Engaged For Success

It’s difficult for me to keep count of how many films I watched over the last Christmas period. So I’m sorry to tell you that I can’t tell you what film I was watching when a man told a young lady struggling to find her way in life that “We learn by doing”

To some extent, it doesn’t really mater what film it was anymore.  The important thing is that it resonates with real life – most especially as we’ve come to a new year.  The beginning of a new year which if we are to be honest, just like others we see as a special breakthrough year.  We make new years resolutions, we make lists targets. We have all sorts of aims, process – you name it, in  order to make this a better, more successful year.  We wish each other all the very best; hoping and praying that dreams will come true.

Don’t get the wrong impression, in many ways I’m in the same boat.  I do believe luck changes, breakthroughs come, dreams come true and God answers prayers.  The only thing is I also believe that more often than not there is a requirement for us to do something extra, different or differently to get that result.

I don’t know about you, but I know that sometimes I’m held back by the fear of making mistakes and getting things wrong – what if I fail? Or for some there’s the concern that others may not see our genius and believe in us.  But going back to the film that I mentioned, the truth is we learn by doing, I’m also becoming increasingly aware that if our intentions are right and we are not reckless, we’ll find that the right people will support us along the way.  I therefore intend to just put myself out there more and learn as I go along.

Critically though, I intend to do so using three key sights as I go along i.e. Hindsight, Insight and Foresight.

You see, whilst I watched a fair number of films over the Christmas period, I also did quite a bit of reading on British Social and Economic history in preparation for a new book that I am working on.   From doing so the criticality of the sights became apparent to me.

A common response to actions of leaders that didn’t quite workout the way they were planned was “with hindsight” he or should might have..   i.e. reviewed retrospectively – understanding the nature of an event after it has happened.  Or a fuller dictionary definition that I believe makes it even clearer is: recognition of the realities, possibilities or requirements of a situation, event, decision etc after its occurrence.

The truth is we don’t have the benefit of hindsight for past decisions.  However, whilst we should never dwell on it, we should reference past occurrences as part of our learning for the future. The saying that “history repeats itself” is frustratingly true when it refers to things that we’ve got wrong in the past.

Hindsight should become part of the basis of our insights and foresights to enable us to successfully move forward. In other words I believe that beyond the simple process of learning from our current actions we must learn from the past otherwise we do become reckless and  have a negative impact not only on ourselves, but also others who are affected by our actions.

I believe our insights or intuitive understanding provides us with a grasp of the inner nature of things comes partly from our inner being, but also from our understanding of past experiences.

If we take the above and marry it with a bit of foresight i.e. planning and mental preparedness though there is still a bit of a risk we have a good basis for pressing forward and for greater success.

Wishing you all the very best for 2012

Susan

Copyright 2012. This document is the specific intellectual property of Susan Popoola. Content may not be reused or reproduced without the specific permission of the owner or a reference to the source. Opinions may be generated

I once received a testimonial that stated amongst other things “Susan is a delight to listen to and debate with. She questions anything and doubts everything.”

I didn’t like this at first because while I’ve come to realise that I do analyse everything by default but at the same time I trust people, expecting the best of them unless I find that their story just doesn’t add up or they do something directly to me or someone else that betrays that trust.

Then there are those people that I just connect with at some level due to common interests, values, visions, experiences or something less tangible that just can’t be defined. I trust them more because there is that connection.

There are also the people that I would virtually trust with my life or at least aspects of it. They are people that I’m confident have my best interest at heart even though they might make mistakes and get things wrong from time to time. (I recognise that without a doubt so do I)

Now moving on from there, I know we are supposed to do our own due diligence, but when people I really trust introduce me to someone they know or make a referral, the person that has been introduced has more credibility with me then if I’d just me them on the street. I suspect most people operate on these bases.

As a result of this, I’ve been feeling somewhat concerned following a few conversations I’ve had with friends whereby feedback not provided on experiences could potentially lead to the heightened risk of further problems in the future.

I first started really thinking about this when I met up with a friend for drinks a few weeks back. Sally was feeling fed up with people taking her for granted as she had just terminated a business relationship with someone who was good at what he did but never delivered to agreed timeframes. She had found it difficult to terminate the relationship with James, because a close associate had introduced him to her. What, however, made things worse was that when she spoke to her associate about the situation he admitted that he knew the problems with James, but thought she could manage things. What her associate failed to realise is that by not giving Sally a true assessment of James he had virtually set her up to fail.

It was against this backdrop that I subsequently met with Peter for lunch. The last time I met with him he had been raving non-stop about Simon who had done some work for him. Noticing that Peter didn’t once mention Simon during the course of the conversation, I asked him how Simon. To my surprise he virtually started spitting venom speaking about how Simon had duped him and how he was lucky to of got of lightly.

Knowing that a mutual friend had introduced Simon to Peter, I asked him whether he had let the introducer know. He responded he hadn’t provided any real feedback because he didn’t want to cause any upset. What he forgot is that without the feedback the introducer could very easily introduce Peter to more people that he knows.

The lack of feedback also extends into employment situation when we don’t tell an employee that he or she is not doing well because we don’t want to cause upset. The only problem is that by not providing feedback we rob the individual of the opportunity to improve, to gain promotion and possibly get good bonuses.

So maybe it’s time that though with sensitivity we all start providing feedback where necessary.

Copyright 2011. This document is the specific intellectual property of Susan Popoola. Content may not be reused or reproduced without the specific permission of the owner or a reference to the source. Opinions may be generated

She looked at him contemplatively – wondering how he would respond. Then still looking at him in a somewhat cowed position she removed the scarf to reveal the scars.

He stared but not with the look of disgust that she had anticipated that would lead him to look away and find an excuse to walk away. Rather there was a look of amazement and awe on his face.

As he continued to stare she gradually began to sit tall as she realised that it was time to wear her scars as marks of conquest and beauty. Time to take her place and shine.

Selah

Copyright 2010. This document is the specific intellectual property of Susan Popoola. Content may not be reused or reproduced without the specific permission of the owner or a reference to the source. Opinions may be generated