How leaders can navigate the hazardous attitudes that could crash their personal or professional lives.
By Pete Mercer
Attitudes are infectious – a good or bad attitude can almost change the temperature in the room, for better or worse. There are dozens of affirmations floating around that talk about the value of spreading positivity, but the reality is that it’s just as easy to spread negativity. Whether it’s unhealthy management, a frustrated spouse, or a negative friend on a bad day, we have all experienced that feeling of being weighed down by someone else’s negative attitude.
This is why it’s so important to keep your attitude in check. It might not be easy, but finding ways to adjust your attitude could be the very thing that saves your company, job, marriage, and friendships.
Ricky Brown is the founder and CEO of Speak Life Inc., a professional training and coaching organization, and author of The Five Hazardous Attitudes: Ways to Win the War Within. Repertoire Magazine recently sat down with him to discuss the genesis of his book, what the five hazardous attitudes are, and how leaders can trigger an attitude adjustment for their organization.
Attitude determines altitude
The initial idea of Brown’s book is based on a concept by the Federal Aviation Administration to improve the decision-making process for pilots and reduce accidents caused by human error. The idea is that these hazardous attitudes contribute to poor judgement that can have catastrophic consequences for everyone involved.
“The FAA requires pilots to know and understand five specific hazardous attitudes because of how they investigate aircraft accidents,” Brown said. “Around 80% of airplane accidents have involved one or more of the five hazardous attitudes. It’s only logical that if an attitude can crash a plane, an attitude can certainly crash a company, a career, a business, a ministry, or a relationship.”
In addition to his time spent developing leaders and pastoring a church, Brown is also a United States Air Force veteran. With this experience, Brown has seen the cliché of “your attitude determines your altitude” unfold in real-time, whether it’s with pilots or business leaders.
He said, “It’s really an issue of self-awareness. When a person has a hazardous attitude, they are often the last person to realize it – everyone around them already knows. What I have found through coaching, training, or facilitating workshops is that identifying the hazardous attitude is the big thing.”
After the hazardous attitude is identified, you can put practical steps in place to overcome the attitudes and apply the antidotes.
What are the five hazardous attitudes?
The five hazardous attitudes are fairly straightforward manifestations of unresolved trauma. While preparing to write the book, Brown interviewed several psychologists who confirmed that trauma will often lead to one or more of the attitudes, largely impacting members of leadership.
“The bridle is placed in the horse’s mouth for a reason. Wherever the head goes, so does the body. Leaders have the biggest impact – a leader’s job is to make sure they are healthy. When the leader gets better, everybody wins,” he said.
Here are the five hazardous attitudes, broken down with their respective antidotes:
1. Anti-authority: This is the hazardous attitude of people who say, “You can’t tell me what to do.” Brown said, “The antidote for anti-authority is to use your words and say out loud, ‘Follow the rules, they’re usually right.’”
2. Invulnerability: The person with this hazardous attitude knows that consequences can happen, but they don’t believe that the consequences will affect them. The antidote for invulnerability is to say out loud, “It could happen to me.”
3. Macho: With this attitude, the person has an overinflated sense of self-ability, prompting people to take unnecessary risks. Brown’s antidote for the macho attitude is to say out loud, “Taking unnecessary risks is foolish.”
4. Impulsivity: People with impulsivity tend to act before they think. Brown said that the antidote for impulsivity is to say out loud, “Not so fast. Think first.”
5. Resignation: Resignation is the hazardous attitude that causes people to prematurely end what might have otherwise been successful. Brown’s antidote to resignation is to say out loud, “You can make a difference.”
With this book, Brown has created a unique, proprietary framework for catching and combating these hazardous attitudes before they cause significant damage. He said, “At the end of each chapter, we drill down to something I call Attitude Adjustments – if you didn’t get the point during the chapter, you will absolutely get the point at the end of the chapter.”
The road to redemption
While these attitudes can be dangerous if neglected, Brown believes that there’s always a place for redemption. In addition to his time in the military, Brown has spent 20 years in ministry as a pastor and church planter, which has given him a unique perspective on what redemption can look like. Even if you have let a hazardous attitude take hold of your life, that doesn’t mean that it always has to be that way.
For Brown, the road to redemption starts with two simple and significant steps. He said, “Step one, just like with anything else in life, is about recognizing that there is a problem. From there, the best next step is finding community. If you have succumbed to a hazardous attitude, you won’t get out of that on your own.”
Accountability is a powerful way to respond to challenges. By surrounding yourself with people that you trust, accountability works as a reality check to humble you and bring you back to earth, without crashing. Brown likens the process to Alcoholics Anonymous, where you partner with a sponsor who works as a guide because they have firsthand experience of what alcoholism looks and feels like.
“The cool thing about AA is that the sponsor knows the way out because they have been in that pit before. There’s something powerful about having a sense of community and accountability around you. The reality is that you didn’t choose to crash your life – no one decides to blow up their company, marriage, or relationships. That’s why you need a community around you that can help to lift you out of the hole.”