Here’s what you’re looking for: Succession Institute

Don’t be someone else’s rug.

By Bill Reeb

In the ’70s, there was a big movement in business culture to learn to be more assertive, aptly called “assertiveness training.” Michaelle was quick to enroll because this was an important skill set to call upon, especially with many women moving into jobs that had historically been held by men (Michaelle was a systems engineer with IBM during this period). The concept was simple: “You need to speak your mind, ask for what you want, demand what is fair and don’t let yourself be a rug for everyone to step on.”

MORE: Do You Give Yourself Too Much Credit? | How to Focus Your Priorities | Increase Your Odds of Success | Heading Off Course? Time to Correct | Don’t Let Time Pass Without … | Is Your Sense of Duty Misplaced?
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In our early years working at IBM together, when one of the secretaries needed to step away or take a  break, she would often come over to Michaelle and ask her to cover with typing, answering the phone and so on. In addition to the fact that she held the professional job of being a systems specialist, Michaelle also had earned her undergraduate degree in psychology and an MBA with a concentration in accounting. I just had a bachelor’s degree in business – far less educated – yet no one ever asked me to fill in.
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Probably. Here’s how to change your ways.

By Bill Reeb

“Focus on changing you” is an important technique to embrace. For your life to change in a meaningful way, it is about you changing – not anyone else.

MORE: How to Focus Your Priorities | Why Clash When You Can Harmonize? | Make Tension Work for You | It’s All Right to Enjoy Success | Failure Paves the Road to Wisdom | Are You Paralyzed by Fear? | How to Change the Way You Think (and Why)
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While this sounds cliché, it is absolutely true. As a consultant, I work with organizations helping them with everything from improving operating processes to succession. Because every project I am involved in requires me to deal with a number of different personalities, if I want the client to achieve a successful outcome, it becomes critical for our team members to understand the following premise:

Change occurs when you change!

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What is the best use of your time right now?

By Bill Reeb

All of us, no matter what our income, gender, race, religion, origin, have the same amount of time – 24 hours in a day, 365 days in a year. Each of us has the same capacity. The question is how we use it.

MORE: Why Clash When You Can Harmonize? | Rely on Strengths … but Not Too Much | When to Cut Your Losses | Make Worry Work for You | Why We Have to Deal with Guilt
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For most of us, you can carve out roughly 3,000 of those hours for sleep. Even if you don’t need eight hours, you need some time to sleep, and that number cuts a big hole into your available capacity.
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Put another way, are you a box or a funnel?

By Bill Reeb

A college professor I know has had a difficult time harmonizing as his approach always escalated to clashing and resisting. And no, this isn’t a story about Michaelle in disguise, but someone else I had the pleasure of getting to know.

MORE: Rely on Strengths … but Not Too Much | Increase Your Odds of Success | Heading Off Course? Time to Correct | Don’t Let Time Pass Without … | Is Your Sense of Duty Misplaced? | Are You Sure You’re In the Wrong Place? | How Are You Programming Your Mind?
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He had a definite approach to teaching and was good at it. He believed in setting very high standards for his students and passing only those who achieved a specific level of excellence.
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Don’t let them become weaknesses.

By Bill Reeb

While there are many lessons in martial arts that repeat themselves, the idea that a strength can also become a weakness is a commonly recurring one.

MORE: Increase Your Odds of Success | Make Tension Work for You | It’s All Right to Enjoy Success | Failure Paves the Road to Wisdom | Are You Paralyzed by Fear? | How to Change the Way You Think (and Why) | Have Your Beliefs Stopped Serving You?
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But it doesn’t make sense – how could a strength ever be bad? Well,  here are a couple of examples.
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