Are You a Thermometer or a Thermostat?

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Sitting in church one Sunday, Experience Pastor @TaurenWells asked the question, "Which are you going to be this year, a thermometer or a thermostat"? Genius! Tauren you get idea credit. What a great thought.


Thermometers. You know who those folks are in your organization don’t you? Yes! The opinionated people with no solution. They just know what the temp or status is and refuse to do anything about it. It is too cold in here. The music is too loud. My office is too small. I don’t make enough money. That’s all my bonus is? You get it. Thermometers drive me nuts. All problems with no solutions and no action. Nothing gets to me more than to hear about what all is wrong, broken or not to their satisfaction with no input as to the solution.

Ask yourself, do you bring problems and solutions or are you only able to observe the current circumstances?

BUT! Then we have the thermostats. I love these people. If it is too cold, they find a jacket, too hot, they turn down the thermostat (did you get that? They control the thermostat!). No matter the situation, the thermostat can change it. Solution driven, looking for answers and results oriented. I love this!

Now ask yourself, are you really a thermometer or just a broken thermostat? There is hope. Sometimes the lenses you are looking through are just too dirty. Let’s clean those lenses! All you can see is despair and turmoil? Time for a good cloth to wipe down those lenses.

The more I thought about it, the more excited I became. There are actually different levels of thermostats! Yes, there are the manual ones that you have to feel the difference and then adjust but then there are the smart ones. The Nest. The Nest learns and anticipates changes in the temperature and the environment and adjusts accordingly. Wow. That is a whole new level.

That is what I want to be! Anticipate where the temp and the environment is going to be and adjust accordingly! That is proactive leadership, not reactive.

Anticipate. Where will your business be? Where does it WANT to be? Find that spot in the future and head that way. If the environment around you changes, change with it! Move your target, move the pin to the new address.

Do you want job security and to protect your future? Here is a secret. Be a thermostat not a thermometer. ANYONE can check the temperature. Not everyone can appreciate the current temperature and anticipate the change and where the temperature is headed. Assess. Anticipate. Set the temp.


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Wesley Middleton author of Violent Leadership: Be a Force for Change. Disrupt. Innovate. Energize. (ForbesBooks), co-founder and managing partner of Middleton Raines + Zapata LLP (MRZ), a tax and accounting services firm, and is also an executive team member for MRZ Financial and SKY Valuation. With over 25 years of tax compliance and consulting experience, he has demonstrated a knack for helping business owners transform their companies into growth and strategy-oriented organizations that excel in operations, marketing, technology, customer service, and workforce engagement, as well as tax and accounting services. Middleton is a certified public accountant and member of the AICPA, Texas Society of CPAs, and the Association of Accounting Marketing.





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