Many business professionals around the globe wake up every morning and write out their “To-Do” lists for the day.  They think they are organized and well prepared and attain a feeling of self-satisfaction when they are able to cross things off of their lists. Hopefully they are truly accomplishing things at work that will yield positive business results.

All organizations and leaders intuitively understand that coming up with that next breakthrough business innovation is always going to be a challenge technically and financially.  However, most business leaders may be faced with a quiet unseen blocker to business innovation that is harder to recognize and can derail the building of a culture of innovation… the “No Mentality.”

The “No Mentality” is defined as a culture where employees seem to always say “no” to new ideas and changes for a number of reasons, sometimes valid and sometimes because they are resistant to doing something different. Or because they are not engaged and simply don’t care to make any extra effort.  Some may say this is a natural form of resistance to change, but based on my experiences working with leaders and teams I believe that the blanket acknowledgement that this is what “change management” is all about isn’t helpful to the everyday leader trying to execute a strategy.

Villanova’s win over North Carolina on Monday night will go down in sports history as one of the greatest games, and wins ever.  It was reality TV at its finest moment.  As the players received the College Basketball Tournament trophy, their coaches beamed with pride for the collective accomplishment that will last their lifetimes.  I think it is a great exercise to reflect for a moment to understand and gain knowledge and insights about the leadership we witnessed and how these observations can be used in everyday business life.

Over the past several months, I have been working with senior executives from several different industries on the design, development, and delivery of Business Leadership training programs.  During this time, I have been fortunate to have worked with leaders in Chemicals, Pharmaceuticals, Hospitality, Digital Marketing, Retail, and Professional Services on a variety of learning and skill development engagements.

In the final segment of my six part series on “Practical Leadership Insights about Leading during a Transition” I will focus on the following: