As Handy Manny says: ‘To be able to do any task successfully, first, we need to learn how to do it’. He is right, we can acquire some new toolsets of hard skills and lots of knowledge. However, there is a magical toolkit named ‘attitude’ that we should always have at hand.
Managers ask me to guide them in having the best tools to be ethical and efficient leaders. I always answer them: ‘The mandatory tools are well within our grasp’.
Let’s comment on each one in turn.
Humbleness: Be humble, mainly when you think you know everything.
Empathy: Drink a daily dose of 200 ml of ‘empathy milk’ when you arrive at work. If it's not enough, increase the dose to half a liter.
Common sense: Let's use common sense and keep things simple and in perspective. Use common sense when everything becomes more and more complex.
Patience: We must be patient, committed, and consistent. But also, clever, and quick-thinking.
Feedback: The best tool for personal growth is to ask for feedback.
Gratitude: Let's be grateful for everyday things, like our work, colleagues, and many things we enjoy.
Self-knowledge: Let's discover and reinforce our strengths and recognize certain behaviors that can be improved and the effect they may have.
Personal time: As S. Covey wrote: If we don't sharpen ‘our saw’, none of the above tools will be useful.