August Inspiration: Fascinating People

For this week’s Leadership Experiment on 'August Inspiration', I’m turning to a quote by the American entrepreneur and motivational speaker Jim Rohn:

“You are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with”

I’ll let that sink in for a moment.

Is that good or scary?

We can all find ourselves feeling a bit stale. We have the same conversations with the same people, on the same projects with the same peers, then go home to have the same chats about the same things we talked about last week. Even if you adore your family (as I do) and admire your peers and colleagues (as I do) we can all benefit from new conversations with different people who see the world in fresh ways.

As many of us are traversing a holiday-less holiday season, refreshing our network and connecting with inspirational people is one way to refill and refuel, so… this week's Leadership Experiment & Inspiration Smorgasbord are about fascinating people.

Your Leadership Experiment 

Identify 5 people in your network who inspire you. Scroll through your linked in contacts or your address book – trust me there are some gorgeous, inspiring people in there whom you’ve forgotten in the busyness of the daily grind. Get in touch with them and suggest a virtual coffee and catch-up. Notice what happens to your energy, creativity and motivation as you start engaging in fresh conversation.

Your Inspiration Smorgasbord – Some fascinating people on video

Earlier in August, I asked my Linked In network what inspired them. You can everything they shared here, but in the meantime here are some of their (and my) suggestions for inspiring videos to watch: 

From Adam Gee: An 8-minute video to do with fear & fearlessness at an interface between young people and old (it’s a project I worked on that came out earlier this year, shot in Brooklyn) https://vimeo.com/412443719

From Jo Cowlin: Indistractable by Nir Eyal taking about the concept of pain management vs time management and how traction is actually the opposite to distraction and not focus. Some simple ideas that could make a big difference to people who are feeling overwhelmed. RT Jo’s talking about the book and there’s an interesting video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rql9yEeuatE

From Sarah Brummit: I’m a big fan of Amy Cuddy’s fabulous TED talk Amy Cuddy: Your body language may shape who you are https://www.ted.com/talks/amy_cuddy_your_body_language_may_shape_who_you_are

From me (profound stuff): Ego defense, resistance and resentment is a theme I’m see in teams and groups at the moment, so I’m fascinated by anything which helps people overcome that, in particularJim Tamm “First Step to Collabotaion: Don’t be so defensive!” https://ideas.ted.com/the-1-block-to-teamwork-is-defensiveness-heres-how-to-defuse-it/Dan Goleman “Why aren’t we more compassionate” https://www.ted.com/talks/daniel_goleman_why_aren_t_we_more_compassionateAnd as always on this topic, anything to do with The Arbinger Institute’s work including this from Jo Schaeffer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_C8vR4Uc_c

From me (frivolous fun): This summer I’ve developed a girl crush on Trinny Woodall. Wasn’t a big fan back in the Trinny and Susannah days, but her youtube channel just makes me happy! She’s gloriously real and imperfect (videos with greasy hair and granny pants), she swears a lot, and there’s nothing she doesn’t know about looking your best as a woman in your 40s and 50s – and I am, after all, vain. Here’s a good example to start you with: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLLTuDjrChg