Class Act Characteristics
Class Act Characteristics
- Live by your own highest standards. Class acts liberate themselves by establishing personal standards of thinking and behavior that are more demanding and exacting than those of conventional society. They are consciously chosen, established, and applied…
- Maintain dignity and grace under pressure. There are three aspects of this characteristic. The first is imperturbability in the face of chaos…The second is a calmness that gives courage…The third is a quality of certainty…
- Focus and improve the behavior of others. Because a class act individual is a good role model, other people around them begin thinking and acting at a level that surprises both themselves and others…
- Operate from a larger, inclusive perspective. Because class acts are in touch with their own humanity, they have a deeper understanding and compassion for the humanity of others…
- Increase the quality of every experience. Class act individuals have the ability to transform seemingly insignificant situations into something enjoyable, meaningful, and memorable because of their conscious thinking and actions. They are creators rather than consumers, and they constantly enrich the lives of others by introducing greater beauty, significance, uniqueness, and stimulation into every experience…
- Counteract meanness, pettiness, and vulgarity. The hallmarks of this characteristic are courtesy, respect, appreciation, gratitude, and generosity of spirit…
- Take responsibility for actions and results. Class act individuals are accountable when others hide; they tell the truth about their failures, and they transform defeats into progress…
- Strengthen the integrity of all situations. Class act individuals are always establishing and achieving larger goals that require them to constantly grow and develop as well as add increasing value to the world…
- Expand the meaning of being human… In pushing boundaries for themselves, they do the same for others by giving them new freedom to express their uniqueness in the world…
- Increase the confidence and capabilities of others. Class acts are energy creators rather than energy drainers.
Influence with integrity gives you the tools to be a class act. When your skills to influence increase, your impact on others is stronger and thus your responsibility grows along with your power, for the primary outcome of organizational life is the development of people. When you influence without awareness of the other person's needs and outcomes, then you are influencing in the dark and may be unintentionally guilty of manipulation. These powerful tools and techniques are neither innocent nor guilty, but are neutral for only human beings have intentions and integrity. As we radiate the purpose-driven life, we create resonance and the authentic power of influence to create a compassionate culture. How one uses his or her access to power best determines true character as proclaimed by Abraham Lincoln:
Share on Facebook"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power."
Likeability
Are you likeable? Do you come off to most as a complete douche? I am not talking about your core friends because the old verbage, to an extent, is true "you are who you hang out with". I am talking about how the new acquiantance or how your 'social persona' is judged by people who do not ordinarily hang out with you. Do people not hang out with you for some reason?
I want to be liked by all but I know that won't happen. People will not like you for the most irrelevant reason. My mom use to ask who my close friends were and from them she could understand who you are/would be as a person. It is crazy how much of an impact your friends have on your life, habits, decisions. Really, your friends make up who you are.
Back to likeability, likeable people meet more people, have more friends, do more things.
The Harvard Business Review conducted a study to determine who people would hire: the lovable fool or the competent jerk. Here’s what they found:
In most cases, people choose their work partners according to two criteria. One is competence at the job. The other is likeability. Ask managers about this choice and you’ll often hear them say that when it comes to getting a job done, competence trumps likeability. But despite what such people might say about their preferences, the reverse turned out to be true in practice in the organizations we analyzed.
“We found that if someone is strongly disliked, it's almost irrelevant whether or not she is competent; people won't want to work with her anyway. By contrast, if someone is liked, his colleagues will seek out every little bit of competence he has to offer. Generally speaking, a little extra likeability goes a longer way than a little extra competence in making someone desirable to work with.”
So if you can enhance your performance – and, as we’ve learned, your pay as well – by being more likeable, then that begs the question – how can you become more likeable?
Here is the article from William Cottringer, a Ph.D., business consultant, college teacher, sport psychologist and writer. He lists the ten main groups of behaviors that make a person likeable.
Here are the ten:
- Be honest.
- Be humble.
- Show empathy.
- Laugh often.
- Be positive.
- Control hostility.
- Be polite.
- Act smart.
- Appear attractive.
- Listen more.
What do you look for in a person that you like?
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