Sold on Yourself

It happened again, twice, in a powerful way recently – seeing people begin to be “sold” on themselves.

And by that, I don’t mean emotional hype or baseless self-esteem affirmations – I mean seeing their true value and ability come into clear focus, with a growing recognition that they had something truly worthwhile to offer.

One of the joys of my Clarity Therapy work is seeing gifted and experienced people begin to see themselves in a new light. I find that an outside set of eyes is almost always quite necessary to wipe the fog off the mirror so that we can see ourselves more clearly.

Let’s be honest – for most of us, the default setting is self-doubt. We know we could be doing more valuable work, but no-one has sold us on how that might look in a different role or direction. And we’re hesitant to believe that we can really make that step. We find it hard to sell ourselves on ourselves, or on our own company.

How is that overcome? Here’s how I do it in Clarity Therapy sessions:

– We discover your unique DNA – that specific set of strengths and skills that you need to build your direction on.

– We create a message around it that you can wholeheartedly affirm and believe in. It’s amazing what power is contained in a few well-chosen and accurately-targeted words.

– We explore what direction that might take (instead of just looking at someone else’s idea of a predefined company role or career ladder).

– We weave the past, present, and future into a story that highlights the real you (this also is critical in selling yourself – when you see how the threads actually DO come together).

– We re-create all messaging on resumes, websites, LinkedIn, etc. to reflect the new message and direction.

The process and outcome is essentially the same for individuals and companies. But there’s this one mysterious and powerful deliverable that transcends all changes in strategy and wording. It’s the most marvelous outcome of all – confidence.

When you’re sold on yourself, you can then sell yourself and your offerings. And the better you understand your identity and direction, the more confidently you sell; resulting in more validation from your customers, and an even greater growth in confidence.

All because you’ve finally got clarity.

(Image credit: by David Smith via Wikimedia)

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Hire Steve Woodruff for Clarity Therapy

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Your Ultimate Competitive Advantage

You can have boundless energy, a really hot product, great pricing, solid staff, and a top-of-the-line Lexus in the CEO parking space, and still go down in flames.

If you want to succeed (long-term) as a leader, as a business, as a consultant – really, as a person – then there’s one thing you absolutely need to have. One huge advantage. And it’s something that we can ALL acquire. Clear vision.

It can be a process getting to 20/20 clarity – sometimes, a lot of “doing” is what gets you to better “seeing” – but when you know who you are, what you want, what your core competencies are, what your differentiator(s) are, and how to express all that – you’re way ahead of the game.

I have pathetic uncorrected vision – my glasses have always been pretty thick (yes, I still have Lasik envy – maybe someday…). Without clear sight I won’t recognize obstacles, or see opportunities; I’ll just bump into stuff. Have you seen a lot of businesses that behave like that? I have. They’re not on a well-defined course because the destination isn’t clear, nor is the pathway to get there.

Success starts with clear vision at the top – leaders who know what rabbit trails to avoid because they can see the destination, and they have a reasonably clear roadmap.

For quite some time, Kodak had a well-defined place in the market, and a successful business model. But when digital began to upend the need for film, it soon became evident that this company did not have a clear vision of how to re-make itself, how to navigate in a rapidly-evolving world that was doing a complete market makeover. Or, there’s Yahoo. What’s their vision? Does anyone know?

On the other end of the size scale, I see someone newly-laid-off from a client company who has hung out his/her shingle as a consultant, without a single differentiating anything in the company message. “We just do the usual stuff, so hire us” might as well be the company motto.

Will Work For Food may get you a little cash flow for a while. But a far clearer understanding of what you will work for – and why – is the ultimate competitive advantage.

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Hire Steve Woodruff for Clarity Therapy

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