Results tagged “obama” from stevenfeinberg.com
Each day the choice is ours. Advantage or Disadvantage.
Sometimes we are more fortunate and things go our way, as if the stars are aligned.
Other times we have to make it happen.
All you have to do to confirm this is watch the World Cup or Olympics
They prepare and are ready. But folks can get bad breaks not of their doing,
or good breaks that they capitalize on.
When you get bad breaks what do you do?
While complaining is normal, the important point is how quickly do you shift?
Are you prepared to shift?
You don't have to know what the answer is to know that its time to shift.
The first step is to recognize it is time to shift. Too many people take too long on this step.
To accelerate your performance, to get better results now, shift sooner.
You can look for solutions by sorting through the five shifts that create Advantage.
Shift the Question, instead of accepting the Givens. This will construct options
Shift Time, instead of being stuck. This will overcome the boundaries.
Shift Interactions, instead of doing more of the same. This will change the game.
Shift Perceptions, instead of a loser mindset. This will influence outcomes.
Shift Structures, instead of being controlled. This will shape new behavior.
We sometimes don't realize that if we are complaining we are not shifting fast enough to what will work.
Shift faster!
During President Obama's State of the Union (SOTU), I suggest you pay attention with a different lens. Evaluate his message through the vantage point of an Advantage-Maker. This is not a political partisan rating but an independent view of the state of his advantage-making. Rate President Obama's Shift IQ.
Advantage-Makers are strategic shifters. They interact with the world differently. In the face of constraints they consistently create superior outcomes. Their task is to shift the odds in our favor. This capacity to strategically shift is the hallmark of Advantage-Makers and advantage-making. To deal with constraints advantage-makers have high Shift IQ's (SQ).
Advantage-Makers are strategic shifters. They interact with the world differently. In the face of constraints they consistently create superior outcomes. Their task is to shift the odds in our favor. This capacity to strategically shift is the hallmark of Advantage-Makers and advantage-making. To deal with constraints advantage-makers have high Shift IQ's (SQ).
This ability to shift is what amounts to a secret or hidden code of advantage-making, and is made from 5 dimensions. These dimensions are the levers to shift the odds in our favor.
Shift IQ (SQ)
As you listen to the Presidents speech, start with the constraints: the hand he was dealt with the Great Recession and the International crisis and Wars. Rate him along these five dimensions:
1) Shifting Questions - does he accept the givens or question the givens? Does he see what others don't see? Shifting options provide us with options often overlooked rather than just following the known procedures. Does Obama illustrate what we tend to miss or overlook and suggest practical solutions? Does he frame the argument differently from the same old same old to make us feel once again, Yes We Can and Yes We Will?
2) Shifting Time - does he establish the right time frame for urgency and patience? Shifting time create possibilities where most people only repeat what they've done in the past. Does he make the case how past decisions have limited our options? Does he ask us for patience on ridding ourselves of the old systems that have failed us while he urges us to take specific action now to make a better today and tomorrow? Does he show us how to make the most of the forces at play? There is no time like to present to create the future.
3) Shifting Interaction - does he change the game we are playing. Both over the past year and his interactions with the Republicans. Is he demonstrating his ability to rapidly adapt to the political and economic forces at play? Shifting interactions changes the game. Does Obama shift from an attempt at a bipartisan approach to one that demonstrates there is a new game in town that will make a difference in the midst of the worst recession America has ever experienced? Does some of what he suggests question convention, proposing a different game, that is neither right or left? Does he stand tall and demonstrate command presence in the face of his enemies?
4) Shifting Perception - Does he influence us that we are going in the right direction with the proper course corrections that are involved in any change effort? Shifting perception influences outcomes. Does he admit mistakes and learn from it and engage us to learn? How do we feel about ourselves, our futures in the presence of our chosen President after his first year in office? Does he inspire our behavior to achieve the agenda for America's recovery?
5) Shifting Structure - Structure shapes behavior. Is the President establishing a winning game, is he positioning us to win? Have we fallen prey to a failing structure in Congress and what does the President have to say about it? Does he make the hard decision? Has the President set the stage for a structural solution that will gain momentum and move us forward? Do you hear how we will advance rather than go back to old ways that haven't and don't work?
We need Advantage-Makers in the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives to shift the economic and political playing field. It is their job to get it right. We looked to them, with our input as a democracy to do the right thing.
Listen for the Shift IQ of our President in his State of the Union and rate
On a scale of 1-----10 how effective at shifting the question
On a scale of 1-----10 how effective at shifting time
On a scale of 1-----10 how effective at shifting interactions
On a scale of 1-----10 how effective at shifting perceptions
On a scale of 1-----10 how effective at shifting structures
Advantage-makers use the 5 strategic shifts as levers to achieve higher results. Difficulties become easier, complex things become simpler, things that seem too slow get done quicker, and we can enjoy the fruits of our labor - we have more fun doing it.
The state of Obama's ability to shift America
The State of the Union will be revealed. The state of Obama's ability to shift America will also be on the line. In past blogs I have indicated that Obama is an Advantage-Maker. From my studies we can see that Advantage-makers are not perfect. They make mistakes, but they learn faster, use failure as feedback to course correct, make new connections, and get more out of the information and experiences they engage in. We want America and our President to succeed. We will be at a great disadvantage if he and we don't create superior outcomes in the face of the constraints we face. Just as I believe we are stronger today than we were one year ago, it will take President Obama's advantage-making skills and together we will make our nation better and stronger.
What are the daily influences on our lives?
The three main influences are a) people in power, b) persuasive communicators and c) structural forces at play.
Let's identify the three:
People in power is pretty clear - those in authority in both private and public arena. CEO's and executives, President Obama and Congress, and non-profit leaders.
Persuasive communicators - can be the same as people in power but can also be those without any formal power at all. Persuasion is a great equalizer to power.
However, structural forces at play - the hidden drivers of behavior, like a riverbed shaping the direction of the river's movement, can shift the outcome whether you are in power or are a master of persuasion.
Take for example, the recent Olympics decision, involving Chicago vs. Rio de Janeiro's bid to hold the 2016 Olympic Games.
Rio won. Part of RIO's presentation was to vividly and persuasively paint the picture that South America contrasted with other parts of the world because they were one of a few continents that hadn't hosted an Olympics. The Rio presenters repeatedly pointed out on a map all the places that had hosted the Games and how South America was not represented at all. A compelling persuasive presentation. Rio had a persuasive message, and structural forces at play (most countries wanted the continent that hadn't had the Olympic Games) in its favor. Neither country had any actual decision power.
President Obama went to Copenhagen to make the final appeal. His position, a strong economic bid and persuasive abilities could not overcome the structural forces at play - specifically, South America has never had an Olympics, 90% of the Olympic voters are from outside the U.S.A., and Africa has never had an Olympics either. The tendency for action within the International Olympic Committee was clearly leaning for the continent that hadn't had an Olympics and RIO was perfectly situated, and I venture a guess that the African nations wanted to see a continent that hadn't hosted the Olympics as well. Strategically they would be the natural next place and likely voted accordingly.
The Chicago bid had a strong economic package and venue, and persuasive abilities of the Chicago committee which included Oprah Winfrey and high profile Chicago executives. Unfortunately, this was not equal to the the structural forces that were against them - they were going upstream in effect, and they had no decision power - most of the voters were from outside the USA. They had one of the three influence factors on their side.
President Obama took a chance, the country leaders of the other four finalists appeared at the Olympic committee vote. He would have been blamed by the political opposition if he hadn't gone, and we have the unprecedented demonstration by conservatives cheering when the USA lost the bid. They were actually rooting for America to lose! The neoconservative groups were shown cheering upon hearing that Chicago loss. The Olympics are a source of pride, and never before have we seen a political group actually root against America.
In terms of power, persuasion and structural forces at play I think the conservative strategy will backfire during the next election cycle. This will be a revealing and vivid image Democrats will use showing Republicans rooting against America. You just have to wonder what conservatives would have said if liberals had booed America in the same way.
Pay attention to the three daily influences and begin to arrange them to support your best efforts. If you have all three you increase your chances of success dramatically, but you can win with two of the three, as long as influence can align with the structural forces at play.
Let's root for America and Congratulations to Rio!
Obama's speech was not soaring rhetoric, rather it had a more profound, game changing message.
He said, "What cynics fail to understand is the ground has shifted beneath them, that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. It's not whether government is too big or too small, it's whether it works."
These are not just word tricks crafted to distract us, these reveal a fundamental observation and core message that encourages and requires all of us to shift to 'higher order functioning', instead of more of the same.
You will see Obama's decisions based upon this higher order functioning in the weeks, months and years to come. The tendency in times of stress is to go back to basics. While some of this is necessary, a defensive posture is not a strategic approach that will actually get us our next edge. Back to basics is not making a fundamental shift.
Translating higher order functioning for kitchen table issues is what matters.
This will not be left wing nor right wing, nor moderates for that matter. Higher order functioning is moving from horses to cars, from typewriters to word processors to computers. We will see the shift to green/alternative energy investments as an example.
Higher order functioning means employing the social psychology of influence, transforming a typical 3% response rate to become 33%, Higher order functioning means employing the psychology of shifting, that turned an airline from $84 million dollar in the red to $30 million dollar in the black by managing interactions. Higher order functioning requires thinking in dimensions that finds real leverage in small actions and decisions, for example, shifting the typical 3 year bank integration to only 9 months. Urgency overruled bureaucracy.
Our country's Declaration of Independence is itself is a form calling for higher order functioning. The U.S. experiment began with a new world, with a new philosophy of governing. We must again shift the game to higher order functioning, we must shift or the existing house of cards will collapse.
While the language of responsibility and accountability makes a difference on a practical level, in itself it doesn't achieve higher order functioning. It is the thought process that leaders must cultivate to change the game and provide us with the new responsibilities and accountabilities.
Creating this higher order of functioning is the first order of business.
Obama wins. Transforms the election process, and the country. Change has won.
Not just words. Obama is a game changer.
Hope took action, let's take an Advantage-Makers (the code of Advantage-Maker is non-partisan)
view of how he did it. Dreams have come true, but this is no ordinary dreamer, he's practical.
First, financing his campaign through small internet donors
Second, generating a huge grass roots movement, incredible word of mouth interactions from the bottom-up
Third, a 50 state campaign to expand the map, not the usual 18 states. This in itself changed the game.
Fourth, his command presence demonstrated during the economic melt down; steady, command over the issues
Fifth, ground game during the actual election, momentum management moving the voters:early voting and Nov 4th
Sixth, language. Obama's command over language enables him to influence perception, inspiring hope
Seventh, he got ahead, shifting time, anticipated the Iraq war mistake.
Eighth, economic meltdown is met w/Obama structural programs to get America to work, stabilizing the economy
Obama demonstrated all the elements of Advantage-Makers during the election.
Now we will see him apply it during his administration
Shifting time creates possibilities
Shifting interactions changes the game
Shifting perception influences outcomes
Shifting structures shapes behavior.
Keep your eye on how he shifts time, interactions, perceptions, and structures.
