No fear

For the next 5 minutes, let’s elevate your career.

In today’s email:

Isaac Newtown said, “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”

We get to stand on the shoulders of great colleagues and the trailblazers of our industry. Past and present.

Their ideas and practices have done much of the hard work for us. They’ve uncovered truths. They’ve shown us the pathway to win.

Leaders who show warmth, salespeople who don’t give in, and elite performers who stay humble teach us.

Who could you learn from this week?

There are many work debates worth having. If our opinion is worth hearing, we want to assert ourselves.

Disagreement is essential to doing better. And we can argue and debate while remaining collegial:

✅  Be humble and curious about other possibilities

✅  Stay playful and good-humoured

✅  Acknowledge good arguments by others

✅  Be gracious when people change their minds

✅  Remember we’re all on the same side

Generous colleagues do the above. It makes people want to collaborate.

The AI Age will disproportionately reward people who keep learning. This isn’t about who has the highest IQ. This is about cultivating our growth mindset. We can outlearn our competition.

Every day is an opportunity to think creatively and do things a bit better.

Learning has a massive compounding benefit across our careers. We renew our productivity. We renew our value to colleagues and clients.

What do you want to learn in the next month? How do you advance this today?

Adrenaline increases our heart rate, breathing, and blood pressure. Cortisol suppresses our immune system and leads to mood swings.

These two chemicals are the product of being fearful.

We waste so much time and serenity on being afraid. Fear of risks that are low. Fear of being emotionally hurt. Fear of other people’s opinions.

There’s much truth in Franklin D. Roosevelt’s statement, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

We don’t need to fear the judgment of others. If the bad outcome happens, we’ll find a way to cope. We’re stronger than we think.

A joy of writing this newsletter is to write about creators I love. No creator was cooler than Nina Simone. Her voice could lullaby children to sleep, fill a dance floor, and drive social change. She fought fear…

Nina Simone (1933 — 2003) was a pianist, singer, and songwriter who fused jazz, blues, gospel, folk, and classical music. Born Eunice Waymon in North Carolina, she dreamed of becoming a concert pianist. She turned to clubs after a conservatory rejected her. Adopting the name Nina Simone, she released more than 40 albums, with classics like Feeling Good, Sinnerman, and I Put a Spell on You.

Simone became an international star and was described as the High Priestess of Soul. She was a fearless activist. Simone wrote and performed songs that spoke directly to injustice. Mississippi Goddam resisted racial violence, while To Be Young, Gifted and Black became an anthem of pride. Simone used concerts as protest platforms. Her artistry was honored with many awards, including induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2018.

Some of Simone’s career and life wisdom: