Attitude

Your attitude and your outlook on life play a huge role in everyday activities. Whether you know it or not, you are giving off a certain "vibe" that can either turn people away or attract them. For example, smiling is an obvious attitude. When you smile, other people know you're happy or pleased about something as opposed to clearly being upset with something. Smiling allows you to be much more approachable because it is easier to talk to someone who is happy instead of someone who isn't having a good day and might not want to talk to you or hear what you have to say. That's what I think about when I approach someone. I am afraid of rejection and will automatically be timid if the person I need to talk to appears to be in a bad mood.

This is the same for groups and group members. Groups are created to work together and incorporate everyone's ideas, which means all members must be approachable and flexible. Being in a group automatically means you aren't going to get your way 100% of the time, but pouting and being unhappy isn't the way to get your ideas included. Your ideas are more likely to be included if you are positive and participate actively in planning and executing.

I had a teacher one time who acted like she hated the world on a daily basis. It was incredibly intimidating to try and talk to her and ask questions about the material because even though, she said she wanted to help us learn, she didn't act like it. Her attitude came off as apathetic and angry, which made her unapproachable. No one wants to work with a grumpy gills. It is seriously so much easier to work with someone who has a positive outlook on life and the respective project.

As for the quote "Our attitudes are our most important assets," I believe this is completely true for the reasons I have stated above. Attitudes define whether you are approachable or not. Leaders are only effective leaders if they can be approached and are flexible. If no one trusts or wants to talk to the leader, then they chearly arent influencing anyone and they won't ever be trusted.

It's as simple as that.