All the information reported by the media is alarming or unlikely to make us laugh nothing seems to work anymore, whether it’s the climate and nature, geopolitics and democracy or health and the essentials of life.
At the same time, some people are deluded by social media, finding thousands of friends and positive opinions generated by algorithms whose transparency is matched only by their perversity. Living in this artificial bubble is not a solution in the long term, even if it probably provides an escape from these anxiety-inducing times.
So, we’re left with the good old-fashioned Coué method, which at least allows us to be positive without second thoughts or shame. The word is out: be positive.
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When too much detail kills the idea
At one time or another, we’ve all had to deal with colleagues who are experts in everything and who see details as ends.
When this remains on a “normal” scale, it is acceptable, even amusing. However, this desire to control and master everything down to the last detail can become pathological, at the risk of blocking any idea or project.
When a complex project is approached in detail, it is almost impossible to start it, to continue it or, worse still, to finish it. Indeed, there are always very good opportunities - often very factual ones at that - to modify a project, alter it or even put it on hold: it takes incredible strength and great resilience to force fate and bring the project back to its original goal and bring it to fruition.
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The ‘case’ of the greeting card
The title of my post as well as its content will certainly surprise, even if there is no reason to refuse to talk about greeting cards in April!
As you will certainly have understood, the greeting card is only a pretext to introduce a slightly more “serious” subject, namely the expectations that we place in our interlocutors.
Let me quickly return to my greeting cards. For several years now and as an example, about 80% of my little messages sent in the middle of December have not received any comments, replies or signs of life from the recipients.
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Let’s try to play “long term”…
As we all know, it is becoming increasingly difficult to make predictions and establish medium and long-term plans in companies. To speak of a 10-year plan today is to run the risk of looking like a mildly enlightened person, or even a dangerous lunatic…
Let’s leave out of consideration the major projects that take years and are the subject of 15-20 year planning: this seems to be fairly well accepted and understood by most of the interlocutors and the public: the trans-Alpine railways in Switzerland (NLFA), the planning of districts, the transformation of an airport, etc. are good examples.
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140 characters or the beginning of Manichaeism in business…
During its use, many people have been criticised, rightly or wrongly, for expanding their thoughts too much in a presentation, an email, or a simple report. To top it all off, in 2006 Twitter introduced a new standard for brevity: 140 characters, not one more…
Those in a hurry, the restless or the positive will point out that you can already say a lot in 140 characters. Of course, but it’s a bit short - so to speak!
Mastering the synthesis or knowing how to summarize a statement in one phase is an art that few people master. We can only admire them when we have the pleasure of hearing or reading them, but there are slippages and some democracies, including the United States, suffer from them.
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Listening to them
Most companies talk about generational change with varying degrees of passion and understanding. Do they do it because it is ” trendy ” or do they have a real concern for the generations of today and tomorrow?
The way in which decisions are taken, the lack of anticipation and inclusion in the face of the wishes, demands or other questions of the younger generations, makes it easy to doubt this.
The fact that the subject is not easy to deal with is certainly part of the game, and no one certainly has “the” right solution to consider the generational gaps that are widening in the professional world. Denying the evidence that the pandemic has fundamentally accelerated the transformation to a hybrid world of work is just one example…
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The courage to make decisions
Deciding means exposing oneself, showing a side of oneself that is perhaps not in phase with what one wants to project, and finally accepting to displease a little or a lot…
Certain theories of modern ‘managerial marketing’ seem to indicate that one must be inclusive, tolerant, conciliatory, not to say soft, to please the greatest number of people and, above all, not to offend anyone. This would have been applied ages ago in most companies if the recipe were so simple to implement…
Let there be no mistake about it: it is of course necessary to include, to accept mistakes, to consider contrary or even opposing opinions: it is thanks to this that a form of humanity can endure in companies and that the development of everyone is possible.
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When Christmas with COVID you will celebrate
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Control is good, confidence is better
Control is good, confidence is better
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Does pragmatism still have a chance…
Does pragmatism still have a chance…