Al McBride
So what do you stand for? This is kind of a big question. It’s fundamental, particularly in business these days when there’s so many different organizations that don’t seem all that different at all that customers and clients really want to feel a certain connection with you connection with a business, particularly if that business is a personality. So that’s why I think it was probably a good idea to start. Well here for the first solo espresso podcast episode that we actually asked what do you stand for? Because that’s what I had to outline in episode zero. And I stand for many different things. I stand for growth. I stand for creativity I stand for helping others unlock their potential. I stand for being a catalyst to helping people improve to helping people get unstuck. And all of those other things that I explained around the Goliath myth that I want to help all the David’s for want of a better word out there to, again, cheesy phrase, but to be all they can be whatever that might be, whatever level that might be. Success is very much an individual thing. It’s not necessarily about money or about accolades or status or any of these things. I think we all have to decide what it is in our own terms. But many people probably agree, though, that if you’re living at a high level in accordance to your values, you’re able to pay your bills, you’re able to do work that’s interesting and satisfying. You’re able to be there and connect with your friends and your family. That’s that’s pretty successful. So what do you stand for? having this conversation with a friend of mine a week or two ago? And it hit us that many years ago. We were told about this phrase, fiduciary a fiduciary responsibility. It comes from accountants and lawyers. It’s this kind of old world professional sense of duty or honor. And the basic idea is that these professionals as I said, Your lawyer is meant to have a fiduciary responsibility, ie, they’re meant to give impartial advice that may act in against their own economic interest. And we’re having this conversation because with coaches and consultants who friend of mine is very much of consultant.Unknown Speaker
He was saying, Well, isn’t that kind of a given now?Al McBride
And my response is very much that, yes, the it’s somewhat of a given on the client side. But it’s not a given to be delivered from the provider size. And in the amount of companies that should be putting the interests of the client first, but in actual fact, they’re down the line, the amount of companies, particularly larger ones that will remain nameless, right? for all sorts of legal reasons, but companies that actively have a strategy, strategize to add layers of confusion that add very little value to the client, so that they essentially get more and more tentacles around different parts of the client’s business. I find that bordering on unethical that’s just Me. Now other people find say, you know, All’s fair. If it’s not illegal, it’s fine. So well, I don’t know, that’s an argument for another day. So ask yourself, what do you stand for? Because this is something when I was designing websites many years ago that I used to have to ask particular people who had like, solicitors, again or accountants, people who were professional services. So they’re not commoditize. But they don’t speak about themselves and what they do for their clients particularly well, they don’t, they’re not terribly evocative about how they’re different. And one way you can stand out whether you’re in a company structure, or indeed you’re doing Client Services, that you can say, this is what I stand for. So for example, this is something that most of the not most Yeah, a lot of the top coaches. I know best ones, a lot of them start with the values exercise. Even before you meet, I often would send client values exercise, or potentially if there’s something more pressing, that would be maybe a few sessions in, but it’s usually something we’d hit on sooner or later. Because it’s a simple thing that when people are, know their values, and are living in accordance with them, they tend to be pretty happy tend to be pretty fulfilled. And fulfillment is the key thing, not so much happiness or fulfillment. And people who are miserable. Were very down who are very anxious or very depressed or just unfulfilled feeling very, very flat. you dive in there, and it’s not rocket science, you know, often they’re not doing an awful lot to meet their values. And it’s a good way to arrange your week. It’s a good way to arrange your spare time and increasingly your work time is a thought to step back started a week ago, not so much. You know, it’s not about sort of do what you like to do. You know, it’s not just sitting drinking beer and eating ice cream or something. That’s not what I’m talking about per se, but maybe some days you’d like to goof off. And that’s fine too. You know, it’s what you do in your average day, not not one particular day, but you it but look at your week schedule coming up, what are you doing that actually meets your values? First of all, what are your values? A lot of people have some sort of idea. You can Google free values exercise and get one. I might even link to one of my own below this episode or this video. Find out what your values are, there’s loads of exercises, and then work out how you meet them. What activities do you do that actually meet those values and do more of them. It sounds dangerously simple, I know. But it is dangerously simple, but people, people resist it because we get into These cycles of doing things that we don’t like, that don’t really fulfill us. And they feel somewhat futile. So again, both in a personal sense, it’s usually useful to know because sometimes, you know, some weeks here, you’re trudging through and it’s necessary. There’s always things in business and in life where you’re not really enjoying it, but you’re having to do it anyway. That’s just natural. But it doesn’t say pay to really go Hold on sec. What does it actually do last week that had some of those things that I supposedly stand for? Maybe some of those you don’t feel that you do? Some a lot of people dissolved the other problem with values, a lot of people and up but some values they think they should have rather than values that they actually have. It’s a great story there.My colleague was coaching a chap many years ago, and he wrote down his values and one of them was golf Would you believe? Not a traditional value, you know? growth, creativity, family, you know, health exercise, you know, this kind of thing. Golf, right? golf. Yes, the golfer and he she said really that’s, that that’s very interesting. And he sort of said, you know, it’s it’s, it’s where I’m Zen I’m much better form. It’s where I do deals. It’s where I make connections for work and for friendships, it’s so weird how all these it all these sort of walking meditation thing at one end, and good business sense on the other. And actually, he said is much better father and husband when he comes home having been out for around the golf, so it was better for his mental health and for his patience, and as I said, mindfulness, all sorts of stuff. So it can be unconventional. You know, as long as you’re aware of it, you’re honest with yourself. That’s the key thing. So it is helpful and as I said, to update them as well, they evolved with you over time, as you age. As we move through his new life circumstances change those values will change maybe not fundamentally but often the order will change that’s key to I feel values is something I’ll probably end up coming back to again and again and when I say values to a lot of people other people got that kind of through the teeth intake breath you know it is cuz they usually and I usually doesn’t take long to work out that they were in some horrific corporate structure where there was that poster on the wall you know, were here my values here our values and generally they were never used except as a sneaky way to attack you or bring you down or or criticize you in some way shape when it when it suited the powers that be but people didn’t live to that standard. Remember, which is horrific, you know, it’s a total misuse of values. It’s disgraceful, it’s just use as a weapon. And that’s no fun because values, as I said, are huge. They’re very Important. When the top business coach and consultants that I’ve met in the last few years, I was at a get together of a lot of his client companies. And I was talking to some of these people from those companies and it often bring companies from 30 or 50 people all the way up to 300 or 500 people and the revenue in parallel are greater again with it, you know. Anyway, I was talking to all of the tables and a lady there said about the values that are totally is the most important thing. And I was I really said, Oh, we use them. We use them all the time. He said he used them all the time. Really, he was just starting out. My career wasn’t using the values as much to tell me how she said, we use them every day every couple of days. Okay, wow, how’s that said, well, when we’re hiring two very good candidates, and they’re both good on paper and they’re both evens, who fits our values better, so they use them as corporate sort of team. How well would this person gel with us and what we stand for, you know, so very important. He said the same with suppliers and things when we’re having a new contract is too few good options, who fits our values better. Option B right, thank you very much option A and C, you go with B. So we’re seeing this again and again with an awful lot of decision making things. They use the values as a compass, absolutely key. And it’s great to have that so you have to know what your values are, and aren’t make sure they’re yours. And they’re not things you think you should have. Think about how maybe activities behaviors you do personally or professionally that actually feed those values give you a kick. And then lastly, when in doubt, should you do it path a or path B option one, two, or three which fits your values best So it’s just an interesting one. It was interesting for me. I hope it was interesting for you, at first, a little episode of the Goliath dealing with Goliath solo espresso shot. So hopefully we’ll have more to come. If you have any thoughts. Feel free to reply, send me an email and always happy to hear from you. ThanksTranscribed by https://otter.ai