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Coach Vickie Bevenour, PCC 

February 2014

This Newsletter


... is a quick tip ezine for Managers who believe in "Results Derived from Within"

Written by: Vickie Bevenour, a Professional Certified Coach, PCC

 

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Coach Vickie Bevenour
919-303-4780
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The RDW Group, Inc.
114 Partheni Court
Cary , NC 27519

February 2014: Who Is Your Real Inner Leader?  

 

Happy New Year to you, I hope that 2014 is your best year yet. In order to get you to think about the year ahead, I would request that you look backward. Please let me explain....

I have been intrigued by the book What I Know Now: Letters to My Younger Self by Ellyn Spargins. This book is a culmination of wisdom that extraordinary women wish they had known when they were younger. What an extraordinary concept.

Before we share what these fabulous women said, I would request that you take a minute and think about what wisdom you would want to share with your younger self. You could think about:

Where are you in relation to your past?
What are your concerns?
What are you trying to accomplish?
What is holding you back?
What is the one thing that is going to pull you forward?

What does this exercise have to do with unleashing your inner leader? Everything!!! The vast majority of these successful women tell their younger selves to break the chains that are holding them back. Overwhelmingly they tell their younger selves to believe in themselves; to believe that what they bring to the table is exceeding valuable. They tell their younger selves to: trust yourself, your instincts, your dreams and your desires, because they are the way that you will morph into a great leader and an extraordinary person/leader.

Below are examples from this book:

Ann Curry, News Correspondent for Today told her younger self that it was time to be bold about who you really are. In her first job in a six man smoke filled newspaper office told her that she could not carry the camera. She went on to change her looks fighting the fear of being a half Japanese outsider who never fit in. The older Ann tells her younger self that she is happy being a maverick, being opinionated but not judgmental. The older Ann promises that if she has faith in her real self, she will suffer less. You will not waste valuable time that or could spend on more important things. It is time to be bold about who you really are.

Gerry Laybourne who spent 16 years at Nickelodeon, then at Disney and left to start and be CEO of Oxygen Media told her younger self to turn off the radio station in your head that points out your failures. This was during the time that she was leaving a nice "safe job" at Nickelodeon to jump into a Wall Street driven quarterly measured corporate culture that hadn't yet really bought into her ideas. In her letter to her younger self she said that the Golden Rule is "above all to remember to be your own best friend. Turn off the radio station in your head that points out your failures."

Mary Matalin, who served two presidents and is political commentator, wrote to her younger self that "there really is not one true way to career success". She believes that one needs to appreciate their abilities and trust your instincts. If your instincts are saying "something is wrong in paradise, then there probably is a problem". Your instincts are early indicators of both good and bad. "Trust yourself, believe in yourself and hang in there for the ride."

Joyce Roche, after some time at Revlon she was lured back to Avon to be the first African American women to be an officer at the company. She was then invited to be the CEO of Girls Inc. inspiring over 500,000 girls to be Strong, Smart and Bold. She begins her letter to her younger self by stating that she never set out to be a pioneer, yet here she is breaking all kinds of barriers and being successful. Yet no matter how successful she becomes the fear of being "discovered" as an imposter always hangs over her. That deep seated fear that she was "never supposed to be here". The threat of failure scares you into these long hours. Yet success only intensifies the fear of discovery. Stop. It. Now. You're not an imposter. ...you deserve a place at the table....so relax and enjoy your success."

Lee Ann Womack states that when she looks back from where she sits now, she realizes that there are no limits to herself and her career. That was not the case when she was 29 and in the studio cutting her first album. She states that at that time she was: "afraid that :you'll do something wrong, the songs might offend somebody, the songs will not appeal to enough people, the songs won't work on the radio, you'll get up to bat and strike out". She ends the letter by telling her younger self to make the songs that she enjoys and the rest will come. And of course, the closing comment is if you get the chance to watch on the sidelines, or to dance.....make the choice to DANCE.

What do all of these successful people have in common? Of course that they are successful and yet they have some deep seeded inner doubts. We all have them, that little voice inside of our head that consistently tells us that we cannot do something because we are not good enough, smart enough, tough enough, and physically "right" enough. And yet, each of these fabulously successful people agree that killing the doubt and increasing the trust in yourself is the best way to overcome that pesty voice in our heads.

For 2014 I would request that you take it a step further. If there is something that you want to do, in 2014 figure out what is holding you back and address it...HEAD ON. Pull on your inner leader and understand your values, strengths, skills and past accomplishments to build a platform for future success. Drag all of those positive attributes that you have kicking and screaming to center stage and let the world see what you can really accomplish. Who knows, you might even surprise yourself. Congratulations, but turning down that negative radio station in your brain you can truly accomplish your goal in 2014 and derive results from within. 

 

Yours very truly,

 

 

Coach Vickie Bevenour

919-303-4780

 

 

*To review any of these past newsletters, please visit the Newsletter section of www.CoachVickie.com

 

Professional Certified Coach and a member of the International Coach Federation

 

 


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