I spent three days this past week in Los Angeles with about 100 of my colleague peers and some of the top thought leaders in the world. Being in a crowd of that size (small) with teachers of that caliber isn’t cheap, but it was worth it.
I learned from people like Marshall Goldsmith, the top executive coach in the world (coach to the Chairman of Ford, President of the World Bank, Chief of Staff of the US Army etc), and had a long discussion with Mark Levy, New York Times writer and brand positioning consultant who figured out Simon Sinek’s ‘Start With Why’ idea among many others.
I had a nice chat with Victoria Labalme, the lady who helps CEOs of companies like Starbucks, Microsoft, Paypal, Verizon and many more, to become better communicators.
I left with a ton of new ideas and new vision for how to get better myself.
Once it was all over, I reflected on how important it is to have people around you that are better at what they do than you are to give you a new vision for what’s possible.
It’s pretty easy to reach a certain level of success and feel like you’ve made it. But it’s (for me) totally energizing to mix with people who blow me away that I can learn from.
If the only people you look to for challenge are your best pal from grade 6 and your business partner that you’ve known for 20 years, and the 5 other people you hang out with at Milestones every second Tuesday, and the guy next door who also has a Harley, maybe it’s time you dumped someone and made some new friends.
Get challenged. Stop being the biggest fish in a tiny puddle. What could you become if your vision for yourself was bigger?
