On September 8th and 15th I wrote about the need for Focus. Today I want to urge you to put much of that focus on what you and your organization already do well - and on how to do those things even better.
Mark Howell writes an intriguing and thoughtful blog about strategy, leadership, vision and mission. Last Monday Mark wrote about Peter Drucker's reminder to focus on opportunities more than problems. Drucker wrote that we tend to get pushed into focusing on problems, and distracted from the positive opportunities that were there for the taking.
John Kotter has written that "painting a compelling vision of the future" - in other words, a positive view of the opportunities the future will bring - is one of eleven keys to successful change.
In Now, Discover Your Strengths
And I showed, in my post about how to give feedback, that it is as important to give effective positive feedback as it is to give effective negative feedback.
What Howell, Drucker, Kotter and Buckingham all have in common is a reminder to spend the bulk of your energy and passion on developing strengths and capturing opportunities. That doesn't mean you avoid problems - if the barn is burning down, you better get some water on it. But, when you have the choice, focus on exploiting opportunity.
