I recently flew to Oakland to spend the day with a new client.
It’s always cool for me to peek into a company’s culture, work environment, leadership style, etc
I tend to walk away from these experiences having learned something new, or an old idea reinforced.
My latest visit was no exception.
During my visit, I had an opportunity to spend a good chunk of time with a really smart, thoughtful, and innovative guy.
We spoke about his product, go to market strategy, exciting new partnerships and love for building things that have a positive impact in the world.
We also spoke about the challenges that come with being an entrepreneur – the risks, running a team, having to always be nimble and flexible.
Having these moments of reflection with clients is invaluable; it gives us both time to pause, listen and learn….
…..and when the client is honest with him/herself throughout this process, it allows him/her to create a much stronger sense of self-awareness.
In simple terms, self-awareness is acknowledging and taking ownership for how you respond to the world.
In this case, my client was feeling frustrated by something one of his colleagues said to him.
Prior to getting into the details of his story, he paused and said to me, “I’m not sure if this is my ego getting the best of me, or what it is, but this situation is really bothering me.”
At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if it was his ego or not, what’s important is that he refrained from pointing the finger and blaming the other person for his upset, and basically said, “what’s my role in this thing?”
……..He recognized his upset, wanted to explore things further and was willing to take responsibility for his emotions.
He exemplified what it means to have a strong sense of self-awareness.
As for me, it proved to be a wonderful reminder to always look inward first when something is bothering me — to be willing to explore further and take responsibility for my actions.
Not always easy for me, but inevitably part of my journey.
Does this come easy for you? Are you able to reflect and take responsibility for your emotions when you’re really pissed off?
Perhaps you’ll have a few opportunities to practice this week!
Lucky you!! 🙂
