One of the things I love about Link4Growth is that it brings together people from such varied backgrounds – and that in those varied backgrounds is a treasure trove of knowledge, experience and perspective waiting to be unlocked.
At a recent Link4Growth board meeting, one of the attendees was Chairman of a business valued at over £4M. Sat across the table from him was someone who, at a low point in her career, had taken a job on the tills at her local Tesco to make ends meet.
As the Chairman went into the details of his business challenge, the former checkout girl felt a bad case of Imposter Syndrome coming on – that growing feeling that any minute now you are going to be found out as not being the smart business person you claim to be.
What questions could she ask to drive the discussion forward, while maintaining the ‘illusion’ that she knew what she was talking about and wasn’t out of her depth?
What on earth could she offer by way of a solution to his unique and unusual challenge that involved big name brands, high risk, large sums of money and rapidly approaching deadlines?
What value could she add for someone who was doing business in a completely different league?
As it turned out – a massive amount!
As the moment arrived for her to share her thoughts, she realised that looking in from the outside, she could see a few things that the Chairman couldn’t. He was too close to his problem and was trying to solve them using his usual methods.
As she, and her fellow attendees, shared their ideas, the Chairman’s face lit up as penny after penny dropped and the mist cleared from his eyes.
By the end of the session, not only had the Chairman found some new actions to try, he’d made a decision to come back to future Boards and to recommend them to his colleagues.
And by the end of the meeting, the checkout girl had gained a new level of confidence in her knowledge, thinking and abilities.
How do I know that for sure? Because that former checkout girl is…..ME!!!
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Hi Michelle,
Ha, ha, nice one, I was impressed by the former checkout girl at the last one I attended.
You came up with some really good ‘off the wall’, ‘outside the box’, ‘blue sky thinking’ (and other naff corporate speak phrases) with your real world, down to earth, potential solutions for the two selected issues.
People out there, give it a go, all you have to lose is your embarrassment
cheers, Ron