Monday, October 18, 2010

Constant. Gentle. Pressure

An excerpt from an article on www.inc.com

"hat morning was the first time I ever stopped to think about this important aspect of my own business style, which so far had been intuitive. Michael Chiarello had given us a great gift by providing language that would allow us and our managers to share and teach a business philosophy. It helped me understand that we needed all three words--constant, gentle, and pressure--working at once to push our business forward. Leave any one element out, and management is far less effective. If you are constantly gentle but fail to apply pressure when needed, your business won't grow or improve: Your team will lack the drive and passion for excellence. If you exert gentle pressure but not constantly, both your staff and your guests will get a mixed message depending on what day it is and probably won't believe that excellence truly matters to you. If you exert constant pressure that isn't gentle, employees may burn out, quit, or lose their graciousness--and you will probably cease to attract good employees. Leaders must identify which of the three elements (constant, gentle, or pressure) plays to their greatest natural strengths and, when necessary, they must compensate for their natural weaknesses. For example, over the years I've learned that constant and gentle are my natural instincts, and so I've had to focus on developing ease at applying pressure."

by Danny Meyer on How to Be an Effective Leader
http://www.inc.com/magazine/20061001/column-guest.html

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