Of course, you seek feedback – from boards, advisors, panels, coaches, mentors – so you can lift your game and make the most of opportunities before they get away? But what happens when the input you get isn’t what you hoped to hear? Take this Appetite + Readiness assessment to see if you have the courage to profit from feedback – and use it to take your success to another level.
Last week, I watched a mentoring panel give three executives feedback about their enterprise growth plans and the reaction they’d likely get from potential investors and channel partners.
The first executive welcomed the feedback, took notes and summarized the key points she’d heard as takeaways and action items. The second executive seemed to listen – but at the end of the panel, asked for funding, introductions and go-aheads, without giving any indication that the panel’s feedback would ever be used. The third argued every point that the panelists made, telling them bluntly that he wasn’t going to let the panel’s criticism divert him from his chosen path and his confidence that he knew what was best for his company. A week later, you wouldn’t be surprised to hear who made the most progress – and who regarded the panel as a waste of time, even though the advice he received could have contributed substantially to his success.
Here’s what your Appetite + Readiness Assessment can tell you – so you’ll see if you’re the leader who makes the most of the advisors, coaches, board members and mentors you bring together:
Do you wanna learn – or confirm what you already think you know? Are you open to input? If you get criticism or suggestions, do you reflexively say, “Bring it on!” or “Don’t rock my world?” Are you looking to stretch and get better – or stick with your routine, keep doing what you’ve always done and hope, wishfully, that it will take you further than you’ve always been able to get?
Do you have your eye on the prize? Do you have a clear definition of “what success looks like?” Is the prize you seek important – so you won’t get distracted by your ego or defensiveness when diverse feedback-givers and potential collaborators see things differently and rock your world? Are you a snowflake (like our 3rd executive with the advisory panel) who will melt down and reject helpful counsel, if potential investors or KOLs don’t deliver key messages in ways you find encouraging and uplifting? Or will you take what is helpful – and build a relationship that equips them to build better bridges with you for the future?
Are you positioned to have an impact? Are you a linchpin who’s in a position to make a difference? Are you caught between factions who don’t see things eye-to-eye? Are you in a good position to build bridges between diverse cultures with divergent interests and mindsets, who could sharpen up each other’s thinking if they collaborate better? Do you have a mandate to step up and make a difference or do you need to get coaching on how to raise your profile, gravitas and candidacy to orchestrate important projects and initiatives?
Will you take-charge and pull through? Will you look for ways you can make improvements and raise the bar, rather than get mired in obstacles, unfair circumstances and “reasons why I can’t?” Will you make the time to do the work that your advisors, coach or mentors create – when they tell you what should improve? Will you show the grit to put new lessons to work, even if it’s comfortable at first? Will you stick with the program and persist with practice practice practice until you get it right and work it into a fluid motion? Will you implement the tools and techniques that allow you to keep others on belay and mobilize the support you need?
After you get your Appetite + Readiness Assessment – free of charge, of course – we welcome the opportunity to talk about ways you can build on your motivation to seek coaching, mentoring or advice from a panel of experts. And contribute to your success.
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Merom Klein + Louise Yochee Klein are Principals with Courage Growth Partners: Leadership Development to Optimize + Triumph, not Compromise Biz Growth and Heads of Keiretsu Leadership Forum. They coach executives on growth opportunities and adoption challenges that require them to Make Courage Contagious as they step into bigger broader multi-cultural and multi-disciplinary roles. They invite growing leaders to subscribe to their LinkedIn newsletter and test their Courage Appetite + Readiness with a free online assessment.
