Sunday Observer Online
 

Home

Sunday, 24 May 2015

Untitled-1

observer
 ONLINE


OTHER PUBLICATIONS


OTHER LINKS

Marriage Proposals
Classified
Government Gazette

Qualities of confidence

Being confident of what you do is an important requisite for any manager. There are several key qualities associated with confidence. David McNally, an international speaker, in his favourite book ‘Even Eagles need a Push’ discusses five qualities of confident people.

Interestingly, McNally refers to a category of people called “confident, empowered people”. They are the ones who are clear about where they are going, why they are going there, and how they should be going. Their confidence comes from deep within. They are also empowered in the sense that they take charge of their lives without complaining.

Five qualities

According to McNally, the five essential qualities of confidence empowered people are self-appreciation, vision, purpose, commitment and contribution. As in the case of most management concepts, we find that these are nothing new. It’s a case of re-packaging what we know. Yet, due credit should go to McNally for popularising them in the context of individual and institutional development.

1. Self-appreciation

McNally compares our lives to the hull of a boat. Like a hull, our lives can be covered with layers of barnacles. They are the self-limiting beliefs about our worth and our ability to contribute to work and society. Being aware of such self-limiting beliefs is the first step to improvement.

How good are the Sri Lankan managers with regard to self-appreciation? Managers attempt to compare and complain on what they do not have or what others have more than them. The more they complain, the more resentful they will be.

What should be the positive path? Self talk should be very handy. Go in front of a mirror (preferably alone) and see the complex creature called ‘you’. Talk to yourself and appreciate who you are. You are unique to the whole universe. (I can say this safely at least for a few decades until scientists master human cloning.)

2. Vision

The book of Ecclesiastes, in the old testament of the Bible says something very insightful.“When there is no vision, there is division.” Vision binds a team together. Vision gives a sense of clarity to a person, in identifying a desired end dream. The old saying of inspiration goes as: “Dare to dream, dare to act, dare to fail and dare to succeed”.

McNally identifies vision as the second quality of confidence empowered people. As many great people on earth have shown us, vision without action will be a day-dream. Action without vision will take us nowhere. Vision with action will lead to the fulfillment of aspirations.

How about Sri Lankan managers? We claim that we have fabulous visions. In most cases they are framed pictures with dust and cobwebs. Vision is to there to be shared and to obtain support from all concerned. It is not happening at the level that we would like to see it happen. Stephen Covey says, “begin with the end in mind”. That’s when vision matters.

3. Purpose

McNally relates the moving story of Terry Fox. He lost one of his legs due to cancer, yet, ran more than 3,000 miles to raise money for cancer research. His target was US$ one million and he ended up raising US$ 24 million. This aptly demonstrates what a powerful purpose can do.

Purpose goes beyond identifying a big, burning ‘why’ within. Perhaps, one of the best recent examples is the Sri Lankan armed forces as to how they defeated the most ruthless terrorists in the world. When you have a purpose, your life matters.

Having a purpose gives a fundamental reason for one to live. There are many success stories, from the annals of world history. Victor Frankel, a Jewish doctor was serving a rigorous imprisonment in Auschwitz concentration camp. Having seen his whole family getting killed, he thought of committing suicide. What prevented him doing so was a strong sense of purpose to live and tell the world the atrocities committed in the camp.

4. Commitment

McNally cites a University of Chicago study where successful people and their parents were interviewed. In most cases, the parents said, it was the other child who did better in school. Commitment is the fuel that drives achievement, in using one’s abilities to the fullest. Author Ken Blanchard says that there is a difference between interest and commitment. If you are interested, you do something when you feel like doing it. If you are committed, you do it whenever needed, no matter what the circumstances are. The best example is a mother giving birth to a child and, thereafter, taking care of it. It is not a choice but sheer commitment.

5. Contribution

McNally shares an interesting story of a pig and a cow. The pig complains that the cow is being respected and appreciated more, despite both giving everything they have to the people. The cow responds saying, “I give while I am living.” The truth lies here. We are called to contribute while we are living. In other words, we should contribute consciously, when we can.

There is a growing wave of awareness on the triple bottom line (profits, people and planet). Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) or sustainability initiatives all revolve around the principle of contribution.

It reminds me of a song by the late Gunadasa Kapuge. “Let’s not be mountains trying to beat one another, and instead be streams of water leading to one river”. Life is not about cutting down others and making head way. It is all to do with succeeding while sharing.

Road ahead

Inculcating the five qualities is open to all of us. It is a forward journey with high self-appreciation, clear vision, strong purpose, consistent commitment and genuine contribution. A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. Let’s take that step today.

The writer is the Director of the Postgraduate Institute of Management. He also serves as an Adjunct Professor in the Division of Management and Entrepreneurship, Price College of Business,University of Oklahoma, USA.

 | EMAIL |   PRINTABLE VIEW | FEEDBACK

Donate Now | defence.lk
www.apiwenuwenapi.co.uk
LANKAPUVATH - National News Agency of Sri Lank
www.batsman.com
Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL)
www.army.lk
www.news.lk
www.defence.lk
 

| News | Editorial | Finance | Features | Political | Security | Sports | Spectrum | World | Obituaries | Junior | Youth |

 
 

Produced by Lake House Copyright © 2015 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.

Comments and suggestions to : Web Editor