There is a saying in poker “if you don’t know who the patsy at the table is, you are the patsy.

And it’s not any fun being the patsy.

The other players take advantage of you, and you lose a lot of money.

Being a patsy isn’t just limited to playing poker.

The same is true for many professionals. They finally get a seat at the leadership table, but often come ill-equipped to play the game, or choose to ignore the culture and organizational politics part of the game.

But as Peter Drucker said, “culture eats strategy for breakfast.”

If you show up to the table and don’t know how to play the game, you are automatically the patsy.

That’s like showing up at the poker table not knowing how to play poker. That’s stressful!

Some leaders think you don’t have to deal with the culture or politics part of the game, acting like a bull in a china shop that breaks a lot of shit.

But that’s like a player at the table making up their own rules and trying to convince everyone else they are wrong and need to play by different rules.

And still others think they can just be consistent in what they do and ignore situational awareness and emotional intelligence.

That’s like playing the odds of the two cards in your hand without considering the cards on the table, or the people you are playing against. 

Who bluffs? Who doesn’t bluff? What ‘tells’ do people have?

Now I am not suggesting you just put your head down and follow the rules blindly. You know I’m all about being uniquely you, but you don’t even know the rules how can you create your own unique way to play?

You’ve got to build a solid foundation before you start building a custom home.

How much less stress would you feel if you:

• Know when to hold ‘em
• Know when to fold ‘em
• Know when to walk away, and
• Know when to run

And now you can with Navigating Culture and Organizational Politics: https://bit.ly/3ONbSlA

So quit being a patsy!

How about a full house, aces high instead?

I recently re-connected with a friend of mine, with whom recorded a podcast episode with that you will hear in the next month or so.

It was great to talk with her again after almost 10 years. We picked right up where we left off and have had several great discussions together, where I got caught up on her career and life.

One of her life’s mottos is “serve those who need me, not those who lead me”, which you can guess sometimes ruffled the feathers of the stiff and serious executives she worked with. She speaks her mind. See why I like her?

What really pissed me off… some of the insensitive and bone-headed ways she was treated by some of her peers and executives.

They sent her to a very well known executive coach for several days “training” on how to act more like an executive. She was told not to use words like: fabulous or fantastic, smile less, she should be more serious, use different body language, dress differently, etc…

Three days of getting emotionally beaten up and being told who she is, wasn’t good enough.

She was also led to believe that by doing those things (and acting more like the kind of executive they wanted) she would qualify for a promotion when her boss left, only to find out the day before her new boss joined the organization, that she was passed over for the promotion.

Yep, they told her to change, she did, and then they pulled the rug right out from under her and closed the glass ceiling.

It was common practice, and still is unfortunately in some places, when a person acted differently than “normal” people they were considered “crazy” sent off to an asylum and given electric shock therapy or a lobotomy. The thought was if we can’t control them, let’s use electricity to subdue them or cut our a part of their brain, and then we can control them.

Unfortunately, organizations are still giving many of their employees the equivalent of a lobotomy by trying to make everyone the same, easy to control. A lot of corporate leadership training is really like sending people to the asylum, and…

That shit has to stop.

Are you tired of being told you are not enough, or have to change who you are to be a “real” leader in your organization?

In fact, think about the great leaders history that you respect. Did all of them conform and act like everyone else?

You don’t need to have a corporate lobotomy and act like a robot or clone to be successful.

And now, you can finally learn how to have executive presence without conforming in this new course:

Executive Presence for Professionals™
https://jasonmefford.mykajabi.com/executivepresence

I put it together to help you, and all the people who feel like my friend.

Revolutionary professional who want to smash the glass ceiling without conforming.