Shine. Ned Hallowell

more ominous every day. Week after week, we read about one corporate calamity or another; one dire economic prediction after another; one reason after another to be afraid, very afraid. As the pinch grows tighter, the methods managers use grow more primitive. Fear rules. Management by fear, if not panic, becomes the mainstay of all but the most enlightened managers. And what do those enlightened managers know that others overlook? They know that fear disables the mind just as surely as lack of oxygen.

      My plan offers an alternative to panic or serial crisis management. You will learn a method you can set in motion anywhere to bring out the best in any person, no matter what is going on in the wider world. I will also point out what to do when things break down. When a person is not performing at his or her best, it usually stems from a problem in one of the five steps in the Cycle of Excellence, most often steps 1, 2, or 3: select, connect, or play. I will show you how to identify those problems and how to correct them.

      Once you understand the Cycle of Excellence as well as the ways it can break down, you will have a more effective plan for bringing out the best in your people than simply wielding the fear of job loss or exhorting them to try harder. You will be able to creatively manage for growth, rather than manage for mere survival. You will know how to capture the positive energy in the explosion surrounding us today and not let it blow you and your organization away.

      KEY IDEAS

      • People’s best efforts often fail not because they aren’t working hard enough, but because they are working too hard.

      • What matters most is what you do with what you’ve got.

      • Managers help people find and mine the gold that lies within them.

      • In the words of Dr. Shine, “Everyone’s got that spark in them, somewhere.”

      • Use the five steps in the Cycle of Excellence to bring out people’s best. The five steps are select, connect, play, grapple and grow, and shine.

      • Vitamin Connect—the other vitamin C—is a manager’s most powerful tool.

      • A person’s brain can grow and change for the better with the help of a skilled manager.

      • Optimism actually improves a person’s performance.

      • Smart people underperform when their circuits get overloaded.

      • As people have connected electronically more than any other time in history, they have simultaneously disconnected interpersonally. This is bad for business—and for life in general. But it is eminently correctable.