As many of you know I got my start as a touring Musician. I’ve often said that being a musician prepared me for career in Sales because I learned to handle rejection extremely well. People ask me all the time about lessons that I learned during the years I spent touring the country, writing songs, recording them, and I can tell you for a fact that I would not have the success I have today without my experience as a musician.
One of the most powerful lessons was having someone else that I trusted enough to share my creative vision and understood what it would take to get where I wanted to go.
My guitarist and song-writing partner Donnie was that partner, and I learned to trust him implicitly. Together we wrote hundreds of songs and recorded many of them, but one of the rules we had was brutal honesty. If the idea sucked, then it was the obligation of the other party to say it, no sugar candy coating, just the truth.
Conversely it was the other’s responsibility to never allow that honesty to cause hurt feelings or internal problems. If you felt strongly enough about the idea you were given the opportunity to make an argument and if it was compelling enough then we work through it. Ultimately we both had to come to an agreement that it was good enough before we would present it to the others guys in the band.
That was a rule that served us well, because it allowed us to sort through a lot of ideas quickly, and efficiently. There were no egos, no fights, and the final product was always much better as a result.
In my coaching practice I find that so many leaders do not have that person in their organization. Someone who is willing to be brutally honest with them, provide unfiltered feedback on their thoughts and ideas. As you can probably guess, the business suffers as a result. In fact, before I begin to work with a new coaching client I have them answer this important question. “Would you prefer I tell you what you want to hear, or what you NEED to hear?”
Of course, they always choose- Need to hear.
To which I respond- Be careful what you wish for!
This week ask yourself these valuable questions:
Who do your trust in your business?
Are they able to be brutally honest with you?
Do they tell you want you want to hear or what you need to hear?
How do you respond when they are honest with you?
Is your ego getting in the way?
If you do not have that person in your business and in your life, you are limiting yourself, your business, and your ability to get to your next level.
If you do, make sure you share with this person just how much you value them and their ability to be completely honest with you, even when it might be a bit uncomfortable. Remember, nothing great usually happens in your comfort zone.
Cheers to you and your continued success
And finding someone you trust,
One Quarter Turn at a Time
Thought of the week:
Trust is like the air we breath- when it’s present nobody really notices- when it’s absent, everybody notices. -Warren Buffett
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