How many psychiatrists does it take to change a lightbulb?
One. But the lightbulb must want to change first.
Self awareness is the root of growth.
On this, there are two kinds of people.
(1) Those who know they don’t know – and they are open to learning more and pushing the edges of their personal awareness zone.
(2) Those who don’t know they don’t know – but insist that what they know is the correct world view.
Those in category (2) will not really get far in professional life, and may not really know why. They may also lay the blame on everyone else but themselves, right up to the bitter end.
I’ve had to mentor many consultants in the past, and it’s very difficult to help a person with constructive feedback when their first reaction is denial.
“No – the client is wrong. My document is the best ever.”
“No – my code is top notch. The tester is being an annoying banana.”
“No – I was not rude to the dev, he’s just over-sensitive.”
Those who are unable to take candid, tactful, constructive feedback, tend to sabotage their own progress in work, and in life.
“What was the biggest failure you’ve encountered in life or work, and how did that change you?”
That’s my favourite question when interviewing new recruits.
It lets me know if the candidate is self aware, and the lessons and insights that they learned from past failures are often assets to their future undertaking.
And I’d like to be the one benefiting from that.
Be self aware.
It’s the first step to moving yourself in the right direction.
#selfdevelopment
#leadership
#coaching
#projectmanagement
#onthepeiroll