INSIGHTS (on leadership/self-leadership)
With the rate of change every industry faces, are there really any sustainable competitive advantages left?
I’d argue, yes.
Specifically, the rate at which an organization learns and grows.
The need to excel here has never been greater. In fact, research shows that in 40% of industries, the rate of change is so great that knowledge obtained just three to five years prior may already be 80% obsolete!
By the way, scholars have long held that when we see ourselves learning and growing, it creates an increased sense that we’re moving closer to our fullest potential – a tremendous source of meaning. In fact, think back to a time in your career when you were the least fulfilled and engaged – odds are it was a time when you weren’t really learning and growing – when you found yourself wondering, “Am I wasting my time here?”
And despite the known importance of learning and growing, organizations still fall into one of two camps:
Most organizations get caught in a Do-Loop; they’re Listless organizations. They do nothing but move from quarter to quarter, from deadline to deadline, from meeting to meeting – always in perpetual harvest mode with no time for planting seeds to learn and grow and renew.
The highest-performing organizations are Learning organizations; they operate in a Learning-Loop. Yes, they worry about hitting each quarter’s goals, but they intersperse tasks and timelines with intentional learning opportunities and then hold those opportunities sacred (not to be canceled by the crisis of the week).
The point is, it’s essential to hold the process and commitment to continual learning SACRED in your organization. Do you?
IMPERFECTIONS (a mistake many make)
A 60-Second Hack to Boost Self-Confidence
Research frequently draws a correlation between self-confidence and success. And yet, it’s a natural mistake we all make, letting our self-confidence fizzle. You just need a SPARK to reignite it, the acronym S-P-A-R-K, something you can review every now and then for just 60 seconds to give you a spark of self-confidence.
Stop comparing. Yourself to others, that is. The only comparison that matters is to who you were yesterday and whether or not you’re becoming a better version of yourself. Get better at catching yourself comparing to others, and stopping when you do so – it instantly eliminates irrelevant context. You can then shift to self-acceptance, the most basic building block of self-confidence.
Preparation. There’s no confidence booster that replaces the power of being prepared. I often give keynotes to big audiences and get asked afterwards, “Weren’t you nervous?” Well, no, because my preparation takes over. I quickly get into the flow. Muscle memory kicks in, and my self-confidence roars into action. Think of something you must do soon that you’re not confident about. Ask yourself, “Have I honestly done all I can to be prepared?”
Authenticity, not approval. Chasing authenticity (being your whole, true self) instead of chasing approval (being accepted by others) gives you greater control over your confidence level. Constantly seeking approval is an empty victory at best and a soul-sucking pursuit at worst, because the pursuit never ends. You’re subject to the whims, moods, and biases of others. Better to focus on being authentic. It sparks confidence from knowing you’re bringing your unique gifts to the world.
Resist catastrophizing. When you blow the size of a challenge or the consequences of a setback out of proportion, you’re directly eroding your ability to feel confident. It’s hard enough to remain confident when things don’t go well. When you unfairly exaggerate the magnitude of adversity, it weighs down a key ingredient of confidence, your optimism.
Know that you’re enough. I interviewed a hypnotherapist who told me that across all her patients, no matter their ailment, whether it was overeating, over-drinking, depression, they didn’t get that promotion, you name it– they all had THE SAME root cause to their problem. An inner voice that says, “I’m not enough.” Sound familiar? This feeling intensifies when you make irrelevant comparisons to others and gets worse still when you forget this: We think our differences make us LESSER then, but they make us GREATER than. You. Are. Enough.
So, use the SPARK acronym to reignite your self-confidence, and success.
IMPLEMENTATION (one research-backed strategy, tip, or tool)
How many times earlier in your career (or even lately) have you been assigned a big, honking goal at work and walked away uninspired? Odds are the goal was “for the man” – that is, to make more profit, to drive ten points more of sales, to deliver something that, in all honesty, you didn’t really personally connect with.
Big, stretching goals are important, of course. But if you want to make goals meaningful to people, imbue them with intrinsic, not just extrinsic value. Research from Harvard Business School shows that goals with intrinsic value are far more motivating.
You can create such goals by asking yourself a few simple questions. When it comes to the goal you’re considering administering:
• What’s in it for them?
• How will this goal connect with them personally and emotionally?
• How might the accomplishment of this goal help them to grow, and what else might it mean to them personally if the goal is achieved?
If you communicate goals with heavy extrinsic value only, you effectively say to the people in your organization, “You need to hit this goal because it’s important to my advancement,” when instead you should be implicitly saying, “Here’s a goal that will advance what I need, what the company needs, and what you need in order to derive a greater sense of meaning, fulfillment, and accomplishment in your work.”
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