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The 12 bad habits of otherwise good people

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Heroes refuse to accept that anyone else can do the job as well as they can. ... Heroes often suffer burnout, and their personal relationships suffer. ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: The 12 bad habits of otherwise good people


1
The 12 bad habits of otherwise good people
  • Based on the book by Waldroop and Butler

2
Why do people fail?
  • Research by Waldroop and Butler reveals 12
    interesting patterns.
  • If we realise these patterns and take preventive
    steps, the failure rate can be reduced
    significantly.

3
The 12 character types
  • The home-run hitter
  • The meritocrat
  • The peacekeeper
  • The hero
  • The rebel
  • Mr Spock
  • The acrophobe
  • Pessimist worrier
  • Bulldozer
  • The could have been
  • Lacking a sense of boundaries
  • Losing the path

4
The home-run hitter
  • Successful people do not take excessive risk.
  • They try to hit singles and doubles before
    hitting sixes.
  • But the home-run hitters are too impatient for
    that.
  • Often such persons are overly competitive and
    want to win the game single-handedly to show
    everyone concerned that they are stars.
  • They want extraordinary and immediate success.
  • Small accomplishments will not do.

5
The meritocrat
  • Such people insist that proposals, ideas and
    products must be considered strictly on their
    inherent merit, on their absolute true value.
  • Despite having finished their formal education a
    long time ago, they have not made the shift from
    the world of school, where the right answer is
    sufficient, to one in which they have to persuade
    others of their ideas' merit.
  • They may even be proud of their refusal to "play
    politics.
  • Due to their rigid ways of thinking they fail to
    demonstrate their value to upper management.

6
The Peacekeeper
  • Peacekeepers are ineffective simply because they
    are afraid of getting into a fight.
  • Usually they lack the skill to argue their point
    without becoming defensive and to resume a normal
    relationship once the argument has been won or
    lost.
  • Such people act out of fear or compulsion.
  • They act by suppressing natural reactions and
    emotions and thereby increasing the tension in a
    group or relationship as unvoiced feelings or
    reactions are swept under the carpet.
  • They usually have high need for affiliation and
    want to be liked by people around.
  • Peacekeeping blocks the healthy differences of
    opinion and their resolution.
  • The peace comes at a high cost.

7
The hero
  • Heroes get the job done, but usually at great
    cost to themselves and others.
  • Heroes bite off more than they can chew.
  • Money does not attract them. What attracts them
    is the unattainable.
  • Heroes refuse to accept that anyone else can do
    the job as well as they can. So they are often
    micromanagers.
  • Though they often win the admiration of their
    bosses, heroes sometimes run into trouble for
    failing to consult them or keep them informed.
  • At the same time, when they're asked to do the
    impossible, they can't say no, or at least say
    that it will take a bit longer than scheduled
  • Heroes often suffer burnout, and their personal
    relationships suffer. Their marriages may run
    into trouble because of work life imbalance.
  • Once their reputation as slave drivers spreads,
    they have difficulty getting people to work for
    them.

8
The rebel
  • Rebels refuse to adapt to the surrounding
    culture. (In a smaller number of cases they are
    simply oblivious to it.)
  • They may see themselves as change agents or, like
    the meritocrats, proudly refuse to play along.
  • Rebels tend to do best early in their careers
    when their rebelliousness can be written off as
    youthful exuberance and in industries where
    rebelliousness is common and valued.
  • But over time, by making those around them
    uncomfortable, they become ostracized and are
    often in the end dismissed.
  • Often rebels at some point tend to say or do
    something that almost literally destroys them.

9
Mr Spock
  • Spock the character on the television program
    Star Trek expressed few emotions himself and had
    little regard for those of others.
  • A Spock makes business decisions without
    realizing the need to take into account how
    people are going to feel about them, even though
    the decisions may make sense on every other
    level.
  • Such people repress their own emotions so much
    that they cannot hear or see what others do.
  • They invade others space or respond without a
    trace of empathy when people express difficulty.
  • They have trouble in communicating effectively
    and establishing good interpersonal
    relationships.

10
The acrophobe
  • More than any other factor, people's image of
    themselves determines how high they go.
  • When people cannot envision themselves in a
    prominent position, they'll either sabotage their
    chances on the way there or do something to
    imperil their standing once, somehow, they have
    arrived.
  • Of all Achilles' heels, this "fear of heights" is
    the most subtle and difficult to spot--and treat.
  • Such people because of lack of self esteem
    undermine and hold themselves back.
  • They never rise out of their comfort level.

11
Pessimist worrier
  • These people have a completely pessimistic view
    of life.
  • They are always imagining negative outcomes.
  • They keep seeing the negative and worrying about
    it to excess.
  • They are afraid to take risk
  • They tend to procrastinate
  • They prefer to take the blame for not getting the
    job done than risk a negative judgment.
  • They have an instinctive fear of change.
  • They have over identification with an
    organisation that provides a safe secure identity.

12
Bulldozer
  • These are people who keep talking and acting
    tough
  • They are bullying people
  • They take a win lose perspective.
  • They have poor listening skills
  • They tend to do well early in their career as
    their actions are not visible to top management
    and they are effective at getting things done.
  • Over time they become unpopular loners.
  • They also make enemies who are waiting for a
    chance to get back.

13
The could have been
  • Such people are paralysed by fear of shame and
    failure.
  • The psychological consequences of slogging
    towards the summit and not making it are so
    terrible that the person is unable even to start.
  • They may start a project without too much
    preparation. If it goes well, they can claim it
    was effortless. And if it does not go off well,
    they can always rationalise.
  • When presented with a risky opportunity , they
    will decline. Their explanation is that they
    could do it if they wanted to but for various
    seemingly justifiable reasons they have decided
    not to.
  • They perceive more of a downside to failure than
    an upside to success.

14
Lacking a sense of boundaries
  • Such people dont understand what belongs to
    office and what to home.
  • They crave affiliation and intimacy.
  • They cannot wait for an occasion to share
    inappropriate information about themselves.
  • They have the mistaken belief that if they tell
    everything about themselves, others will
    reciprocate and this will lead to a close
    friendship.
  • They get involved in others affairs to an extent
    that they are seen as meddling.
  • They completely misinterpret the boundary
    inherent in boss subordinate relationship.

15
Losing the path
  • Some people have a loss of a sense of direction
  • There is misalignment between underlying
    interests and activities of the job.
  • They have a sense of powerlessness
  • They nurture a feeling of being
    ignored/marginalised/falling behind
  • They show lethargy
  • They experience stress/ anxiety/depression

16
Concluding remarks
  • The character types described above are all
    self-destructive.
  • But the situation is not beyond redemption.
  • Mere awareness can help a great deal.
  • Awareness should be followed by a disciplined
    approach to practising the desired behaviour.
  • It helps to have a mentor, coach, or confidant to
    help monitor behavior and give feedback.
  • With the right amount of self-awareness and
    motivation, habits one did not even suspect were
    causing trouble can be gradually brought under
    control

17
Thank You
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