| |
| |
| |
Business Rule #12:
Stay True to Your Vision
November 25, 2004
(PAGE 3 of 3)
All of these opportunities are great, but you can’t let them steer you away from your overall vision or goal. Kelly demonstrated just such tenacity in his leadership this week in designing a new bottle for Pepsi Edge. Sure Kevin and Ivana may have had solid ideas, but they weren’t the winning idea. Kelly’s was. Kelly had the confidence to drive forward with his vision and his teammates followed him loyally. The key here was confidence.
Entrepreneurs often feel that they have to have a great deal of confidence in a new business venture. That is not necessarily true. People underestimate themselves all the time. They listen to that little voice of self doubt that whispers and sometimes shouts in their brain telling them all the reasons why they can’t do something, why they shouldn’t even try. I believe there are two voices: the voice of reason and the voice of self doubt. The voice of reason is common sense; the voice of self doubt is your past leading your future. The voice of self doubt can stop you from reaching your fullest potential.
I made a conscious decision not to let my past dictate my future, something that a lot of people do daily. I grew up in an average middleclass home. There’s nothing wrong with that. In fact, there’s everything right with that. I worked for everything that I have. I learned solid values. A great deal of that came from my parents. My father was not entrepreneurial at all—hardworking, yes, but not entrepreneurial. He worked for the same steel mill for most of his life until the plant closed three months shy of his getting a full pension. He earned a stable living that supported our middleclass lifestyle. All in all, it was a good life.
| |
| advertisement |
 |
|
| |
| |
Nothing in my upbringing would have prepared me for what I’m doing now. But, by the same token, everything in it did. I believe that it is up to each of us to let go of the memories and the scars of unsupportive fathers, hypercritical mothers, ridiculing friends, nay saying teachers who labeled you from the first day of school, unscrupulous co-workers who take credit for your ideas, and the mean boss who refuses to allow you any upward mobility in your company at all. Everybody has negative influences in their life and every one of us will have lots more. Look at Hollywood as an example. What’s an E! True Hollywood Story without the struggles and tribulations of the featured celebrity? Everyone must rise from challenging situations and that’s what successful people do. They decide to get beyond their past, whatever it may be. I’ve chosen to accept my humble upbringing, learn from it, copy what was good (such as my father’s tenacity), and realize that the bad things only make me stronger.
The stronger leader wins the fight. Every time. If I may, I would like to suggest that you read The Art of War by Sun Tzu. Here you’ll learn the fundamentals of surviving in the concrete jungle and developing your leadership skills in an out-of-the-box manner. A great read for the philosophical mind.
Well, that’s it for this week. Good luck in whatever it is that you decide to do. Just be strong and persevere until you make it to the top.
Until next time,
LaVelle Ward
|
|
The voice of self doubt is your past leading your future. The voice of self doubt can stop you from reaching your fullest potential.
