Your 1st responsibility of the day: overcoming all the negativity implanted into your subordinates brains the night before

Do you own a television set? Have you seen what they show on it?

Because chances are, the people who work for you were watching TV last night. You should know what they’re putting in their heads before coming to work.

Of course, we already know the answer to that: according to the folks at parentstv.org, by the time your employee turned 18, s/he already witnessed 200,000 violent acts, including 40,000 murders. On TV.

Every night, that number ticks upward. Unless your employees are above the gratuitous violence (and sex, let’s not forget sex!), in which case they may be experiencing news about an imminent economic “crisis” (that according to the POTUS), lying politicians, war, poor educational systems, bio-hazards, terrorism… or maybe they’re filling their heads with people getting voted off certain teams; engaging in dangerous and often degrading activities in the name of a few bucks; the most recent dalliances of talentless celebutantes; or the ravings of partisan hacks and hucksters posing as talk show hosts.

Whatever it is, it ain’t goodness. This is the stuff on your employees minds when they go to bed, and whether they’re aware of it or not, it’s what’s still on their minds when they get to work in the morning.

So ask yourself, when your team shows up in the morning: what do you do to help them reset their brains? Your employees spent a few hours last night visualizing worst-case scenarios and training themselves to expect sensationally bad outcomes. Do you offer more of the same, telling them all the bad things that will befall them if they don’t listen to you, too?

Do you offer a respite in a crazy world, or do you build loyalty by providing a beacon of hope in our weary world?

You have the power to change these people’s worlds; it’s a responsibility you should take seriously. Do it right and it will have material impact on your results.

Tomorrow I’ll talk about how… it’s easier (and harder) than you probably think.

Source