A new client told me he had not heard of “personal development” until two years ago. These words changed his worldview and his world! He was 24 years old, earning $2K a month. Now he is 26, earning $8K a month, with a goal of $10K a month. Personal Development, as it relates to money, has become his purpose!
WOW! A person whose worldview didn’t include my worldview until two years ago, and who is interested in spirituality as well. What a treat to mentor this young man, who is just beginning his journey, and to support his path to wholeness. When I identified his unconscious driver – his personal law / core issue – worldview – within 30 minutes of chatting, he asked how I could possibly do that. I responded that I listened to his language.
Intentionally shifting to a positive worldview is a conscious choice, whether it focuses on money or health or relationships or spirituality. From the 1937 landmark book, Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, to the latest trend in psychology – positive psychology – the power of thought and spoken words to create a positive worldview through language is widespread. This is the basis of self-talk, affirmations, prayer, chants… and other techniques across cultures. The latest additions to the potential of positive worldviews are (1) medicine, (2) psychology and (3) leadership.
REFLECT:
When / how were you introduced to the concept of personal development?
What is your current worldview around the it?
When / how were you introduced to the concept of leadership development?
What is your current worldview around the it?
A long standing and prolific author on the power of words to heal, physician Larry Dossey, has been writing on the subject since 1982. He is both lauded and defamed. On the positive side, he is described as a physician who advocates for spirituality in health care. On the colliding worldview side – the traditional medical side – he is accused of writing new age psychobabble. His views are based on personal experience with medical patients and research in the field. As we share the same worldview, he is one of my favorite people.
In comparison, the emergence of positive psychology is attributed to Martin Seligman and his colleagues who met in 1999 to discuss the possibilities for a new worldview for psychology – a POSITIVE psychology that would SAVOR living. The following year, at a Gallup Organization summit, this was expanded to identify some of the key elements of this new approach – replacing the goal of recovery with the goal of thriving. Thriving is defined as not only rising to the occasion of destructive events, but being raised by them. “Thriving therapy” helps patients identify, study, and mobilize their natural human resilience, strength, and virtue.
In leadership theory, the corresponding area is Positive Deviance (PD). Developed in the 1990’s by Monique and Jerry Sternin, it is compared to leadership approaches such as Servant Leadership and Outliers, the concept / book by Malcolm Gladwell.
Positive deviance refers to behaviors that deviate from the group norms and have positive effects on the organization. It focuses on identifying and leveraging the behaviors and strategies of leaders and groups who have achieved positive results where others have struggled and failed.
I can’t imagine the worldview of the researchers who paired the words positive with deviance. In the research worldview, deviance is a difference. I tell my graduate leadership students they can legitimately strive to be deviants lol. But the organizational worldview does not have the same meaning, and I struggle with the language and its application. I think it creates a “mixed message” worldview – that being positive is being a deviant – which is associated with being a non-desirable.
REFLECT:
Can you identify a PD (positive deviant) in your organization?
Can you identify how their LANGUAGE differs from others?
Consider the difference in worldview language with the Apple motto and ad campaign of the same time frame – the 1990’s. The words, Think Different, were paired with black and white photographs of time-honored visionaries. And the ad campaign included To The Crazy Ones. And The Stock You Dream of Owning.
These played a pivotal role in Apple’s recovery – one of the greatest corporate turnarounds in history. They created a new worldview for the organization and for people who wanted to BE PART of that worldview / organization.
When I analyze my PD behaviors, many of them are around language. I am positive and supportive – from focusing on the mission to assuring my confidence in and support for efforts to achieve the mission, (see the blog on Pareto – the 80/20 rule and productive teams).
One of my “mantras” when faced with obstacles is “It’ll work!” which leads directly to positive action. Another simple expression came from a client / personal trainer for professional athletes. He repeatedly tells them “You’re the Best”. I tell my staff this. I tell my classes this. An hour ago, I told my handyman this. When appropriate, I tell service providers this: You’re the best to help me out with this!
APPLY:
Using language, how can you create a positive worldview for your team / organizational performance?
“The team you dream of being on”? or “You can be a little crazy on my problem solving team”? Or…
The Beethoven Factor, Paul Pearsall, PhdD., Hampton Roads, 2004.
Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell, Little, Brown & Co, 2008.
Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill, 1937.
