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The Martial Arts of the Mind
Moving people sometimes requires a different approach
Fifteen years ago I was invited to teach a course on “Innovation and Business Growth” at GE’s Crotonville Management Development Center for 75 high potential, business superstars of the future.
The GE executive who hired me was a very savvy guy with the unenviable task of orienting new adjunct faculty members to his organization’s high standards and often harsher reality.
My client’s intelligence was exceeded only by his candor as he proceeded to tell me, in no uncertain terms, that GE gave “new instructors” two shots at making the grade — explaining, with a wry smile, that most outside consultants were intimidated the first time they taught at GE and weren’t necessarily at the top of their game.
I’m not sure how you say it in Esperanto, but in English what he said translates as “The heat is on, big time.”
I knew I would have to raise my game if I expected to be invited back after my two-session audition was over.
And so I went about my business of getting ready, keeping in mind that I was going to be leading a 6-hour workshop for 75 of GE’s “best and brightest” flown half way around the world — high flying Type A personalities with a high regard for themselves and a very low…
