The Key to Success is Knowing Who You Are

When you look in the mirror, who is looking back at you? I’m not talking about your appearance. I’m talking about who you really are. Do you know?

Many of us are distracted by external factors that we let define us; our job, our looks. We allow these things to become our identity and the way we present ourselves to the world. Sometimes we hide behind them so we don’t have to really do the work to discover our essence.

But, to get outside results, you need to do the inside work. (I just wrote that down from a podcast I listened to yesterday by Suzanne Evans.) It’s so true!

Last week the New York Times published an interview with Charlotte Beers, former CEO and Chairwoman of Ogilvy and Mather Worldwide. In this article, The Best Scorecard Is The One You Keep For Yourself, Charlotte talks about the importance of doing a self-assessment and soliciting feedback from trusted colleagues to help you discover who you are. Sometimes painful, the feedback she received helped her become a better manager and leader.

Charlotte says, “it’s a mistake to just let the quality of our work speak for itself because sooner or later the quality of your relationships will prevail over the work.”

Charlotte talks about moments of crisis. “ When those moments come along and you need to draw on resources that are internal and your personal belief system, if you don’t know what they are, others will tell you what they are.”

Self-knowledge is so obvious-sounding that I hate to use it like that, but in fact you can be masterful at doing the work and you can be good in team relationships, but one day you will be called on to have difficult, complex relationships and a different part of you has to be used for that.

Do you know what your internal resources are? Can you see beyond your reflection in the mirror to connect with your core essence?

This is the stuff that makes you unique; your unique fingerprint. This is the stuff you call on to be successful and here’s the KEY: When you know this, you can not only draw from this resource to be successful, but you can let people know who you really are and what differentiates you from others who may hold the same position or sell similar products and services.

Charlotte’s new book is I’d Rather Be in Charge and I am thrilled that she will be on my new radio show June 13^th. You will be able to call in live with your questions for Charlotte! Stay tuned for more details.

If you are interested in taking this journey of self-discovery for yourself so that you can better position yourself for success, please sign up for my next four week  GPS Your Career Coaching Group  or come to the live full day workshop in Boston, May 5^th, GPS Your Way to Success Boot Camp.