What’s the one thing you’re afraid of at work?
For me, it used to be the fear of being wrong. I would overanalyze. I’d beat myself up for mistakes. I’d shy away from the tough questions.
Not that I’ve grown to love being wrong, but I’ve learned to live with it. How? Continue reading
I can’t believe I didn’t have it on the list because this is so important.
You must always have a plan B.
Vera Wang – a woman who saw an opportunity in a market where people paid a lot of money for poorly designed dresses – one’s wedding. She transformed the niche of bridal dresses to become designer – elegant, streamlined, simple. Remember the stretch tulle dresses that everyone was wearing for a while? Read her bio to see her long list of accomplishments and passion for excellence: in education, jobs, and sports that got her where she is today…a $1B business.
As someone who has stayed relevant for 45 years, and continues to expand her business, she has some wise words to say:
“I remember, with every decision I make, there is a repercussion.”
“In the end, it’s not about failure, it’s about how much you love what you do. If it gets you up in the morning, gives you a reason to live, a reason to be excited, that’s the greatest gift that any passion can give you.”
I recently had a conversation with a young woman who felt that she might not be authentic because while she was a Type A personality, she was also somewhat shy. I understood how she felt…both of us are Asian females, which I think has something to do with it. Continue reading
So, I don’t really buy the “millenials are so different from us” hype.
I remember being their age and being annoyed and frustrated by the exact same things they don’t like. They get frustrated working in repetitive, boring jobs. They want feedback. They want to work for great managers. They want to accelerate and progress their careers as quickly as possible.
This is a tough skill to master, but absolutely critical. This is figuring out the right balance between “inspecting” vs “expecting”. It’s knowing when you need to ask the questions, and when you don’t. It’s giving people enough latitude without micromanaging, but not so much latitude that you’re an absentee manager. Continue reading
So there are five things that I can pretty much guarantee will make your manager nuts. I’ll translate what your manager is hearing when you use them. Continue reading
Someone sent the following to me. Thanks J!
“Managers light a fire UNDER people.
Leaders light a fire IN people.”
“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.”
It’s easy to avoid antagonism, arguments, aggressive people. It’s much easier to conform and be politically correct. But if you want to learn, lead, and innovate, you have to be brave.
Being brave is always about two things: 1) speaking up and 2) taking the unpopular, but what you believe to be right position.
This is an interesting article by Peter Thiel, who co-founded PayPal, among other achievements. He talks about how great companies succeed, not by competing with each other, but by being so good at what they do, no one can provide a substitute. I think this is also how people succeed: not because they compete with each other, but because they are great at what they do, and because not many others do the work necessary to come close.
He also talks about the problem of conformity “We never really push the envelope; we never really ask the tough questions.” I love the last line of his article: “And remember, we live in a world in which courage is in far shorter supply than genius.”
So don’t let the moment pass by being silent. Speak up. Be brave.