I wasn't built for this...

“Mom – am I too tall to be a gymnast?”

I froze. I had anticipated this question from my eight-year-old daughter Blakely someday, but I was still caught off guard. You see, Blakely is a gymnast in every sense of the word. She’s taken gymnastics since before she turned two, and last year was the overall champion for her age group at the Coastal Classic in Myrtle Beach before COVID-19 hit.

But if you look at Simone Biles, and you look at Blakely – they could not be built more differently. Blakely looks more like a ballerina – long and lean – than an Olympic gymnast. I anticipated that one day, Blakely’s long legs, big feet and skinny arms would be the object of critique. That someone would tell her she wasn’t built for gymnastics.

“Why do you ask?” I questioned.

She went on to tell me that as she swung from the monkey bars and climbed the posts at the park last week, a little girl she knew (Ava) had marveled, “Wow Blakely! I want to do those cool things like you! I want to be a gymnast too!”

The girls’ mom quickly responded, “Ava, you’re way too tall for your age. You’re not built like a gymnast.”

Blakely knows she’s tall for her age (her dad is almost 6’4”!), so she told me she immediately responded to her friend and her mom, “Ava, I’m tall too, but I’m passionate about gymnastics. I’m sure if you have a passion for gymnastics, you will be great too.”

As Blakely told me her response, my heart swelled with pride. I told Blakely I thought she had answered perfectly.

So often, we judge ourselves and others for what we believe we’re built for – what’s on our resume, successes we’ve had in the past, whether we “fit the mold.”

When I was working at Caterpillar and got the call to join their IT organization’s HR and communications team, I’ll never forget my first conversation with the hiring manager, Meghan. Meghan is one of those people who can see potential in people and doesn’t get too hung up on resumes. She’s so good at it, she could have told me that she was hiring the janitor to join our HR team, and I wouldn’t have blinked. She had an eye for talent and people.

“So, I understand you’re interested in HR and communications, so this will be a dual role, and you’ll be supporting HR consulting for one of divisions.”

(This was not what I thought I was interviewing for. My understanding was that it was a communications role.)

“Great! Once I get up to speed and embedded into communications, we can look at me taking on the HR stretch assignment,” I said.

“No,” Meghan replied. “You’ll jump right in. It will be part of your job. We’ve already told the team.”

“Meghan, you know I haven’t done HR before, right?” I said, “I have no idea what I’m doing.” (Here’s to inspiring confidence with your new boss!)

She didn’t miss a beat. “You’ll figure it out. You have a good gut and are a problem solver. I know you’ll do great.”

And thanks to her craziness… and my passion… I did. I worked among my peers to build and align a talent planning process across departments. I learned policy. I coached leaders on performance issues. Meghan saw passion. She didn’t care that I wasn’t “built” for HR. She knew that I’d work harder, read more, ask questions, and build relationships. She knew I cared too much to let it fail. And her confidence in me – despite me not being built for the role – drove me to care that much more.

Similarly, when I watch Blakely do gymnastics, I don’t see her height or her build. I see her doing repetition after repetition to perfect a new skill. I see her grinding out extra conditioning reps while other kids are goofing off. I see the passion.

Imagine the potential we’d unleash in our workforce, when we reject the notion that they’re not “built” for something, and instead see the passion that can enable their success if we’re willing to take a chance on someone.