The Wrong Three C's...Counter, Control and Criticism.

Character Comes With Good "C" Management Techniques.

In the world of success, there are elements that bolster the process for achieving success.  Those are the components that every business owner hopes to see happen on a routine basis.  Also in the world of success, there are elements that show up that deflect the chance for increasing success.  Those negative things slip into the process and they tend to thwart how success can occur.  Business owners would like to see these kinds of things disappear more often.

Unfortunately, sometimes the things that slip into the way of success come onto the business scene unnoticed.  The business leaders do not always see them coming.  Some of the deflections to success come disguised in unnoticeable ways.  They come onto the business scene with little fanfare but do great damage to the process of success.  The arrive in disguise.  That is why many business leaders do not easily recognize these disguised villains.  They come onto the business scene unnoticed.

I have written a few pieces that describe the three C's.  These are the three C's that should be avoided in business leadership.  They are; condemn, criticize and complain.  These three things can kill business leadership with their eyes closed.  They are cancerous.  They will easily suck the life right out of the vitality of the enthusiasm your business needs to have happen.  Avoid these three C's like the plague.  They are a disease that will eventually take down all of your hard earned efforts to succeed in your business model.  Kick them out of your life.  The sooner the better.

With a longer look at these three C's comes a deeper understanding.  A deeper understanding that brings on another set of three C's.  This time the three C's deliver three concepts that are highlighted by these three words...counter, control and criticism.

Let's examine the first one, counter.  Counter represents the idea that whatever anyone says, shares or describes becomes part of your challenge to deliver a counter thought that attempts to over-turn what they said, believe or shared.  "Counter" thinking can become a deadly disease.  Some leaders become inoculated with this simple process.  They tend to "counter" everything others say and do.

When someone comes up with an idea, almost as soon as they share that idea, they witness the leader deliver an immediate "counter" thought to their idea.  Many business leaders make this simple leadership mistake.  They try to lead by taking charge.  Therefore they cannot have anyone else suggest an idea that may take anything away from their current leadership ways.  As a result, they must immediately kill the other idea with a counter thought as a means to deflect it, to thwart away any potential loss of control.

The effort to "counter" the other ideas is an effort to deflect control and return that control back to themselves.  This is how one of the 'wrong' three C's works against success developments.  It deflects their growth and limits success before it ever gets off the ground.  "Counter" moving becomes a big time habit and eventually any other good ideas become quietly self-suppressed by those who discover them.  Others learn to keep these good ideas suppressed because they fear the feeling of how the 'counter' attack delivers such an uncomfortable environment.  Sharing good ideas eventually becomes void.  Growth therefore retreats itself into the shadows of the quiet hallways of the business model.  Stagnation rules the business model.

In every single business model that I have been hired to repair, this effect exists.  Every single one.  It is one of the most common denominators to failure.  In every single case, the leader of those business models  practiced 'counter' controls.  Furthermore, in every single case, the leader was somehow threatened by the good ideas of others.  As a result, those threatened business leaders quietly and cleverly 'countered' every single good idea that surfaced.  Leaving their business models dry and stagnant and without any measurable enthusiasm to win.  'Counter' activities work like cancer.  They are slow to develop, they often times grow up big in an unnoticed way until it is too late and they are certainly destined to kill all business success efforts.  Watch out for 'counter' behavior...that is if you want your business to succeed.

Let's move onto the next two wrong C's.

Page two.

Remove The Three Wrong "C's" Today!

An extension of 'counter' behavior is the idea of control.  Who is in control?  That often times becomes the mantra of most business leaders.  Business leaders like to control everything.  They are in many ways, control freaks.  'Counter' measures are an extension of the desire to control.  As we have seen, 'counter' stuff is there because the business leader feels threatened to lose control.  That leads us to the next wrong C.  "Control."

"Control" in the wrong ways is control that can kill business success.  Wrong 'control' is also a cancerous affair.  It kills success with precision and silence.

I am a control freak.  I speak from a position of knowledge on this one.  Control is not always the best thing to practice.  If control is practiced in every single nook and cranny, you are destroying the grounds to have great and fertile things happen with your employees, co-workers and network of associates.  Make sure you completely understand this silent killer.  Being completely in control is not a good thing to have happen to your business model.  Even Bill Gates, Microsoft, and Phil Knight, Nike, describe in their writings about how having too much control can be a detriment to business success.  Take a hint from these great business leaders.

Control of everything is not always a good thing to try to do.  Let go of the steering wheel once in awhile.  Once you take your hands off the steering wheel learn how to properly watch to see where your business model is headed.  See how it can develop in new ways you would never have thought it could develop.  Permit other leaders within your ranks to mature and make mistakes of their own.  Allow them the room to move and learn.  Do not feel threatened by their growth and experiences.  Their growth is your benefit.  Their growth can become the new lifeblood to new successes your business model reveals.  Permit this stuff to happen.  Get out of the way of this kind of development.  Let go of the control wheel.

The desire to control it all is the desire to squelch it all.  This is not how a good business model grows up the stairway to success.  The growth to success comes from allowing good people to become better people.  A business model that does this kind of good work is the business model that will have a lot of people on board its growing ship that are difficult to face as competitors.  Allow this kind of culture to take place in your business model.  Share the controls.  Guide them, but share them.  Get very good at controlling you, not them.  Avoid this very silent killer of business success...the wrong "C", too much 'control'.

Now for the last killer of success..."Criticism".

Wow.  How did we ever come to believe that any criticism is constructive?  The truth...no criticism is constructive.  Get well removed from this errant belief.  I use this wrong kind of thinking way too much myself.  Criticism is never constructive.  NEVER.

Refrain from using it.  It does not help build good stuff.  It destroys.  It also destroys quietly, without notice.  It, too, works a lot like cancer.  It is silent, growing and destructive.  It only shows its damage when it is well too late to do something good about eradicating the damage it has done.  It kills success efforts silently and effectively.  Get away from it.  It should be treated like poison to business success.  Criticism is one of the most damaging components to business success ever devised.  It is simply amazing how we all have come to believe that criticism can be constructive.  That simply is not the truth.  Get away from that kind of thinking.  It has killed many great business developments, many opportunities and many great relationships.  Kill the art of practicing criticism.  It is one of the most damaging of the three wrong "C's".

Avoid it at every urge to use it.  Just close your mouth and move on.  Kill the wrong thoughts that come with that urge.  Make your criticisms become very silent.  Erase them from your face, your lips and your body language.  Become very good at disguising the criticisms you feel.  Become more supportive for the right things being tried, the right things being done and the right things being desired.  Stand up and become one of those great leaders who works more on praise and approbation as your development tools to success.  It pays much better and more quicker dividends.

Get serious about how you plan to manage the three wrong "C's" in your life management.  Become a master at working them correctly.  It will not be easy work, just rewarding when you learn how to manage them better.  Your business model will reflect how well you manage these three components to success.  Unfortunately, it already reflects how you have been doing with them so far.  It may be time to make some serious adjustments to them right now.

Get rid of the wrong three "C's" and turn your success quotient around.  Today would be a good day to start work on it.

Until next time...