Welcome to the Deploy Yourself Newsletter, where I gently provoke you to show you your own power. This newsletter is an invitation to your leadership. You can also read this issue online.
Hey,
You can do hard. You have got what it takes.
As leaders, we often try to make things easier or more comfortable for ourselves and our people.
Today I wanted to write this email to tell you that you can do hard. You are stronger than you think.
We all are.
Below are 3 recent occasions when I choose to do what was hard and learned how strong I was in the process.
- Last year an established coach asked me to reduce my prices as I was a newbie. Instead, I raised my prices and signed 2 new clients at that rate.
- A few years ago, I decided to bike 100 km at a stretch. Yes – on a bicycle and not a motorbike. Why? Because I wanted to push myself physically and see if I can do what Dutch people can do even in their 70s. In a few weeks of training, I went from never biking more than 10kms to doing 100kms in 5.5 hours of riding.
- When I decided to pivot to coaching, I asked my company to reduce my contract to 3 days a week so that I can pursue coaching in the other 2 days. They agreed. And I said NO to that – while I was literally shaking. Something didn’t feel right, and I decided to practice coaching 5 days a week, even when I was making zero revenue from coaching at that time. It was terrifying and scary, and yet I knew it was the right decision.
That is what leaders do. They do hard things because they matter to them. Not because they are easy or comfortable.
And one of the jobs of any leader is to help their team realise that they can also do hard.
If you are a leader, it is your job to help those around you realise that they are more powerful than they think they are.
Life can be hard. But you can do hard.
What “hard” thing is yours to do but you have been holding it off?
Hit reply to share your “hard” thing and I will share mine. I read and respond to every reply.
Fascinating Articles & Stories
One
Caleb Avery – “When I’m getting anxious and overwhelmed, it is because I am spending too much time on things that I have no ability to change.”
I interviewed Caleb Avery, CEO of Tilled, on the Choosing Leadership podcast.
In the conversation, Caleb shares how his entrepreneurial journey started at college going door to door when he was only 19 years of age. We spoke about how the role of a founder or leader changes as their company grows to more than 50 people. He shared the challenges that presents as you have to learn to let go and trust others, and how invests in his own learning in this process.
In the interview, Caleb shares
- my entrepreneurial journey at 19 by co-founding , uh, credit card processing business when I was in college. And started my career going door to door, selling payment processing services to small business owners over time, scaled up that business.
- a buddy of mine at the time, uh, we were talking about this idea of credit card processing and ni neither of us really knew anything about credit card processing at that particular time.
- I learned, in that experience was really, the, this idea of rejection and how to handle, the rejection, not take it personally, how to overcome those objections and really. Taught me a lot about, how to sell, how to empathize, with the people you know that you’re working with.
- it’s easy to fall into the trap of focusing on the things that, you’re good at you enjoy, and you could basically do on autopilot. Like that’s the kind of comfort zone, for an entrepreneur. And oftentimes like, that’s where you decide to go start a business.
- it’s easy to fall into the trap of focusing on the things that, you’re good at you enjoy, and you could basically do on autopilot. Like that’s the kind of comfort zone, for an entrepreneur. And oftentimes like, that’s where you decide to go start a business.
- for the organization to grow and for you to evolve, into that c e o role, you have to push yourself out of that comfort zone and say, Hey, here’s something that I need to go do.
- I’m an entrepreneur, at heart that’s what my business needs and you have to have leaders in the right roles within the organization that have that desire and intense focus.
- leader myself, empower them to have the ability to institute, follow and maintain those processes without me, getting in the way.
Listen to the entire episode.
Two
Markus Weubben – “You need to surround yourself with people who are better at things than you are.”
I interviewed Markus Weubben, Founder of CrossEngage on the Choosing Leadership podcast.
In the interview, Markus shares his story of starting as a scientist and his growth as a leader. He shares some of the important but difficult lessons that he learned along the way. He also explains how he has invested in his own leadership and now continues to grow the next level of leaders in his organisation as they scale .
In the interview, Markus shares
- how he founded his company in 2015 and their main focus was on increasing the customer lifetime values.
- In his young years, he always wanted to achieve more, he wanted to play a lot of basketball and be successful and just create things and create something out of his own hands.
- When you’re really in charge, you need to understand everything and be realistic and honest with yourself in order to see when things are not running right and when you need help.
- as an entrepreneur, one of the key things you need to do is you need to surround yourself with people who are better at things than you are not.
- I think it’s important that we focus on the learning and development aspect because times and society is changing.
- In my company, we have flexible working hours, but we don’t allow people to work at night because we believe we are humans and need to interact.
- I’m very reliable, so when I say something, I’ll get it done. If something doesn’t go well, I try to always be there
- I never demand anything from my employees that I’m not doing myself. I can’t demand anything from people that I’m not really showing.
- So when there are setbacks, it’s really about what can we do to be better next time.
- the thing that worries me in terms of maybe the business is the way that we sometimes lack to accept opportunities and innovation. We are focused on the risks and things that could go wrong if you were employing new technologies.
Listen to the entire episode.
Three
Curated resources for your leadership
Here are my best finds from all over the internet for your leadership. Make yourself tea/coffee as you read, listen and learn.
Pro-tip – Listen and read the below about YOU – not about the author. (reply back and ask if you do not understand what that means)
- Good bosses use some uncommon tricks – A twitter thread
- Leaders, Share Your Own Mental Health Story – an HBR article
- Leader as Shock Absorber
- Communication & Influence for Techies – My talk at a tech conference
- Gabriel Jarroson – “On Saturday & Sunday I’m gone. There is nothing you can do to reach me.”
- Philippe Birker – “The real skill of a leader is to acknowledge their own flaws and mistakes.”
That’s it for now. If you have any questions or feedback, or if you are new and want to introduce yourself, hit reply. I read and respond to every reply. All the best,
Sumit
P.S. – I am looking to interview more inspirational leaders on my podcast. If you know anyone I should interview, make an introduction.
(Twitter) @SumitGupta
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