For the past, I don’t know, eight years or so I have had the pleasure of attending the Hills Bank Administrative Professional Luncheon. Each year they invite clients to attend a lunch and typically have excellent speakers. I love meeting and talking to real people, and at each event I have met some amazing people who aren’t typically out on the networking circuit. This year, when I got the invite, I thought…I am an owner now, maybe they just invited me to be nice, I am too busy to go… the list of arguments not to attend running through my head were countless. Most of the time, but especially this time of year, a person could schedule almost every meal time with some sort of fundraiser, luncheon, state of the city, networking opportunity, or appreciation banquet. I actually heard there is a book out there called, Never Eat Alone, that is supposed to help grow your business, but let’s be real, I can only stand to eat baked chicken with some sort of side so many times before it gets old. For the record the Hills luncheon typically has something yummy that isn’t the same ole same ole, so that alone is a nice draw. Then I saw that the corridor’s very own chief inspirational officer, Marlo Higgins was our speaker. I have heard her before and, if I am being honest, I sorta fan girl her a bit on social. (Not the stalker level so nothing to worry about) Frankly she is worth the time and effort to get there.
In typical fangirl style I arrived a bit early, I wasn’t geeking out, I promise, I was cool. There are witnesses. I found my seat, met my table host and introduced myself to the other guests. We chatted about vacations, upcoming graduations, and puppy paw parties – it is a real thing. We got to hear all about Hills Bank’s new app and the online bankers who would be manning the ship. Then it was time for our speaker. Marlo’s topic for the day was “Developing a Champion’s Mindset” (IKR – I was delighted.) As you know from my previous post, we are pretty involved in athletics at our house. I recently shared what athletics has taught me, so this topic was right in my lane, so to speak.
She took just about 30 minutes and inspired a room full of busy professional ladies, who likely had one massive food coma setting in. (I know there were a few men in the room, but for the most part I saw women.) Nevertheless, man or woman, here are a few of my takeaways that you might find helpful to your personal and professional brand:
- We are motivated by the dream and made by the routine. If we get so caught up in overthinking or perfecting the task in our routine, we will lose site of our dreams. Hold yourself accountable in your routine to be sure you are in line with the brand promise and that all the actions you are taking are giving energy to that goal rather than sucking energy from it..
- Confidence comes down to Clarity, Action, Confidence and Risk. Confidence is the key to leading yourself and your team into the future. If you have a clear action plan, proceed with confidence. The risk will never outweigh the reward. You may fail, but you can’t try and fail.
- As long as I am trying I can’t fail. You can’t try and fail at the same time. Many successful people have failed many times before they became successful, but you can’t miss if you don’t take the shot.
- Build clarity so you can take risk. If you understand the game plan, if you have practiced it, if you know how to do it, the only risk is to not do it. Spend the time to build clarity so you can say with confidence “I have something to offer and everyone wants to have it.”
- Everyone wants what I have to offer is my new #maverickmantra. What is your Maverick Mantra? Do you know your strongest trait? Whatever it is, be confident in that and repeat after me… Everyone wants what I have to offer.
“Confidence is the purity of actions produced by a mind free of doubt.” Marlo Higgins
I know the room was full, but it was like she was speaking directly to me. How did she know what I needed to hear that day? And in keeping in line with my first lesson learned about celebrating my teammates success, I thought I would just show Marlo some love. I wanted to tell her she did awesome, that her message spoke to me, and to thank her. Let’s be honest, I also just wanted to have a few more minutes with her, not to fangirl, but rather just to see if some of that Maverick ROI she was talking about would rub off on me. After the crowds died down and all that were left were the gracious hosts quietly writing hand written thank you notes, I crossed the room boldly to have a quick chat. She could have had somewhere to go, I mean I didn’t have an appointment. What if she’s like me and after she speaks publicly is literally spent and needs a nap… I didn’t know, but I needed to tell her my thoughts. I did and I wasn’t sorry!
She was engaged with me one-on-one just like I had felt in the presentation. She asked questions — not surface level questions but real questions. She genuinely wanted to know what parts of her presentation spoke to me and why. She could have easily taken the compliment and just commented about the food or the weather and went about her day. She is a published author, a professional speaker, and executive coach, and has her own podcast. But even with all that she wanted to have real, honest feedback because I believe she wants to be the Maverick ROI she was talking about in her presentation. I believe she knows people want what she has to offer. I believe she was building clarity so that she could confidently navigate the risks. I think she realized I was her demographic and was clearly enjoying her secret sauce.
If you are looking to go beyond surface level engagement with your customer base why not ask the hard questions? Be open and willing to hear the feedback. The reward far outweighs the risk.
“Risk really is what it takes to get from here to there.” Marlo Higgins
Even if I would have said to Marlo that I didn’t like what she said, I believe she was honestly ready to hear why and form some action to improve that in the future, if necessary. My feedback was obviously good, but did it line up with what she was trying to say? If not, I believe she would have worked on her delivery of the message in the future to ensure what she was trying to say was clearly communicated. We need to do this with our brands. If we plan to not just have a champion mindset but be a champion in our industries we need to be willing to have the hard conversations and take actions to get there.
Thanks to Hills Bank for everything, as always, and especially to Marlo Higgins for taking the time to help me #sparksomethingnew I walked away that day with a #newepiphany regarding #reframingselfdoubt, a #maverickmantra and helpful tools to have a Champion Mindset. Signed a #superfan.
If you are looking for an executive coach or just some inspiration I would highly recommend Marlo. You can find her on the web here, If you need help creating meaningful engagement with your customer base or taking the feedback and sparking a new champion mindset, we would love to help.
