EIGHT QUALITIES YOU NEED TO STAY AFLOAT IN DANGEROUS WATERS

Martin Yate identifies eight essential traits for greater success
in life and work: Positive Expectancy,
Goal Orientation, Inner Openness, Flexible Thinking, Smart
Decisions, Personal Influence, Informed
Risk, and Organized Action.

POSITIVE EXPECTANCY

Being the master of your own destiny and believing in your own
abilities.

James seems always to find a lesson in every storm cloud.  He
worked on one client meeting for six
months and finally managed to get it set up with the division Vice
President.  James expects success
and used all of the "no's" of the last six months to learn how to
get the response "yes".  Other people
would have crumbled after the first attempt, or after the third
month.  By turning failure into
productive feedback, James modified his style and kept chasing his
goal.  He knew he's encounter
some bumps along the way, but James never doubted the ultimately he
would succeed.


GOAL ORIENTATION

Proceeding in a directed fashion toward a goal and doing what it
takes to reach it.

I could tell just from the tone of her voice how driven Rita was. 
There was a sense of urgency and
purpose in her voice.  Rita had recently undertaken a mammoth
restructuring of her company's
selection procedures.  She loved this assignment, and both her
peers and upper management loved the
results.  But she did not have false hopes.  She was aware that she
might lose her job as the company
continued to shrink.  However, she was satisfied: not only had she
successfully completed her
assignment, but she had gained many new skills and updated old ones
by doing it.


INNER OPENNESS

Being self-aware and open to criticism, divergence, and complexity
as well as flexible to change.

Six weeks and hundreds of hours went into Dave's work on the most
important part of his new book.
So, when his editor called to say she had some feedback on the
manuscript, Dave looked forward to
some good news.  He didn't get it.  Fifteen minutes after their
meeting had started, his manuscript was
destroyed.  But Dave knew his book concept was strong, and that his
editor believed in it.  After all,
she wouldn't have spent so much time reviewing his progress and
providing feedback if she didn't
have faith in the project or his abilities.  After the meeting,
Dave had a good sense of where the book
needed to go.  His subsequent revisions ultimately improved the
quality and scope of the project.


FLEXIBLE THINKING

Approaching a project creatively and from more than one position,
basing decisions on the probability
of success as well as your gut feeling.

Rebecca worked days as a realtor, saving her nights to practice on
watercolor painting.  But the outlets
for her work were pretty limited, so she had to expand her market
somehow.  As she was scanning the
paper one day, she found an article about an upcoming show at the
aquarium. She decided to focus her
efforts on seascapes, hoping that the aquarium director would see
the natural connection between her
art and the exhibit. Though it didn't happen overnight, after
meetings and pitches, Rebecca found her
work displayed in a special aquarium event.


SMART DECISIONS

Knowing how to achieve your options and making great decisions.

Judy is a decision maker -- the kind of person who doesn't sit
around and wait forever to make up her
mind.  She realizes that information has a certain shelf life and
that decisiveness is critical to the
success of her company.  She told us a story about how she made a
response--overnight--to a
competitor's major pricing announcement.  As the product-line
manager she really knew her stuff--knew the market, knew the
customers, and knew her competitors.  When the announcement was
made,
she was a bit surprised, but she wasn't ready to raise the
surrender flag.  Calling her staff together,
they reviewed their knowledge of the market and everyone made
suggestions on how to combat the
price cut effectively.  The next day Judy decided on a strategy:
Take the rest of her advertising budget
and hit the airwaves with a "quality plus" message--the best
quality in the business, plus the best price.
She undercut the competition, made price a non-issue, and hit home
hard with a message that her
company offered the best service.  It turned out to be a very smart
decision.  Judy has been studying
the market for years and knows it well.  She combined this
practical know-how with decisiveness to
fight back, and win.


PERSONAL INFLUENCE

Effectively managing relationships and accounts using market
research and charisma.

Tim's band, Old Enough To Know Better, which is made up of
middle-aged guys, does pretty well.
That wasn't always the case.  When they were starting out, they had
a lot of time to practice, since no
one was hiring them for gigs.  Tim decided to treat the band as he
would a new territory at work; he
visited local bars, talked to managers, and flipped through the
arts section of the newspaper to keep up
on who was playing where.  After a couple of months, he understood
what the market would support.
After adding some new material and producing a two-cut promo
cassette, Old Enough To Know
Better got their break.  They were hired as a resident backup band
at a local club.


INFORMED RISK

Doing your homework, considering your options, taking risks.

Harry is a graphic artist who believed that his days were numbered
if he stayed with existing
techniques and customers.  After a series of trade shows and
talking to informed friends, Harry took
out a sizable bank loan to but computer equipment that would allow
him to digitalize his darkroom.
Friends and colleagues thought he was nuts, especially when he
began losing money in his first
months.  But Harry had done the research; he knew it wouldn't last. 
Sure enough, by the sixth month,
Harry turned a profit.


ORGANIZED ACTION

Managing time effectively and efficiently, knowing your limits.

Joanna's schedule is really busy.  She teaches violin several days
a week, plays in a regional orchestra,
and supplements this with wedding and bar mitzvah work.  She's also
working on her MA.
Considering herself reasonably disorganized, Joanna works hard at
planning out a schedule.  She
books her symphony practice and concert dates first, slotting them
into her calendar.  Next, she checks
out the college bulletin for courses that match her schedule.  Then
she books time with the music
studio to teach.  Finally, when someone calls needing a violinist,
in advance or as a last-minute stand-in, she checks to see if she's
available and if she has the energy.


---from Beat The Odd