DAVE FULLER ON BEING AGGRESSIVELY POSITIVE

I was 21 the summer the accident happened.

I was working on a farm and my boss and his family had gone off to the lake. I was left with a list of chores that included clearing out a culvert on a dam that was being plugged by beavers. I thought that this would be the perfect task on a hot afternoon and headed over to the dam to do the job.

When I got to the dam, I saw that there was a cover on the culvert that was being plugged by the beavers. I lifted the cover, propped it up with a stick, got my rake out, lay on top of the culvert with my head between the cover and the culvert and started pulling the sticks and debris from the culvert.

It was only a couple of minutes before the inevitable happened. My rake knocked out the stick that was propping the culvert cover up and it came slamming down with the force of the water of the dam, pinning my forehead against the steel edge of the culvert. I tried in vain to lift the heavy cover against the force of the water with no luck.

I like to think I am pretty positive, however after yelling for help for a couple minutes, I came to the realization that there was not much hope of anyone rescuing me. My head was really starting to hurt and I was worried that I was going to pass out. I understood that if I didn’t get myself out of this situation, things were only going to get worse. I said a short prayer and then with all the strength I had, I forced back the log frame of the cover against the rushing water and lifted it off my head and stood up, blood from my head spraying everywhere.

We have all experienced similar situations where it seems like the forces of nature, the economy or our poor judgment have put us in a difficult position where we are not sure if we are going to survive, financially, socially or even physically. In leadership and business, because of our need to take risks we are likely to experience difficulty where we have our back to the wall.

Being aggressively positive means that when we get into those situations we are determined to succeed and work hard to accomplish that success.

In this context, being aggressive is essentially playing to win. It means that we move forward with intent and that we work in a manner that enables us to succeed through our direct actions and those of our team. Aggressive doesn’t mean putting down others or succeeding at the expense of others, however it does mean that we are doing what we can to ensure that we achieve our goals. This might mean asking suppliers for the best pricing and doing everything ethical to get that big contract or large sale.

Being positive means that we believe that we are going to succeed in our endeavors. We cultivate a positive mindset that we are going to get through the tough times, that we are going to be able to drive our sales up, increase our profits, reach new customers and get our organization on track.

In order to be aggressively positive as an organization, we need to involve our team. Without buy-in from the people in our organization, we will never be able to achieve what is necessary in order to survive those tough times. We will face opposition and doubters both inside and outside the organization. However, unless we deal with that negativity and put an end to it, it will be difficult to ensure that we have the positivity necessary to succeed.

Aggressiveness without positivity can result in some poor decisions. When we are aggressive without the positive outlook also needed by our suppliers and our customers, we can come across as a bully. Bullying as we know doesn’t work well in the long run in our personal lives or in our businesses.

My accident could have been substantially worse had I not been both positive and aggressive in dealing with my situation. Over the years in business, I have had to have the same aggressive positivity when faced with competition, economic downturns and adversity. I have always tried to involve my team in developing solutions and celebrated successes. In hindsight, I probably should have celebrated more and better recognized those that contributed to the successes of some of my previous endeavors.

When we believe that we are going to succeed one way or another, and don’t limit ourselves to relying on only one option, our chances of achieving results go up substantially. Business and leadership can be difficult but when we put our minds to it and bring our team on board in a positive manner, the world is our oyster.

In the words of Henry Ford, “Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you are right!”

Mindset is everything, being aggressively positive can set you apart from your competition and allow you and your organization to meet almost any reasonable targets or goals - God willing!