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<blockquote data-quote="takethepoints" data-source="post: 639102" data-attributes="member: 265"><p>Well, I've heard this before. And Collins is right; greatness <em>is</em> a process. But I'm not sure it is the one he is thinking of.</p><p></p><p>In his <em>Prison Notebooks</em> Antonio Gramsci, the brains of the Italian Communist Party at the time, described how he approached revolutionary activity, "Pessimism of the intellect; optimism of the will." I think that's how most successful people in almost all walks of life approach their work. They have goals and they think they will achieve them. They also are characterized by a relentless search for error and its sources, so they can explain why they (inevitably) fail and fix the problem. Scientists are the stars at this, but business people and - wait for it - football coaches are the same way.</p><p></p><p>There is one field of human endeavor, however, where relentless positivism of the kind he calls for in his radio show clip is predominant: sales and advertising. I've had experience with an executive who had this kind of mindset. I had a friend who worked for him as chief evaluator and data analyst. Every year, the executive in question would set goals, call on all around him to bend every effort to sell them to the community, and insist on "positive attitudes" about reaching them. My friend had a problem: he was all for reaching goals and trying hard, but he also had a responsibility to analyze the data and say what it was telling him. And, consistently, he found that the data showed him that the goals in question weren't achievable and that no amount of positive thinking would make them so. He kept getting accused of "not being a team player" or "being negative" and all he could do was point at the figures. (Btw, they were almost always right on the money.) He finally left his position.</p><p></p><p>Now, I need to back off a bit because I think Collins said what he did for pretextual reasons. He knows the fans are restless and the the team has looked poorly coached. I suspect that he is as ready to criticize what his team is doing as any other football coach. But I fear that he really does want "POSITIVE PEOPLE who are on the same mission as I am" around the program and that he thinks that will help him achieve his goals. He may be right, but it should be obvious that this could lead to him being surrounded by a crowd of sycophants who are afraid to tell him the truth. That's what happened to the executive described above. This attitude is the thing I have the most apprehension about. Hope I'm wrong.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="takethepoints, post: 639102, member: 265"] Well, I've heard this before. And Collins is right; greatness [I]is[/I] a process. But I'm not sure it is the one he is thinking of. In his [I]Prison Notebooks[/I] Antonio Gramsci, the brains of the Italian Communist Party at the time, described how he approached revolutionary activity, "Pessimism of the intellect; optimism of the will." I think that's how most successful people in almost all walks of life approach their work. They have goals and they think they will achieve them. They also are characterized by a relentless search for error and its sources, so they can explain why they (inevitably) fail and fix the problem. Scientists are the stars at this, but business people and - wait for it - football coaches are the same way. There is one field of human endeavor, however, where relentless positivism of the kind he calls for in his radio show clip is predominant: sales and advertising. I've had experience with an executive who had this kind of mindset. I had a friend who worked for him as chief evaluator and data analyst. Every year, the executive in question would set goals, call on all around him to bend every effort to sell them to the community, and insist on "positive attitudes" about reaching them. My friend had a problem: he was all for reaching goals and trying hard, but he also had a responsibility to analyze the data and say what it was telling him. And, consistently, he found that the data showed him that the goals in question weren't achievable and that no amount of positive thinking would make them so. He kept getting accused of "not being a team player" or "being negative" and all he could do was point at the figures. (Btw, they were almost always right on the money.) He finally left his position. Now, I need to back off a bit because I think Collins said what he did for pretextual reasons. He knows the fans are restless and the the team has looked poorly coached. I suspect that he is as ready to criticize what his team is doing as any other football coach. But I fear that he really does want "POSITIVE PEOPLE who are on the same mission as I am" around the program and that he thinks that will help him achieve his goals. He may be right, but it should be obvious that this could lead to him being surrounded by a crowd of sycophants who are afraid to tell him the truth. That's what happened to the executive described above. This attitude is the thing I have the most apprehension about. Hope I'm wrong. [/QUOTE]
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