But in a world of chaos and ever changing conditions, Mr. Gates realizes that the ability to change and adapt is key to military success: What worked well in the past may now be an outmoded and ineffective approach.

Mr. Gates is pointing out a truism that US business organizations of all types and sizes have witnessed and/or experienced during the past 75 plus years: Unadaptive organizations underperform and/or fail in the long run. Companies like Sears & Roebuck, K-Mart, Pam Am, Howard Johnsons, Armour & Company, Westinghouse Electric are examples of businesses which were once at the top of their industrial sectors only to be toppled by competitors who looked into the future, adapted and out performed them. And the way their competitors did it was with adaptive leaders, not top-down managers.

So what\'s the difference between the two?

Consider top-down managers first. These managers, for the most part, are predominantly linear thinkers. Linear thinkers are rational, logical and analytical. They are mainly concerned with the present, not the future. They tend to stick with things that have worked well in the past as opposed to experimenting with the unfamiliar.

They are very organized individuals who value orderliness and predictability. They favor rules and procedures to ensure that orders from the top are followed through to the lowest level. Their mentality is that managers think, workers do (as they are told)“¦.an idea generated by the father of management science, Frederick W. Taylor during the early 20th century. This approach worked fine back then, during the early US industrial economy. But today, things are quite different. We are now living and working in a knowledge economy.

If you have ever worked for one of these authoritative managers, you know first hand how autocratic and controlling they can be. Gather a group of these linear thinkers and place them at the top, running the organization, and guess what you get? A very rigid top-down organization that does everything by the rules, creating a bureaucracy that stifles innovation and creativity making it short-sighted, inflexible and unadaptive.

Enlightened, adaptive leaders are much different from top-down managers. They tend to be more non-linear in their thinking. These leaders are more intuitive, have greater insight, and are more creative. Being more conceptual, the see the “big picture“, are futuristic oriented, possess holistic insight and emotional intelligence.

They have greater spontaneity and flexibility“”a balanced integration of rational analytical and unconventional imaginative processes. They have the ability to take a new perspective to an old complex problem and reassemble interrelated parts of the problem in novel and unusual ways leading to a viable solution. They are much better at coping with the non linear complex nature of the competitive context of our global business environment.

One would think that most of these adaptive leaders head up the newer hi-tech companies like Apple, Google, Nintendo, Microsoft and Amazon.com. But if you look at the recent list of the top 25 innovative companies recently compiled by BusinessWeek (4/28/2008), you may be surprised to find more traditional companies such as General Electric, Toyota Motor, Hewlett Packard, Wal-Mart, and Proctor & Gamble included on the list with the newer hi-tech companies. These more traditional companies have adaptive leaders who are building cultures that value creative people in good times and bad.

The good news is that managers can change and become more adaptive leaders just as traditional companies can become more innovative. As a corporate executive leadership coach, I have worked with hundreds of managers and executives for the past 20 years and I have witnessed a transformation of many individuals who have changed from top-down managers to adaptive leaders. All thinking and behavior can be changed“¦it is called learning. Through assessment, self awareness, action learning, and coaching, managers can become more effective and adaptive leaders.

In essence, my experience, research and observations have led me to conclude that the assertion, “Leaders are born, not made,“ is a myth.

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Being in control of your emotions puts you in charge of your destiny and increases the trust and respect you earn from others. Mastering emotional control gives you power when you lose it, you lose your power too.

Whether we are conscious of it or not, we decide every instant how to respond to the events of life, whether it is an insult hurled our way, a rude gesture, or an embroiling conflict. While other people or situations may aggravate, irritate, instigate, frustrate, disappoint or dishearten us, ultimately we choose what to feel and how to respond. We are completely in charge of our emotional responses. No one makes us feel anything we do it ourselves. It is our own thoughts that make us cross or us calm and centered.

When we feed ourselves anger rousing thoughts, it activates a feedback loop, circulating more anger all dependent on what we tell ourselves. If you think or say, He is acting like an idiot He makes me so angry your body will respond to your verbal cues and kick the bodys defense mechanisms into high gear. Our thoughts and feelings create mental and emotional states which influence how we related to situations and people in them.

Our anger buttons might go on alert when a certain word is spoken, a particular tone of voice is used, or an eyebrow is raised in displeasure. Countless things activate anger based on how we believe others should be thinking, behaving or feeling.

When people behave in ways that conflict with what we want, need or value our anger heats up.

Anger is not a bad emotion, however it produces bad feelings if not effectively managed. It leaves behind a trail of bitter feelings with powerfully destructive consequences, such as fueling hostility, resentment, and a desire for revenge. Anger is a natural human emotion that is experienced by everyone it can be safely expressed without being aggressive or obnoxious

Avoid heated discussions. When we feel pressured, stressed or threatened, effective communication is often compromised. We may talk faster, speak at a higher frequency, or interrupt or rattle on as a means of dominating the conversation. These behaviors put others on red alert and they are more likely to strike a defensive stance, with less willingness to listen or negotiate wit us.

When emotions heat up, switch to cool down self talk. This sends different messages to your brain, reducing the intensity of emotional reactions. It helps by changing your physiological responses an corresponding emotional state thinking cool brings down your internal emotional thermostat

I use my energy for solving problems

Stay cool I am keeping my cool

I am focused on solutions

We can work this out

I can handle this calmly

My intention is to create connection

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