Keeping Your Confidence Up
Success seeks to help you become more accepting of your genuine strengths. Self-approval unleashes your best traits to be expressed in your work and family life, and in the world. How can you learn to accept your successes without panicking? Here are some practical ways to learn to celebrate all of your SUCCESSES.
Self-esteem. Being a genuine achiever means you acknowledge your strengths, hunt for your secret talents and give your best to the world without being a braggart. Build Self-Confidence: Learn from your failures.
Understanding. Achievement means you are an intense person who expresses who you really are while staying open to growing and changing each and every day. Build Self-Confidence:Thrive on responsibility.
Child Drive. You pay attention to inner urges that speak to you about what work you love to do and what insights you have to give the world. Build Self-Confidence:Make work fun.
Curiosity. You talk, talk and talk some more to people to find out what makes them tick. You soak up information like a sunbather taking in sunshine. Build Self-Confidence:Take good advice.
Energy. You maximize your energy by eating, sleeping, exercising and working in recognition of your own special rhythms. You do what makes you feel most alive. Build Self-Confidence:Keep your energy high.
Set goals. You dignify life with long-term goals and mark your progression toward them. Build Self-Confidence:Choose commitment.
Stay focused. You intensely focus single-mindedly on the most important tasks to accomplish, and say "No way!" to nifty distractions. Build Self-Confidence:Accept self-discipline.
ERRORS. You make errors every day and know that if you aren't failing at least once a day then you aren't succeeding. You try again to hit the mark after you've missed it. Build Self-Confidence:Never accept failure as a permanent state.
Satisfaction. You endorseyourself for your wins, follow a consistent set of values and take humble pride in all of your accomplishments. Build Self-Confidence: Feel gratified.
Permit yourself to be a genuine achiever instead of an impostor. Real people aren't impostors—we are the genuine article. Take the risk and be the real McCoy!
| to unleash: to release braggart: someone who boasts a lot to thrive on: to draw success from insights: clear, perceptive thoughts nifty distractions: pleasurable amusements to endorse: to show approval of the real McCoy: the real thing, not something artificial or phony (after Kid McCoy, professional name for American boxer Norman Selby, 1873-1940) |
C. Dennis O'Grady's principles of success can be applied to typical problems that come up in business. Consider these situations and determine what O'Grady would recommend. Discuss your answers with a partner, and refer to specific parts of the text that support your interpretation.
1. You have been working seven days a week on a project that must be completed two weeks from now. Because it requires your full attention, you will need to make use of your every waking minute in the next two weeks in order to complete the project. Yet you are tempted to take advantage of an airline's cheap four-day "getaway" vacation in the Florida sun. What should you do?
2. After being in business for several years, it is clear that you are on the road to becoming a real success. You are not sure what kind of image you need to project in public. Should you flaunt your success and boast about your great fortune, or should you act like a regular guy and behave as if you are just like everyone else?
3. You have a very important decision to make about a policy that will have a great impact on the future of your company. You know that there will be great dissatisfaction no matter which direction you take. You usually make all your decisions on your own. Should you consult your staff or go it alone?
4. The promotion you had been hoping for does not come through because of a poor performance evaluation. You have lost confidence in yourself. How should you deal with this situation?
5. You are offered a high-paying job in a field that really doesn't interest you. Nevertheless, the increase in salary would dramatically change your current lifestyle. You are now earning a much lower salary while taking courses in the field of your choice. What should you do?
6. You are a valued employee. Nevertheless, your supervisor has complained to your boss that you nap and take exercise at unauthorized times. He would like you to follow the normal break and lunch schedule. What should you explain to your boss?
CASE STUDY
Background
Camden Football Club is one of the great success stories in English football. Today, it is third in the Premier Division (the top division) and has reached the quarter finals of the European Champions League competition, which is held every year. They get huge crowds at their ground and their Polish manager, Cristos Sroda, is idolized by their fans. Camden is also a great commercial success and is very profitable.
What has brought about their success? Firstly, their manager Cristos had a clear strategy for the team from the start. He developed young players who had come through the club's youth training scheme. The team was also strengthened by one or two carefully chosen foreign players.
The extraordinary commercial success of Camden is due to their CommercialDirector, Sophie Legrange. She greatly increased profits from the club's main business areas: corporate hospitality, advertising, sponsorship and conferences and banqueting.
At the same time, she skillfully exploited the Camden brand and diversified into other areas: a travel agency for fans and also for companies using the club's hospitality facilities; a joint venture with an insurance agency to provide financial products for the club's corporate clients; and finally, training courses in the club's conference rooms run by local companies. Turnover increased by over 400% to £70m and profits leapt to £15m. TV rights, soon to be renegotiated, will provide another very lucrative source of income.
Current situation
Camden's current four-year sponsorship deal with an insurance company is about to finish. Sophie Legrange is considering a new and better deal with United Media plc, the powerful publishing, TV production and mobile phone group. It is not only the increased money from sponsorship which appeals to Camden, however. United Media's broad range of business activities would offer many other opportunities to increase revenue.
United Media are interested in Camden because the club's success has brought it over 4m fans in the UK and 40m in the Far East. Camden played a friendly match recently in China which was watched live by a Chinese audience of over 250m.
Representatives of Camden and United Media are meeting shortly to discuss a possible sponsorship deal. The following factors will influence the negotiation:
1. Because of their recent successes, Camden feel they are in a strong position to negotiate a valuable four-year contract.
2. Some experts say Camden were lucky to win their last European Cup match, and that they rely too much on their star South American player, Paolo Rosetti. Now aged 30, he has a poor discipline record and is rumoured to have marital and drink problems.
3. Sophie Legrange has full negotiating rights over sponsorship. She will only choose United Media as a sponsor if she can negotiate a good deal for the club.
Task
Work in groups. You are members of the negotiating team of either: Camden FC or United Media plc.
· Read your role card and prepare for the negotiation.
· Work out your objectives, priorities, strategy and tactics.
· Think carefully about what concessions you are willing to make.
An agenda has been prepared in advance of the meeting.
· If the negotiation was successful, write a press release from the point of view of either Camden FC or United Media outlining the main points of the agreement and the benefits to the organisation you represent. The tone and style of the message should express pleasure and optimism.
or
If the negotiation was unsuccessful, write a letter to your opposite number in the negotiation expressing your regret that you were unable to make a deal. However, you should indicate that you might be willing to reopen negotiations in the future as clearly there could be areas of mutual benefit.
Student A: