By Mel Kleiman, President, Humetrics
Make it a practice to tell your people that the things you need them to do are hard, even when you know the tasks at hand are easy. Here’s why:
Rabbi Chefitz had all the Cub Scouts sit in a circle with a big tom-tom in the center. He beat a particular rhythm on the drum and then asked if any of the boys wanted to try it. Every hand in the room shot up.
The rabbi asked the Scouts, “Before you try, do you want me to tell you it’s hard or it’s easy?”
“EASY!” they all yelled in unison.
“If I say it’s easy and you can’t do it, how would you feel? What if I say it’s hard and you can do just a little bit of it, how would that make you feel?”
Without missing a beat, the boys answered: “Tell us it’s hard!”
