Spank me hard and call me baby
A few days ago, I told you how I fell in love after a business dinner.
What I didn’t tell you is that I received an award earlier that night. In fairness, I almost forgot about until I pulled it out of my mobile office backpack today.
It’s the illustrious baby’s bottom award, for being “smoothest in times of crisis”.
I bring this up because it highlights a key lesson that people overlook far too frequently.
And that lesson is…
One person’s opinion on a weakness may be seen by someone else as a strength.
Let me explain what I mean.
Since the time I started interviewing for my first real job in college, one of the main critiques I’ve gotten has been about not showing enough energy or urgency. I remember emailing a Johnson and Johnson interviewer for feedback, and I was lucky to get it. It was short and to the point. “We didn’t feel like you really wanted it.”
Later it was “I feel like you’re not excited to be here.”
But as I started taking on higher pressure jobs, something else started to happen. I started hearing other things like, “I appreciate reliable you are.” or “Your calm demeanor is a real asset to the team.” or “You really remind me of a baby’s butt.”
That doesn’t mean I don’t have room for improvement but it’s not as black and white as I used to think it was. I gotta be honest with you though — I didn’t come to this realization on my own. A partner once told me that understanding this balance when it comes to personalities was the best advice he was ever given.
I imagine if he never passed this on to me. I’d be racking my brain trying to figure out how to rewire its inner workings. But once I heard it, I felt a sense of relief. That’s one of the main benefits of having a good coach.
If you’re looking for a coach that will help you sleep a little bit easier at night knowing you haven’t made a boneheaded mistake, I know just the place you can get one. You can thank me later: