As a team we rely on the strengths of the group, but as individuals we must accept the boundaries of our personality and experience. We should never try to be who we aren’t, because success comes when the world responds to how authentic we are. While authentic attitudes generate successful brands, quite often manufactured brands only generate empty disinterest.
If you want success, find those who love and respect you for that which you offer. If you want to be efficient, eliminate the products in your line that do not match your personality. If you want relevance, teach lessons based on your best-founded knowledge and ignore that which you’ve heard second hand.
Use the core of your beliefs as a base, and never present an idea that is not connected to it.
If you want sustained relevance, study constantly and inform your core beliefs with a broad base of useful knowledge.
From time to time, one can become temporarily intimidated by the world’s attempt to make us a part of a homogeneous business attitude and belief system different than our own. Just as a seasoned performer may still get nervous prior to stepping onto the stage, we may get nervous right before we lead others according to what we know is right. That feeling is okay and it generates prudence. What is not okay is to abandon your authentic leadership power and knowledge so you may feel safe. Safety is common, bland, and uninspired. Safety tells you that, "You should keep our head down, collect a paycheck for 30 years, then retire." We reject that type of safety with every cell in our body, and so should you.
