I was asked to do a video for a leadership project for young people involved in 'Make a Wish' - Ireland by John Doran. It got a very positive response:
"Your talk is absolutely super . Talk about hitting the nail on the head!
I played it to my students today and they really engaged with it. In particular the question you pose about how do people experience you.
We can’t thank you enough , it will really make a difference."
So I thought I'd share it.
The question that I was asked to address was basically:
"What would you offer youngsters that are starting out in life?"
So of course they don't have to be 18 years old, any age would work.
Anyway, I thought I'd share.....Hope it adds value.
To find out more about Guy Bloom and his award winning work in Team Coaching, Leadership Development and Executive Coaching click below.
How are you? My name is Guy Bloom and I am the creator, author, manager of an organization called Living Brave leadership. Now. I help individuals and teams who are in essence Business Leaders on how they perform in terms of their individual impact as a leader and the way that cultures work now why that's possibly relevant. Is that over the last few decades? I have had the privilege of working with well hundreds of individuals who have been able to reflect back on their life and really understand some of the stepping stones that they've made the correct turns the wrong turns the things that they've learned and maybe I can offer some of that cumulative learning to you as you look out on your future life. Now, here's the thing. I've really come to understand some of us have a real sense of vocation. I want to be a doctor. I want to be a vet. I want to be a fighter pilot. It doesn't matter what it is. But when you know what you want to do, then the criteria for getting there are probably relatively well set out. For a lot of other people. there's a lack of clarity. There's an uncertainty there's almost like going into a clothing store and saying well it all looks very nice, but I don't know which one of these things is going to suit and fit me. So I think for some people there's a sense of I have absolute clarity about what I want to do and in the trying on clothes analogy what I want to look like and therefore what I'm going to wear and then for other people, I'm not so sure, I don't have that clarity and I following that metaphor through I've got to try things on I've got to see if they fit me and here's the one thing that I've come to understand success really doesn't come from having the clarity at a young age around what you want to do. The most important factor is the kind of human being I want to be because what is absolutely clear. Is that dependent on what it is that you decide to do in life you want either capable of doing it or you are not you may have an instinct around it which means it comes easy to you. You have to work really hard to get the craft and the competence to be able to do it. But once you have in essence put a tick in the box that says I have the competence or people can see that I will have the competence in this thing to maybe employ me whatever that is. Well, actually there's quite a lot of people that can fulfill that criteria. The real question is for an organization. For example, do we want this person to come and work for us?, do they look as if they're going to be able to fit into the team?, are they going to at sometimes do what it is that they're told but also hold their ground and have a opinions and offer their thoughts into the room?, they're going to be submissive or they're going to be a troublemaker or they're going to be somebody that can find the balance of realizing that now is the time to contribute but now is the time to hold space on a thought or an idea of be curious and to bring challenge into a room?. So here's the thing it is the individual mechanics of you as a human being that will always shine through there are thousands of people millions of people that can do a thing. But whether or not you want to be associated with them whether or not people want to connect to you whether or not people want to support you and help you in those endeavors. Well, that's not going to be necessarily just about your competence that's going to be about the experience of you. So that's the one thing I'd like to offer you. If you know where you're going to go. Well go there and don't be afraid to change. I often deal with people that have spent a lot of time getting into a roll and then suddenly think I should I don't know if this is the thing for me. Well, don't be afraid to change and if you don't know what you want.fine, that's okay. But here's the thing as you try these things. Try your best obviously try and be the best at it. I absolutely am a believer that if you want to make cupcakes just make the best darn cupcakes that there are and there will be people that want to buy them from you. So whatever you're going to try your best at it. Try your best at it and if you try one, two, three things. That's okay. Don't be a quitter. Dont be somebody that gives up too quickly. But put the effort in, it must make sense to you. Go for it. But here is the defining factor. It is the experience people have of you. It is your reputation. It is in essence your brand, it is the story of you that people will be talking about and we'll want to associate with so work on yourselfreflect. Keep a journal. Seek the opinion of others. How did I do there? How am I doing? What should I pay attention to? Where did I have real impact maybe where was I not so effective? Do not shirk, do not be scared of, do not be fearful of seeking feedback and doing something about it from people that you respect and if you don't like receiving feedback. Push yourself become comfortable asking those questions. How did I do? What could I have done better? Not everybody's going to be right not everybody's going to be accurate. But if you ask enough people, there will be a balance of opinion that you can then work with. So those are my thoughts. I hope it helps and I wish you absolutely every success.