Getting far

If you’re a marketer and can only talk to marketers, you are not going to get far.

If you’re a salesman and can only talk to sales folks, you are not going to get far.

If you’re a developer and can only talk to developers, you will still have job security, but you are not going to get far.

If you’re a strategist and can only talk to business people, you are not going to get far.

Build networks instead, inside and outside of your turf. Learn to speak different languages and to talk to different people. Be a mediator and an initiator.

That’s when you are going to get far.

Follow through

The difficult part is not taking a decision. The difficult part is to follow through with the decision.

That’s why we end up in meetings to discuss the same things over and over again, to reassess, to reconsider, to go around the table. That’s why we feel stuck, incapable of progress, lacking development and purpose. And that’s why we feel frustrated, we frustrate others, and we eventually drift away in the wrong direction.

Reality is in the middle

Two sure ways to get stuck.

  1. Blaming it all on the others.
  2. Blaming it all on yourself.

Reality is always somewhere in the middle. The only way to move forward to find the new beginning is to acknowledge that others are not out to get you, and that you are not that bad after all.

There’s always a way.

Humiliation

Rejection does not have to go hand in hand with humiliation.

No matter how frustrated we are for the situation, no matter how much we have pondered and considered and reviewed, no matter how much time we have lost. In the moment when we deliver a decision of rejection, history is meaningless, and all that matters is helping the person we reject to maintain their face and rebuild their confidence, so that they can move on and do fantastic things.

In fact, rejection is more easily accepted when it does not come with humiliation attached to it.

The wrong thing

We all feel fear.

Fear of rejection, fear of abandonment, fear of not being useful enough, fear of being let go, fear of the unknown, fear of being alone, fear of no progress, fear of judgement, fear of failure. And probably, a thousand other fears.

We all feel that. We do.

And the problem is when that fear begins to drive action.

Failing to disclose something important during the hiring process because we might get rejected.

Telling a seemingly unimportant lie to ensure we can hide for a little longer.

Putting others down to allow our work to shine.

Turning a blind eye on a detail so that we can continue uncontested.

There is nothing more natural than fear. Embrace it rather than reject it. And make sure that, despite the fear, you will still do the right thing.