For the next 5 minutes, let’s elevate your career.
In today’s email:
Hear nothing
Say nothing
Value-rich meetings
One life
Emma Grede’s career wisdom
ON YOUR CAREER
Hear nothing
Some people will make assumptions about our capability. They don’t know us. Yet they feel competent to define our personalities and tell us what we are best to be doing.
Our personality bandwidth is broader than most people know — often broader than we know. Don’t listen to the doubters. Hear nothing.
Don’t listen to what people tell you, there are always doubters. Work hard, believe in yourself, and believe in your ability and just work hard.
COMMUNICATION
Say nothing
We can prematurely make assumptions about others’ capability. We don’t really know them. Yet we feel competent to define their personalities and tell them what they’re best to be doing.
Their personality bandwidth is broad — often broader than they know. Don’t become one of the doubters. Say nothing.
You always own the option of having no opinion. There is never any need to get worked up or to trouble your soul about things you can’t control. These things are not asking to be judged by you. Leave them alone.
PRODUCTIVITY
Value-rich meetings
These two questions are essential to consider before you attend any significant meeting:
What value will you try to give other participants?
What value do you want to receive from other participants?
Value-rich meetings are core to your productivity and that of your team.
The majority of meetings should be discussions that lead to decisions.
1 MINUTE TO HAPPINESS
One life
Good leaders try to facilitate work-life balance for their people. However, we don’t want to outsource our energy and time management to others.
Work-life balance is our individual responsibility. Our problem and opportunity. We need to prioritize things each week that are important to us. And defend ourselves against busy work and perfectionism.
We have one life.
Work-life balance is your problem. It isn’t your employer’s responsibility.
CAREER WISDOM
Emma Grede
Emma Grede (1982 — ) was born in East London. She was the eldest of four sisters and raised by her single mother. Grede credits her early discipline to odd jobs like delivering newspapers. At 16 years-old, she attended the London College of Fashion. She produced fashion shows and launched her own talent marketing agency 10 years later.
Grede co-founded the fashion labels Good American with Khloe Kardashian and SKIMS with Kim Kardashian. Grede is widely recognized as the mastermind driving the brands’ operations, innovation, and rapid growth. She was the first Black female investor on ABC’s Shark Tank. Grede chairs the Fifteen Percent Pledge, aiming to dedicate retail shelf space to Black-owned brands. Some of her career wisdom:
If I think about the most important words for career advancement, like the three most important words… I’ll do that. That was me. I had my hand up my whole life. I’ll do that.
Make a decision and move on. You’re going to make good decisions and bad decisions… The most important thing is that you keep moving forward.
There’s that amazing quote, ‘Luck is where preparation meets opportunity,’ and I think that I’ve always been as prepared as I could possibly be when an opportunity arises.