There is a muscle, it’s called the orbicularis oculi, that does NOT obey your will. You cannot summon it’s use like your bicep, by merely flexing it. This muscle is located around the eye and it is always a clear indicator of real joy. When you see this muscle being flexed, the eyes slightly narrow and contract. Real joy is being expressed. There is NO faking it. Remember, this is called the Duchenne smile after the French neurologist who discovered this pure expression back in the 1800’s.
Today, you see a lot of fake smiles in and around our corporations. FEAR is everywhere and we are mostly hunkering down and trying not to get noticed. We are so afraid of the devil we don’t know that we are staying close to any leader that “smells” like someone with jobs to offer. We grab their tail and hang on. AND, we hope they know where they’re going…
Very few CEO’s are good at reading faces and fewer still want to invest the ten thousand hours here. The payback just isn’t there. Instead we focus on who to cut and how to cut them. We mostly pick those to cut that have the “attitude.” We mostly pick those that have strayed from our tail, those that have gotten “out of line.” Funny what we are left with…
The high performers are mostly gone and those that remain are rapidly burning out. The rest are the mediocre middle with their fake smiles, fake attitudes, and fake performances. These are NOT the creative, innovative, mavericks that are going to create the future. They are mules and you had better become a genius quickly because that’s their nose you just felt. Mules know one way forward. It’s called nose to your tail.
Remember, every leader gets exactly the team he or she deserves.
What are you reading when you study the faces of your team?
What is your team reading when they study your face?
Are you navigating through this chaos with a smile on your face because you love these people, your products, and this place?
What are you doing to gain courage for yourself and to give courage to your team?
After your cuts, do you know what attitudes you are left with?
Tell me more…
BUILT TO LEAD 