Audacity Matters

Career Audacity: Making bold moves, while staying safe

One of top three skills for being a disruptive hero in 2017. See here, here for more.

1. No Yeah Buts or Monetary Concerns

Hold off on those — at least initially. The main reason people stay in bad jobs and in less-than-great situations is because they can’t get past their Yeah Buts and initial concerns.

2. Validate Your Gut (Why you feel it's time for a bold move)

• Six Reasons to Make a Career Change
• Learn more about common mistakes people make

3. Dream Big, Ask Big Questions

Treat your life as a blank piece of paper with no pre-determined rules or boundaries. Ask big questions like…

• What do I want?
• What marketplace needs (products/services) excite me?
• What can I offer on those needs or any?
• Do I have what it takes?
• What skills do I have that are transferable?
• My own firm? Somebody’s employee? Combination of both?

For more… Big Career Questions

4. Go to Your Audacity Yoda

Lots of people will help you plot the safest or wisest course. Somewhere in your life there is (or needs to be) a mentor or friend or family member who will guide you — and, if necessary, tough-love you — toward adventure, exploring, and risk-taking.

• Brainstorm new possibilities with this person
• Brainstorm what you’d do during the next few months if you were to select one of the options
• Brainstorm how to facilitate conversations with family or anyone who will have monetary or Yeah But concerns. Once you do this, you will find many of the concerns will have already been addressed!

5. Chart Your New Course

Plan it with family and anyone who will be impacted by your decisions. Having done Step 4, you will experience a little less worry and a lot more adventure!

Project Audacity: Making Big Pitches

1. Pre-Work: Read the Modern Classics

• Getting to Yes
• Getting Past No
• Difficult Conversations

2. Ask Decision-Makers to Share Their Dreams

Most of us know a standard corporate practice — pre-shopping new ideas with decision-makers before the ideas are actually proposed. That way, when you finally present the idea, it gets approved because the decision-makers have had a chance to put their fingerprints already all over it.

Problem: This approach almost always waters down audacious ideas into way-too-safe ideas. So use the process differently:

• Meet with key decision-makers before you brainstorm your ideas
• Ask them their dreams for your project. If your project could exceed their wildest expectations, what would that look like?
• Use their big dreams to jumpstart your audacious ideas
• Successful and sanctioned audaciousness is built-in because the decision-makers’ biggest dreams are already included

3. Close the Sale

Your passion and a great idea are not enough. Go into to that meeting prepared to discuss:

• Immediate next steps
• Who is responsible for what
• What success looks like
• What tools and resources are needed

Finally: Two important things to remember:

• Make it easy for everyone to say Yes. Organize all of the above into and easy to review and understand checklist. Ideally, on one page.
• Be yourself! Because in the end, you are selling you.

(Adapted from, Click, the How To Addendum to Disrupt! Think Epic, Be Epic)

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Bill Jensen Site, Twitter, FB. Bill’s latest book, Future Strong, is about the five deeply personal choices each of us must make to be ready for all the disruptive tomorrows heading our way.