Podcast Summary
Disruption, Personal Growth: Disrupting ourselves and identifying strengths are crucial for personal and organizational growth. Frustration with common sense tasks may indicate a hidden strength.
Disruption is a process of deliberate self-innovation, which involves rewiring your brain and building new neural pathways to step into a better version of yourself. Disruption is essential for personal growth and innovation, as we are wired to grow but cannot do so without disrupting ourselves. Identifying strengths can be challenging, as they may be invisible to us due to their reflexive nature. To identify strengths, observe what exasperates you, as frustration with common sense tasks may indicate a strength in that area. Disrupting ourselves and identifying our strengths are crucial for both personal and organizational growth. Matt Abrahams, a strategic communication teacher at Stanford Graduate School of Business, and Whitney Johnson, a keynote speaker, executive coach, and author, discuss these concepts in depth on their respective podcasts, Faster Smarter and Disrupt Yourself. Check out their podcasts for more insights on disruption and personal growth.
Identifying strengths: Discovering and embracing our unique strengths can give us a competitive advantage and help us contribute in a distinctive way. Look at what excites you and what people compliment you on, and lean into these strengths rather than dismissing them.
Identifying and embracing our distinctive strengths is crucial for personal and professional growth. We often overlook our strengths because they come easily to us or because we don't value them enough. However, these strengths can give us a unique advantage and help us contribute in an idiosyncratic way. To discover our strengths, we can look at what excites us and what people compliment us on. It's important to own and lean into these strengths, rather than dismissing them, to maximize their value. A great example is a non-native English speaker who can translate from their native tongue to English. They may dismiss their language skills as not good enough, but in a multilingual environment, this skill can be a distinctive strength. The S curve, a concept popularized by Everett Rogers, can also help us understand the journey of growth and the importance of embracing new experiences, even when the predictions of what it takes to reach mastery are inaccurate at the start.
Growth S-curve: Understanding the predictable S-curve pattern of personal and professional growth can help individuals build new neural pathways, increase accuracy in predictions, and avoid plateauing by taking on new challenges
Personal and professional growth follows a predictable S-curve pattern, with distinct phases of launch point, sweet spot, and mastery. At the launch point, dopamine levels are low, and growth may feel slow and uncertain. However, understanding that this is a normal part of the process can help build new neural pathways and increase accuracy in predictions. As growth continues and skills are mastered, dopamine levels spike, leading to feelings of exhilaration and rapid progress. Eventually, mastery is reached, but to avoid plateauing, individuals must disrupt themselves and learn something new. By recognizing and accepting the normalcy of each growth phase, individuals can give themselves permission to take on new challenges and bring fresh perspectives to organizations.
Navigating emotional terrain of self-innovation: Understanding new neural pathways, embracing ambiguity, and viewing ourselves as explorers help cultivate tenacity for self-innovation. Leaders foster constructive dialogue and emotional connections to adapt and persist through disruptive change.
Fostering tenacity and embracing ambiguity are essential for navigating the emotional terrain of self-innovation and disruptive change. By understanding that new neural pathways are being built, and viewing ourselves as explorers, we can cultivate the tenacity needed to persist through the challenges of doing something new. Leaders play a crucial role in encouraging constructive dialogue around disruptive ideas by creating a safe space for team members to share their feelings and experiences. This vulnerability builds emotional connections, allowing for productive discussions focused on the ideas themselves, rather than the individuals expressing them. Remember, not every S-curve is the right one for us right now, and it's essential to remain open to variations and adapt as needed.
Emotional connection in communication: Understanding audience's emotional needs and expectations, building psychological safety, using stories for cognitive entrainment, and inspiring change are key elements in effective communication.
Effective communication involves emotional connection, understanding your audience's needs and expectations, and using storytelling to create cognitive entrainment. Whitney Johnson, a leadership coach and speaker, emphasizes the importance of building psychological safety through emotional connection and openness. To tailor messages for varying audiences, she first understands the functional and emotional jobs people need and wants her to do. She then sets expectations with clear introductions, uses stories for cognitive entrainment, and ends with inspiration to help audiences feel prepared for change. A communicator she admires is Jacob Collier, a musician who collaborates with others to create something fresh and magical and turns audiences into a choir, engaging them in the experience. These principles can be applied to any communication situation, whether it's a keynote speech or a one-on-one interaction.
Effective communication ingredients: Focusing on the person, being present, validating, and repeating back are key to effective communication. This focus ensures both parties have a transformative experience.
Effective communication is about creating a shared experience that unites and transforms people. Musicians, like the speaker's example of a choir director, have the power to bring people together through their ability to create a container for communication that is uplifting and participative. The key ingredients for successful communication include focusing on the person you're speaking to, being fully present in the moment, and validating and repeating back what you hear. These elements all hinge on the notion of focus, ensuring that both parties are fully engaged and able to have a transformative, disruptive experience.