I love the Ted Talk of Shawn Achor’s: “The Happy Secret to Better Work”. He is talking about how “outliers” are making a difference and that we continuously try to bring everyone on the norm group. I believe these outliers are the ones that dares to come as they are, rather than suppressing their own potential and living “in the norms”. We all are different but the question is: are we brave enough to unleash our differences?
How many times you kept your question to yourself because it might sound “stupid” to others? Do you remember a time that you felt unsure if it would be appropriate to do something in a different way than others do?
When I was a teenager, I attended a summer camp. It was a great experience with many outdoor activities. I do not remember how it came to that but one of the guides, Yusuf Abi, told me that “I am strange” and he was not able to explain it. But I felt very strange. I am The Doors fan, so “people are strange” became one of my favorite songs.
Years later, I have attended a training about personality inventories. The instructor, Burcu talked about how valuable our differences even our extreme behaviors might make us successful. I remember an example about an obsessive waitress who prepares all the tables in an absolute order. He has been uniquely successful because he was different then everyone. He dared to be strange and it was what made him an outlier.
Recently, I joined a workshop to discuss diversity and inclusion. In a small group (great and inspiring people), we came up with a great idea to help everyone feel that it is ok to come as themselves to work and even created a motto “Authentic Me”. Just like that waitress, what if everyone dares to bring their uniqueness to whatever they are doing.
I moved to Copenhagen 1,5 years ago, me who lived and worked in the same country for many years, it is being an enlightening experience. At first, I had to admit that I felt that I frequently was singing “people are strange” silently ?. Then I started to realize more, I am learning a lot from different perspectives of different people and I also started to be aware that I contribute a lot if I let my strangeness to come out.
For the ones who would like to experience their own selves and find it difficult, I would like to recommend an amazing book Brave Leadership: Unleash Your Most Confident, Powerful, and Authentic Self to Get the Results You Need (Kimberly Davis). In this book, The Writes starts with saying “I recognized the pain that comes from trying to be who you think you should be, instead of knowing and being who you are.” And sharing very practical actions with us.
Of course, we also need to prepare our subconscious minds and emotions. There is an amazing practice called EcoMeditation by Dawson Church. This combination of EFT and Meditation practice can be used for various purposes and have many positive effects. You can use it to release away any resistance to be able to live in complete alignment with your life’s highest possible potential.
And I would like to end with a teaser from The Brave Leadership:
“THE BRAVE LEADERSHIP MANIFESTO WE BELIEVE that our best lies in being more of who we really are, not less. We believe that everyone has the ability to make a positive impact. We believe that we are all far more powerful than we know and that true “power” comes from within, not from title or position. We believe that being anchored in purpose gives us the presence we need to influence and helps us bring the courage to take risks. We believe that mindful, constructive action is a worthy pursuit. We believe that compassion and empathy matter—that embracing our humanity is crucial. We believe that there is power in vulnerability. We believe that we can always be better—that there is always something to learn and ways to grow. We believe that real connection—as a leader, a presenter, a colleague, as a human being—is key to success. And we believe that extraordinary results are simply a by-product of us showing up as authentically and powerfully as we can. This is our definition of “BRAVE LEADERSHIP.” For me, it’s something worth fighting for.”
RESOURCES:
- Brave Leadership: Unleash Your Most Confident, Powerful, and Authentic Self to Get the Results You Need, Kimberly Davis
- EcoMeditation, Dawson Church, https://www.eftuniverse.com/tutorial/easy-meditation-in-7-steps-learn-ecomeditation-with-eft & https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXPvFcKazjg
- Com, “The Happy Secret to Better Work”, Shawn Achor
