Belief – Just Who Do You Think You Are?

30 Jan Belief – Just Who Do You Think You Are?

So, tell me, who do you think you are?

By that, I mean make a list of the things that matter most to you. What drives you? The things you (truly) believe in. Standards you seek to maintain. Lines in the sand – the sides you always aim to be on and the lines you aren’t prepared to cross.

Self-belief, right? Ethics, maybe? All about you? Well, sort of.

With belief, as with most things in life, it’s easier to go with the flow.

In business, as indeed in life, belief matters. Not just self-belief but how we share and promote our values to attract like-minded people to us.

Working with people who share our ethics helps things run smoother. You’re not trying to persuade them to do things they don’t want to do or can’t see the purpose of.

So how do we find these people? Simple – through positive and proactive communication.

If we don’t, the inevitable consequence is we end up constantly running into people who waste our time, drain our energy and, over time, sap our morale.

Take a conversation I once had with someone who spoke solely of his potential clients as ‘wallet share’, viewable only as wads for his wallet. He was neither ethical or honest, indeed was wholly untrustworthy. He produced a fake newspaper headline in our meeting to falsely attest to the value of his work.

Aside from being dishonest, he missed the point. His target was growing business owners who, he assumed, also saw the world as he did – out to make money by ripping people off rather than earning an honest buck by using finely honed tactile skills to provide products and services with care and value and derive the immense feelgood factor of a job well done and the joy of helping others which so many of us strive and aspire to.

The number one goal in business is to build trust.

When people trust you – and indeed you trust them – synergy develops. There’s mutual respect. Teamwork becomes dreamwork.

But trust must be earned, it’s not just casually given. We’d never trust anyone with our kids, cars, home, utilities, holidays and savings purely on price.

Reputation matters too. We search for people with identifiable professional standards – visible ethics and morals we can see and sense in the way they provide their services and their attention to detail.

Indeed, our antennae is finely tuned to suss out the right people by asking for recommendations from reliable folks or in checking out testimonials – with our intuitive instincts on high alert.

Back to self-belief – knowing who we are and what we stand for is key to developing the lives and careers we want. Being grounded means you don’t have to constantly put on act or develop a false persona – you can be who you want to be and feel comfortable promoting your own self-confidence and self-assurance.

Communicating your core values is vital to shaping the business you want with the people you want as partners, employees, suppliers, and customers.

Oh, and in developing long lasting, deeper relationships means you’ll need fewer of them than you may imagine so the relative effort pays longer term rewards.

Belief – Accentuate the positive by proactively communicating your core values is the theme of our CGM Business Media Club meeting on February 24. For further information and to book your seat visit our Business Media Club webpage.