Are You Brave Enough to Become Wildly Successful?
Contributed by Dr. Jane Linder, President, Progress Board LLC.
A few weeks ago, I was addressing a gathering of the Finance Women’s Association in New York City. They invited me because of my book, Spiral Up, which talks about the surprising lessons we have to learn from wildly successful initiatives. It turns out that conventional “good management practice” seems to be exactly the wrong way to go if you want to accomplish amazing things. So the brought me in to share some good stories and counter-intuitive advice.
At the end of the session, during that milling around time when everyone is feeling inspired and energized, I was chatting with two African-American women. One said, “I loved your talk. But I’m not sure I have the courage to follow your advice.”
I responded, “How did you get here? Was everything handed to you in your life?”
She said, “No.”
I asked, “Was it all terribly easy for you?”
She said, “No.”
I said, “You have all the courage you need.”
What was stopping her? Like most of us, she was well-trained, experienced and ready to work hard. But she had the same five common misconceptions that many women have about what it takes to shoot for the moon.
First of all, she thought she needed the courage to change the world. It turns out that champions of wildly successful initiatives take on big problems, but they attack them by mustering enough courage to take a good, solid next step. One self-made leader counsels us to make sure the vision doesn’t get in our way. In other words, we should reach high, but be happy to take small steps to get there. Any good contribution will do.
Second, she thought she needed the courage (and foresight) to plan all the activities that would take her from where she stood to her end destination. She couldn’t have been more wrong. Champions of wildly successful initiatives all say the same thing about this misconception: “If I had planned it out, I never would have done it.” Our heroine just needed the courage to carve out enough space to begin.
Third, she thought she needed the courage (and discipline) to acquire all the skills, knowledge and experience she would need to be supremely capable at working her chosen wonders. Oddly enough, many champions of wildly successful initiative are doing most of what they do for the first time. They tell us that, at the start, they had absolutely no idea how to do what they had signed up for. I’m not arguing for incompetence, but it seems that wild success is more a product of high energy, strong will and open mindedness than repeated experience.
Fourth, she thought she needed the courage to give up her current job and income and risk everything on a big bet. Of course, some people with big accomplishments are “all in” entrepreneurs, but many are doing what they do in the context of their day jobs. For example, one young woman who worked at a large consulting company had a taste for social entrepreneurship. She didn’t leave her firm. Instead she convinced the higher-ups that they should allow her to use consultants who were “on the beach” (company jargon for people who were not staffed on a billable project) in pro bono consulting projects for non-profit organizations. She also recruited students at local business schools to round out the consulting teams. Over time, her venture became substantial enough to become her full-time job.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, this young woman thought she needed the courage to motivate all the people from whom she might need help. Make no mistake; champions of wildly successful initiatives absolutely do energize other people. And accomplishing amazing results is never a solo game; it’s a team sport. But folks will bring their own energy and enthusiasm with them if you give them the chance to be part of something meaningful. You just need the courage to take volunteers.
Our heroine was right about needing one particular kind of courage. People who work wonders maintain a sense of optimism that lets them keep trying when others give up. Whether being upbeat is part of their character or they’ve learned to believe in the possibilities, this one trait of wildly successful people is unmistakable. Like most high-performing people today, this woman had already cleared many hurdles and wasn’t finished. As I said, she already had all the courage she needed.
For more information, contact Jane at jane.linder@progress-board.com.
