“Working with Eric was a pleasure. We developed a good rapport and established a level of honesty and trust. I valued his counsel and recommendations. I find Eric to be very competent in a variety of disciplines. He is able to correctly diagnose organizational problems and suggest solutions that are on point. I found Eric to be a professional with the highest levels of honesty, integrity, and ethical behavior. I would not hesitate to engage his services again in the future.”
Kathy Lueckert,
former Corporate Services Director,
Department of Planning and Development,
City of Seattle
(Kathy is now Director of Planning and Finance for Advocacy and Communications at World Vision.)
“I've worked closely with Eric on developing and presenting the Leadership Eastside community leadership program. He has that rare blend of extensive real-world experience along with a very strong background in theory and research. He moves easily between big picture strategy and the tactical details. Eric brings a superb ability to plan, execute and follow-through, both as a behind-the-scenes planner and as an upfront instructor and facilitator.”
Annalee Luhman,
founding board member,
Leadership Eastside
Conflict and change: The blog
21 January 2009
Crime, sports and weather
A local TV news story of a young girl being kidnapped (and released without being harmed, thankfully) reminds me how single, stand-out events like this change our perceptions of safety.
We hear of a story like this and start keeping a closer eye on our kids, and warn other parents—all because we take this single event and conclude that there is now a greater danger of this happening again. These events occur pretty infrequently, and not very often for a community of millions of people.
When an event stands out like this, we tend to overestimate the likelihood and frequency of it happening again. And, that means that we might overreact and make changes in behavior that might ultimately go against our interests.
What does this mean for the influence leader? We need to guard against overreacting to events around us.
For example, if an executive shoots down someone’s idea in a meeting, we should not conclude that it’s a bad idea to share new ideas with that executive. Worse yet, if we hear stories of people failing in an effort to exercise influence, we shouldn’t assume that it’s not worth trying ourselves. Each of those other situations is unique; the circumstances vary.
You aren’t necessarily going to hear about all the successful influencing going on around you in your company. Those stories are not told again and again like the failures and shootings are.
Don’t talk yourself out of trying to influence by overestimating the possibility of a setback, based on anecdotal information.
One abduction in a community of 2+ million people doesn’t mean you should keep your kid inside all the time.
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