Open to Growth
“How did you get so smart?” A client asked me that question during her coaching session. She wasn’t the first to wonder how someone with a master’s degree in early childhood education got so wise that she’s advising Cs-to-Be and other leaders as they navigate their ways through corporate environments. (Read more about Cs-to-Be.)
Many factors contributed to me gaining workplace intelligence while working to be a leader.
A main factor is my willingness to be open to growth. To learn about the world around me. To understand organizational behavior when I was just a temporary secretary at the investment bank Lazard Freres & Co. and Hertz Rent-A-Car Company.
Carol Dweck, the Lewis and Virginia Eaton Professor of Psychology at Stanford University in California, spent three decades studying “how people think about intlligence and talent,” Janet Rae-Dupree wrote in, “If You’re Open to Growth, You Tend to Grow” (New York Times, July 6, 2008).
“People who believe in the power of talent tend not to fulfill their potential because they’re so concerned with looking smart and not making mistakes. But people who believe that talent can be developed are the ones who really push, stretch, confront their own mistakes and learn from them.”
Ms. Dweck’s quote above summarizes the efforts I see by leaders, like the client above, who want to take on new challenges. They want to continue to draw on their own resources and experiences to challenge themselves throughout their careers.
When temping, I had to put my ego aside and focus on what I wanted to learn. It worked. I can translate what I learned to my coaching clients so that they can be more effective leaders.
Are you open to growth? Try it. It will help make you smarter.