Change Perspective Change Outcome

I was on a panel yesterday. At the end of the discussion I was asked to give one final advice to people who are going through career transition.

"Focus on what you have, not what you don’t have. Focus on what you can, not what you can't!" I said.

There was a company that wanted to find out why they had more men in management position than women and why men were more likely to apply for open positions in the company than women. The findings were interesting. The survey showed that men felt that they were qualified to apply if they met 60% of the requirements whereas women felt that they were qualified only if they had met something like 80 % of the requirements.

You see, one group of people were focusing on what they had. That gave them a lot of confidence to apply for the job. On the other hand, the other group, or the women, were concerend about what they didn't have so they would not apply unless they had about 80% of the qualifications.

A shift in perspective can change the outcome. When you change how you look at things, the things you look at change. Many years ago I worked for a personal care company. I managed 3 product categories. I was baffled why the company had always put most of the marketing dollars into just one category leaving the other 2 categories with little marketing budget. So I took a look at the 2 "orphan" categories. I noticed that although the overall markets for these 2 products are smaller than the "favorite" category, they were growing much faster and growing steadily. We had a product that had stayed #2 in the market for over 10 years. I was curious why it had been #2 for so long without ever making it to #1 position. I did a little research and got a pleasant surprise. Our product had everything that consumers were looking for in this type of product but the company never realized the strengths of the product and never positioned itself as the brand leader. I convinced the management to change the marketing strategy. In less than 12 months, the brand became #1 in the market.

"Believe in yourself so that other people can start believing in you!" I said to the audience.

What is one assumption you have about your life that you could challenge to open new possibilities?

If you believe in what you want to do, you will make it happen.