Since the earliest origins of civilization, much has been written about attitudes and continues to be written about attitudes. Philosophers such as Aristotle to scientists such as Einstein to business icons including Zig Ziglar and Jack Welsh, understood the affect that attitudes have upon the daily performance of each individual.

In the mid to late 20th century, educational psychologists, training and development consultants and learning specialists all identified that Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes (K.S.A.) are critical to performance improvement from the classroom to the boardroom. However, the emphasis on knowledge and skills always seemed to override attitudes.

Several years ago at a national conference, a colleague, David Herdlinger, made a new connection with the K.S.A. by constructing a quadrant and placing the letters K and A on the top followed by S and H (Habits) on the bottom. His efforts created the K.A.S.H. Box which I expanded to the K.A.S.H. Box for Sustainable Change. I added a Change Drawer or box under the quadrant because the purpose of a cash box is to hold change.

When individuals or organizations are facing change in performance from learning something new to adopting a new program, the emphasis is on the left side of the box -- the Knowledge and Skills. Yet, when analyzing why change was resisted or why there was performance failure, the answer is more often than not due to poor attitudes and habits -- the right side of the box.

Growth in the change drawer is directly tied to the attitudes within the individual and the organization. Great attitudes when married with Knowledge and Skills create additional revenues or interest within the change drawer. Conversely, poor, negative attitudes drain the change drawer and have a negative affect on the bottom line.

Attitudes are the hidden interest factor for any individual or business. Successful individuals know this to be true and leverage their positive attitudes toward building their own personal and professional development. For the question at the end of the day is not whether I know it, but do I want to do it? And as always, the choice is yours to have an attitude of joy or one of misery.