Ten principles of new thinking

            About seven years ago I purchased my first home at the age of twenty-two, I was extremely excited that I had the opportunity to make an important investment in my life. I knew that I wanted to get involved in real-estate since I was young and I saw this as my opportunity. I was in the military and at first I knew that this was where my family would live for some time.  Unfortunately I received the news that I would have to transfer to a new duty station a lot sooner than I had expected. I was a bit worried since I knew the home was not ready to sell since I knew it was a fixer-upper and I thought that I would have more time to work on the house.

            I figured that I would take all of the money that I saved from my last deployment and invest it into this home so that I might be able to make a profit when I sell the home. Eventually I figured that I would rent the home since the housing market had crashed and I knew I was not going to get my money’s worth. I found someone who I thought would be the perfect renter; I later found out that I was very mistaken by choosing this person to live in my investment. As soon as I moved out of state to my next duty station she was always late on rent, and I later found out that the furniture that I had let her borrow was destroyed by her cat. Eventually I was tired of her not being responsible and decided to evict her. This is when things got bad, she ended up becoming a squatter in my house and stopped paying rent.

            I was twenty-four years old at this time supporting two different homes and a new born on the way. This conflict was extremely costly, a lot more than I preferred and I eventually had to let the house go to foreclosure. This was a very costly conflict but it was a huge learning experience; if I had the Stewart Levine’s ten principles of new thinking I know things could have been different.

            I think that if I would have believed more in my product, which is my home; I could have sold it right from the beginning instead of trying to rent the home out until the market came back. “Believing in abundance” (Getting to Resolution pg. 47) is one of the ten principles of new thinking. When you believe in your product enough to where yourself and others can get what they need; your product will seem like it is worth much more.

            Another principle I could have used is the principle of “Creating partnership” (Getting to Resolution pg. 47) and “forming long-term collaborations”. These are principles that anyone in the real-estate business should definitely consider. By collaborating with others I could have found a way to get cheaper labor and probably have completed many more projects. If I would have been able to network to a more extensive level then I know that I could have gotten much more value out of my house then I originally thought.

            Throughout this whole process I learned a lot, the ten principles of new thinking require you to learn and be open. I feel that I should have been more optimistic throughout my process, I needed to be more open throughout this whole ordeal. I feel that the new way of thinking is a way to open up the possibilities which many times people in the past might have missed out on. Making decisions and handling conflict can be a lot easier to handle if we can adapt a new way of thinking. Stewart Levine gives us a good map to follow when pursuing a much more successful outcome. 

 

 

 

Reference:

Levine, S. (2009). Getting to resolution: Turning conflict into collaboration (2^nd Ed.).San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.

 

 

 

 

             

             

Protected Values

            Protected values, my way of understanding this is that these are decisions which I make that will never change. I will never have to think twice about making these types of decisions because these are part of my personal values. These values are imbedded into who I am and I can never waiver from holding these protected values to the highest regard. I know that I want to be a successful person but I also have limits to what I will do to attain these goals.

            This is a good subject to go over because it seems that many times once someone gets a taste of success they can become addicted to this feeling; avoiding the thought of selling your soul to become richer is one which must be talked about in business. We have to have boundaries which will not be jeopardized for the sake of some extra earnings.

            With that being said I have given great thought to what my own protected values are as I have become an adult. Some of these values I picked up recently and I think that as a humans, the older and more mature we get the more important our values can become. One of my values which I have gained and would like to have the strength to stand for in my future; would be to have any products which I ever produce to be American made.

            Far too often we forget the importance of having pride for our country and supporting our country. I do see the importance in participating in the global economy but I also see that our nation is weakening because more and more citizens no longer have a sense of pride for their country. If I was to ever become a manufacturer I would make it a point to make sure that I tried my hardest to have American made products. Many people see the negative in this because it might not be as cost effective and it might hurt some of my company’s profit; but there is also a lot that a company can gain from having American made products.

            If we think about which country has one of the largest populations with at least a high school diploma, I think that the USA would definitely be amongst the top countries. It is weird to me that we purchase so many items from countries which only have good educational systems in place for the wealthy. Another reason to support USA products would be the fact that many buyers do have pride in their country and like to rally behind a quality product even if it cost a bit more. It would bring me great pleasure if I knew that I was contributing to our economy and keeping more jobs in the USA to make us a stronger country.

            Another protected value of mine which I know I will not waiver from is being able to not take advantage of the less fortunate. We always hear about companies taking advantage of everyday people which do not have much to offer. How many times do we see these payday loan companies making a fortune off of people who are down to their last dime and their last choice? I think that it is insane to charge someone over twenty percent in interest for a loan that will be paid off within two weeks. This makes me sad because you see people and families who cannot get out of a financial hole because they are reduced to these types of options. If I could provide a service that would charge half of the interest that these other companies are charging, I think that I could make a huge difference by sticking to my values.

            Companies in today’s day and age are ruthless and business men can also follow suit. I have seen too many examples where people will make deals with others knowing that a bad business move will not only hurt this person but it will hurt those that should be left out of their loved ones mistakes. Many times we see families use their children’s credit to apply for loans and many times these creditors know exactly what is going on. One value which I would never compromise is brining family members into a problem which might go south. As business person I might miss out on a lot of money but at least I would  know that my conscious would be clear and I never let my strayed from my values.

            I think that many times we all need to stop and remember why we got into certain businesses and who we were when we were just getting started. In life, even outside of business there are certain values which do not even require a decision to be made because these are part of our values. Dan Gilbert talks a lot about the decision making process which we have, he talks about the irrational decisions which we might make. These irrational decisions are due to many of the values which we have, rather we make good decisions or bad decisions our values and our protected values play a large part in the decisions that we make.

 

Reference-

Hooch, S., & Keunruther, H. (2001). Values and Decisions (1 st ed., Vol. 1, p. 45). Hoboken: John Wiley and Sons.

 

 

  

Deception In Negotiations

            Negotiating, this would be one of my weak points in life because sometimes I feel that I am just too nice to be a good negotiator. It is hard for me to lie or mislead a person yet I know that it has to be done from time to time to get an advantage when trying to make a deal. During negotiations there are many ways to try and evaluate information, it is important to evaluate all of the information so that others do not take advantage of you. I know that I am not the type to mislead someone in a negotiation but I do know that I have learned many lessons in life and I do not let others take advantage of me during a negotiation.

            In our Wharton text it talks about the different ways to evaluate information during negotiations; one that I found very important was establishing trust. This in my opinion might just be one of the most important techniques, I feel that this is important because if we do not trust the person we are making a deal with than nothing will get accomplished. This is why when you go to those small used car dealerships many times deals are not completed unless the buyer has their own issues like horrible credit and they need someone to sell them a car.

            Paying attention to non-verbal cues, so it is said that some people are able to detect when others are lying. This would be a very great tool to have when in the process of negotiating, clues to look for would be increased blinking or changes in respiration. If we had the power to tell if someone was lying this would increase the chances of establishing trust and it would also increase the probability if making good deals throughout life.

            Keeping records and getting things in writing, if we lived in a perfect world this would not be necessary. Unfortunately we do not live in a perfect world and it is very hard to establish trust with a complete stranger during a negotiation. This is also a way to keep future negotiations from going sour, if everything is in writing than there is no confusion and no room left for arguing about a past negotiation.

            Ask direct questions, this technique might have saved me a lot of grief in the past, sometimes it is important to drop the barriers and ask direct questions. We all try to be as polite and as nice to people during negotiations as possible but there does come a time when it is best to ask honest questions no matter whose feelings get hurt.

            I recently purchased a 25,000 dollar car from a used car lot, they seemed credible and they only sold high end cars which made me feel more comfortable. As soon as I drove twenty miles off of the car lot my brand new car showed the transmission was malfunctioning. I was told that this repair would cost me 8,000 dollars, I was very upset by this. The person who sold me the car at the used car lot was unwilling to work with me at first, this made me even more upset. The next day I called the owner and told him that they were not going to rip me off and I told them that I would have every news station from the Dallas area in front of their lot and that they would never hear the end of this.

It seemed that my negotiating tactics worked and they decided to fix my car, I did have to go to great lengths to get my point across but it seemed like I was left with no choice. Negotiating can be difficult but sometimes it is a necessity, to avoid situations like the one from the used car lot I will keep these techniques in mind to get the fairest deals possible.   

 

 

Reference:

Hooch, S., & Keunruther, H. (2001). Deception in Negotiations. In Making Decesions (1 st ed., Vol. 1, p. 196-197). Hoboken: John Wiley and Sons.

 

 

 

           

Frame Blindness

 

            Frame Blindness, this most likely occurs a lot more often than most people would believe. To have frame blindness means that you are most likely not seeing yourself or your organization how others are viewing you. This can lead to catastrophic failure, to not see what you are doing wrong with your organization is the true meaning behind frame blindness. When an executive thinks that there work is complete and is overconfident with their work this can lead to an organizations growth stalling.

            What I am taking from this week’s reading is that according to the “Wharton” text we need to continue to understand that our organization always has room for growth and it can sometimes be good to never feel like you work is complete. I have seen it all too often in my life when people who are over confident usually end up losing because they cannot see their flaws or they lack the ability to ask for someone else’s opinion.

            Fortunately for us; Wharton’s text on making decisions comes with a solution to this problem which we call “frame blindness”. There is a way of managing these frames to avoid the “traps” of frame blindness, for us to manage these frames we need to take a step back and understand that we must analyze our own work from time to time. To avoid these traps one step which we must take as leaders is to see the frame by conducting a frame audit. As I mentioned before this is when we take a step back and create a picture to see our frame, I see it as a critical thinking session on paper.

If we can surface our frames than we can understand the elements, the important features and the optional features of our frame. Taking the time to create an illustration of our frame will put our ideas and our work into perspective. I recall a time when I was a lot younger and I was going through an intense air traffic control school in the military. I had eight hours a day of air traffic control being crammed into my brain for ten straight weeks, it was a very tough school with a test each week which decided rather or not you would be able to advance each week. I knew that I needed to create a strategy so I made a chart that would surface my frames and present my different challenges visually. Creating this chart helped me organize my thoughts, find what was important for me and then put my plan into action.

Creating this frame audit helped me in many different ways, this frame audit also helped me Identify and change inadequate frames. Not only did presenting my work see what I was doing right, it also helped me see what I was doing wrong; by seeing what I am doing wrong I am avoiding the trap of running into overconfidence and the illusion of completeness. I feel that many times I am lucky in life, I feel this way because it is easy for me to see and admit to my mistakes. This has not been an issue with me I can remember many times in life where I have been put in charge of a situation and I still ask for the opinions of my subordinates. At my job I am in a unique situation because my title has given me the opportunity to be in charge of people that might have been working for the company since I was in diapers. I do understand that I am in charge but I am also able to lower my pride and ask the opinion who has been working in the field for a much longer time than me. If we can identify and change inadequate frames than we are avoiding many of the traps which people in charge can fall into.

The most important step to avoiding frame traps in my opinion is to master techniques for reframing. When I left for boot camp at the age of eighteen I was thrown into a world which I did not understand; I know that the first couple of weeks of boot camp are meant to break me down. After boot camp was done I then understood that I was broken down to the core and the remolded to become the person that I am today. This is what we need to do when reframing, we need to find the good and the bad in the work which we are doing and then master the technique of reframing ourselves and our work.

When I think about what this exercise has taught me about myself I think about what has made me who I am. As I mentioned before I am not the type of person who is not overconfident or blind to my mistakes. I usually am the first one to admit when I have done something wrong and I am always looking to hear the opinions of others. Some might see this as a weakness but I see it as a strength, I am constantly challenging myself and trying to improve myself as a person and a leader. Every year I have improved myself and my goal is to never have the illusion of feeling like my work is complete.

 

Reference

Hooch, S., & Keunruther, H. (2001). Reflective Versus Expedient Decision Making: Views From East and West. In Making Decesions (1 st ed., Vol. 1, p. 109). Hoboken: John Wiley and Sons.