My son 1st great teacher is a wise woman. She knows how to address problems in ways that completely avoid conflict and disruption, full of insight on what really is important to others.
One of the most brilliant moves she made this year with Sean was to designate him as the one who always gets to be second in line. This may not sound earth shattering, but there was plenty of conflict at the beginning of the year. Sean was constantly scrapping to be FIRST - in school, at soccer practice, you name it. It became a behavior that needed to be addressed, and my little talks about why you can't always be first didn't make a dent.
Somewhere along the line, Sean's teacher designated him as always being second in line. Brilliant move! It gave him what he needed: a routine spot that was his, close to the front. Everyone continued to jockey for first but he was always guaranteed 2nd. Granted, I was not always there to witness how this all played out in the 1st grade classroom, but the times I did watch, I was amazed by the elegance and savvy of the solution.
I have heard when it comes to google searches...it's not worth paying for first, because people check out the first 3 that come up. Getting yourself in second position takes less investment, with basically the same result.
So...when it comes to business, where are you jockeying and wasting resources to be in 1st when a consistent second meets your goals?
