Remember, You Were Hired For Your Expertise!

How often have you been at a meeting and you listened to an idea that you knew was only half-baked, or even off the mark but you didn’t say anything? Did you fear retaliation? Or maybe you believed it was important to be humble and modest and not show off your far better knowledge. You might have even felt proud of not appearing arrogant or conceited. 

No matter your rationale, you may have developed the habit of “staying behind the scenes” letting others “shine” while you executed on their ideas. It’s now become routine to not stand out by sharing your wisdom and in some cases far greater creativity.       

There are at least three problems with this boycott of standing out:

1 - The company isn’t getting what they hired you for, and what they pay you good money to produce. Instead they are getting a shadow version of your excellence. And very often when this is the case, your manager will try to “smoke you out” by challenging you to work harder, better, smarter. But that never addresses the real issue—which is your pride in letting others stand out, not you. 

2 - Eventually you’re going to feel overlooked for promotions and not given the juicier assignments. You may not even realize that you’ve been the choreographer of this situation, but it will begin to hurt your feelings and you may begrudge those who are getting further ahead while you feel stuck. 

3 - If you don’t confront the real issue, which is your false belief that you need to be behind the scenes and protecting others, you’ll be in danger of becoming bitter, depressed, and perhaps even become “sick of it” in actual physical symptomology. 

So rather than risk any of that, please remember that your company hired you because of your expertise, your particular intelligence, your experience. When you wonder if you should disagree in a meeting or even out and out correct someone, remind yourself that if you do it with respect and care and you advance the issue, you’ll be doing what the company hired you for. 

If you’re willing, please share the excuses you’ve used in the past to hide your expertise “under a bushel” as they say....and many thanks in advance!         

Judith Sherven, PhD and her husband Jim Sniechowski, PhD https://JudithandJim.com have developed a penetrating perspective on people’s resistance to success, which they call The Fear of Being Fabuloustm. Recognizing the power of unconscious programming to always outweigh conscious desires, they assert that no one is ever failing—they are always succeeding. The question is, at what? To learn about how this played out in the life of Whitney Houston for example, and how it may be playing out in your own life, check out their 6th book:

https://WhatReally KilledWhitneyHouston.com  

Currently providing transformational executive coaching, leadership training, and consulting for LinkedIn and a dozen other Tech companies and individuals around the world, they continually prove that when unconscious beliefs are brought to the surface, the barriers to greater success and leadership presence begin to fade away. You can learn about their core program “Overcoming the Fear of Being Fabulous” by going to

https://OvercomingtheFearofBeingFabulous.com   

Their 7th book, short and to the point, “25 Power Speaking Tips That Will Leave Your Audiences Wanting More,” is available in kindle at: https://tinyurl.com/25PWRSPKGTips