Michelle LaBrosse Blogs

Michelle LaBrosse, CCPM, PMP, PMI-ACP, RYT

We can create the culture in which we choose to swim in – create wisely.

Culture by it’s very nature is the long standing norms of behavior that guide people’s interactions. I define cutural bias as the cultural attributes we prefer.  A couple days ago, I wrote a blog post on my guiding values – the leader of an organization sets the tone and tenor of the culture of their organization. If the leader feels it’s okay to objectify others, satisfy their impulsive base needs at their whim with those they find attractive, then this is going to become the prevailing culture – as abhorent as this sounds.  If this is not the cultural bias you prefer, there are ways to change it.

In the US supposedly we get to “choose” our leaders. We can argue if this is in fact true, because more often than not it seems whoever can create the largest war chest whatever way they can, can get themselves into a position to be elected as the leader, whether they are qualified to be the leader or not. Leaders, from my perspective, are not those who buy their way into power – but those who can attract intelligent, qualified, and capable people willing to help them implement their vision. The real leaders set the culture of the organizations they lead. Buying your way into power won’t necessarily make you the leader, especially if your style is counter to the majority’s cultural bias.

We all get to choose which cultures we wish to swim in – whether it be where we live, where we work, with whom we associate.  When you run a business, you do in fact get to choose your customers based on how you market, the values you promote about your business, how you organize it, who you hire to work in the business, the way you set up your business processes,etc.  You get to set up the culture of your entire operation.  I realized this over twenty years ago. It came from reading George Land’s book “Break Point and Beyond.”  In this he discusses the nature of “autopiotic” systems. That means systems are self-organized around a core value.

When you become conscious of your own cultural bias – that means the culture in which you would prefer to exist,  you can then start to consciously create it. Taking a page from George Land’s playbook, you start by defining your core value.  When I started Cheetah Learning in 1999, I set the core value as “your success is my success.”  It helped me define how I set up every single element of this business. To date we have attracted over 70,000 students who also live by the guiding mantra – your success is my success. It’s a very uplifting and inspiring world to inhabit – being a “Cheetah.” It is because of this core value that is at the cornerstone of everything we do. And the best thing about this – we do not attract those who feel elsewise – those who need to win at the expense of someone else losing, those who need to build themselves up by putting someone else down, those who need to bully their way into getting their way.  These types, they are just naturally not attracted to the Cheetah culture. Believe me this makes everyone happier (including those who love us).

Choose your own cultural bias wisely as it does decide your day to day existence. Every single Cheetah Learning course is designed to help you master the skills you need to become more successful, cheetah fast.  Wherever you plug into Cheetah, you will uplift your life in ways you cannot yet even imagine. Connect with one of our inspiring Career Counselors to see how you can expand your own success story (or to just share a great laugh – they are really fun on the phone) – 888-659-2013.

Michelle LaBrosse, CCPM, PMP, PMI-ACP, RYT

Being able to discern real from imaginary threats in business requires over riding your limbic brain and activating your executive functioning brain.

Whether you’re running a business or leading a project, there are times when you can be shaken to your core. The challenge is to discern the relevant threats from imagined threats.  Usually the imagination of what could go wrong is far worse than what could actually happen.

I developed a tool I call the “worry o-meter” to help me calibrate my senses on perceived threats. Being an empath, sometimes I pick up on another’s anxiety. I needed a system to be able to discern if what I was sensing required elevated action.  The worry-o-meter is pretty simple. I stop the internal chatter with ten deep breaths, a couple arm circles, toe touches and a quick run up and down the stairs. Then I assess the risk that concerns me. I evaluate the probability the risk would occur and then I look at the impact if it did occur.

I got to use this the other day. We had to terminate an employee for something fairly egregious related to a company computer and pornography. He was very angry, lashing out to everyone around him and engaging his family in his ire. One of the employees whom he was lashing out at, thought he saw his car pass by the office several times (it was dark out – it did not look like his car to me). But I felt myself getting anxious as well. While this terminated employee was angry, I did not feel that he was a threat. But  we do often see stories in the media about disgruntled terminated employees coming back to the office with automatic weapons and killing everyone in site so I could understand the anxiety. I evaluated the probability of this happening – it seemed very low – for a number of reasons – access to a weapon, level of emotional stability, location of the office and our ability to see people entering our space, and the existing security in place around the office. The impact – well of course the impact would be horrific.

Several months ago, I had a guy over repairing my refrigerator who over heard a conversation I was having with a family member about concerns for my father’s well being. After I got off the phone, he put a gentle hand on my shoulder and said – turn it over to Jesus.  After I had done the risk assessment, and realized, well the probability of this imagined threat happening was very low, and we had mitigated the chances of it happening anyhow, maybe the best course of action was to take the refrigerator repairman’s advice.

Discernment happens best with a clear head. The worry – o – meter helps with creating the space to assess what is really happening when your physiology is sending you into the fight or flight mode – and you are operating out of your limbic brain.  Learning how to make decisions with your higher level executive functioning brain rather than your limbic brain is what discernment is all about.

Moving from your limbic to executive functioning brain is also a very important skill to have when taking difficult tests – which is one of the skills Cheetah Learning students master that enables them to pass the PMP exam after only four days of prep in Cheetah’s Accelerated Exam Prep program.  You can learn more about how to do this by downloading the free Cheetah Smart Start Guide for the PMP.

Michelle LaBrosse, CCPM, PMP, PMI-ACP, RYT

Discernment comes from knowing yourself and aligning with your core values.

Living in Alaska I am lucky to observe whales as they travel north to their summer feeding grounds. They have an internal compass that guides them to the best locations to sustain their life. Reflecting on this. I created a mind map of my guiding values that calibrates my internal compass. This helps me stay on the life path that best sustains me.

This months theme is on the role of discernment in creating a high performing business. Discernment comes from knowing yourself. Taking some time to reflect on your guiding values is a recurrent theme in many of our Cheetah Learning courses – especially the one we call “The Happiness Project.”  For me, when I live in alignment with my core values, I’m more at peace and happier – the formula is that simple.  Clarifying core values and then developing the internal fortitude to live in alignment with them is the prize for Cheetah students who complete the 30 hour online Happiness Project course.