Watch a Master at Work

One of my clients was recently concerned about her defensiveness at work. She's worked incredibly hard and become very successful but still feels the need to prove herself at every opportunity. The behaviour that has got her so far is now in danger of getting in her way and needs to be changed.

I asked her if she knew anyone who she really admired - someone who has achieved great things without the need for external validation. She had no problem finding a suitable role model and went off to have a conversation with him to see what she needed to change in order to be more like him.

The lesson here? If you want to be the best, learn from a master. Watch great leaders and ask yourself, "how do they do that?"

Think of all the people you admire and work out exactly what it is that you would like to learn from them. If it's confidence you're looking for, find a confident person and watch what they do - ask yourself "How do they look and sound? What are they doing differently?"

If it's listening skills you want to improve, find a good listener and ask yourself the same questions.

Why bother re-inventing the wheel when the answers are all around you? Try it out and let me know what you think.

At Last - A Bit of Sense

I was scanning the Daily Telegraph this morning and happened across a fashion article about Sir Paul Smith. According to Celia Walden he is Britain's most successful designer and his brand has doubled its turnover in the past five years, delivering a 15 per cent rise in profits to £150 million in 2008.

The interesting part of this story (apart from being an amazing success story in the midst of a recession) is Sir Paul's attitude to the fashion industry. He admits that he "prefers the creative process of designing and selling clothes to the idea of putting on a poncey fashion show" and describes the process as "pure, self-indulgent theatre - providing lesser designers with their 15 minutes of fame".

Here is a perfect example of someone who believes in himself enough to stand apart from the crowd and allow his talent and vision to speak for itself. You may be thinking that it's easy for him to say all this now that he's so successful - but perhaps it was precisely this attitude that made him so successful?

The lesson here is about developing an inner strength, fuelled by your values and beliefs (rather than superficial status and ego), as a way of navigating yourself to the top of your game. Perhaps the key is to learn from a master and don't worry too much about what everyone else is doing.

My first lesson

Welcome to my new blog - I'm not quite sure what I'm going to be saying yet but I've decided it's time to leave my old newsletter format behind and embrace a new way of working. My life is moving on at such a pace that I've recently found myself resisting the one thing that I spend my life helping everyone else with - change! It's a comfort zone thing and I know that it's what we cling onto when our boat begins to rock - it's also the thing that stops us from exploring new avenues.

Like I said, the destination of this blog is currently unknown but at least I've begun the journey and I'm so happy that you have chosen to join me. What's my first lesson? If you always do what you've always done then you'll always get what you've always got - so let's dip our toes in the water, try out something new and see where it takes us.

Till next time....................