“Can Attitude be Changed?” - Professor M.S.Rao

"Our attitudes control our lives. Attitudes are a secret power working twenty-four hours a day, for good or bad. It is of paramount importance that we know how to harness and control this great force." – Bland Tom   

The former Southwest Airlines CEO, Herb Kelleher once said, “We can change skill levels through training, but we can’t change attitude.”  It is not correct.  In fact, attitude can be changed the way skills can be honed. To some extent, changing the aptitude or upgrading the aptitude levels of the individuals is more challenging task. However, changing the attitude, and building the attitude is an easier task as people change with the changing times.  William James rightly remarked, "The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind."

When we look at both talents and skills, talents are inborn as individuals acquire by birth while skills can be acquired over a period of time through observation, learning, experience, and practice to name a few. Here attitude is the way people perceive the situation or the people around them.  It can be changed through teaching and training.  When people set their goals they focus on their goals thus removing the negative thoughts they have. Research reveals that people get 60,000 thoughts on an average in a day and mostly they get negative thoughts. When they set goals they can remove the negative thoughts and replace with positive thoughts. In addition, there are a number of merits with goal setting.  People stay focused as they set their goals. They will be able to mange their time effectively by finding out the time wasters as they have set goals for themselves. They can enhance their longevity and above all, they can provide meaning to their lives.  Hence, setting goals is one of the means of changing one’s attitude and building a positive attitude. 

There are several companies that emphasize on attitude while recruiting its talent. Google, Apple, Southwest, and The Four Seasons are some of the global companies fall in this category. They believe in the slogan, ‘hire for attitude and recruit for skill’.  Hence, the job aspirants must understand this fact and build positive, right and strong attitude to grab the employment opportunities, and to succeed in their professional lives.

“The block of granite which was an obstacle in the pathway of the weak, became a stepping-stone in the pathway of the strong.” - Thomas Carlyle

Professor M.S.Rao

Founder, MSR Leadership Consultants, India

Email: profmsr12@gmail.com

Blog: http://professormsrao.blogspot.com

Born for the Students

Dear readers,

I would appreciate your comments about this article.

Copyright©2012 MSR Leadership Consultants India. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.

This is an educational blog for free sharing of knowledge, not for commercial use. Please don't cut articles from my blog and redistribute by email or post to the web. The use of this material is free provided copyright is acknowledged and reference or link is made to the Blog http://professormsrao.blogspot.com  This material may not be sold, or published in any form, or used in the provision of business services to a third party without permission.