Belief is Your Superpower

0:00Jeannette McClain:In order to achieve greatness, we have to push out of our comfort zone. And that means even when things feel uncomfortable or we might be fearful of a certain scenario, we take action anyway. And actually, that became a real pivotal moment in my career because from there, I got promoted. I became the managing director across all of the emerging markets, including China, India, South America. And then, as they say, the rest is history. But had I not been brave and thought, actually, I'll give it a go, who knows what my future would have been. Now, if you love what you do, you are going to, one, enjoy it more.

0:42Jeannette McClain:Two, the chances are you're going to be actually better at it. But there are so many people that I see. And sometimes I work with, you know, really senior business leaders and they don't really love what they're doing. Belief is your superpower. Now, you might be saying, well, that's an interesting thing to say, Jeanette. Why is belief your superpower? Well, here's the thing. After more than 30 years in business, in different situations, both as a corporate CEO, as a portfolio entrepreneur, as an advisor and an investor, the one thing that has really held me true throughout all of those 30 years is working on the whole concept of self-belief.

1:28Jeannette McClain:Because when we talk about leadership, there are always three elements to leading, right? Leading yourself, leading your teams and leading the business. But the leading yourself part is always an inside job. So belief in yourself is the most powerful thing that you can actually do, but it doesn't always come easy. So over that 30 years plus and arguably 54 years on this planet, I've actually come up with a model that takes each of those individual letters and transforms it into a powerful concept, a powerful area for you to focus on. So I love an acronym. And as I say, the word belief is so, so critical.

2:16Jeannette McClain:And this is something, this model is not only what has helped me go from, you know, the bottom up in my corporate career to becoming the CEO and also starting businesses, scaling, having a portfolio of businesses today that I have, but also when I work with individuals, when I work with teams, and we have some incredible, huge global brands that we support. This system is what has allowed me, the businesses that I've led, the organizations that we advise today, really scale up to that next level of growth. So it's a topic I'm so passionate about. But I want to share with you this model, because at the end of the day, I'm not saying any of that to brag.

2:59Jeannette McClain:I've made lots of mistakes through my career. You know, I certainly don't get everything right. But this powerful belief framework is what has really helped me step up and has helped the businesses that I work with step up as well. So this is absolute gold. Now, if you are not connected to us already on social media, let's get connected. You're going to find me, Jeanette Linfoot, with two N's and two T's all over, you know, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok. We also have our Brave, Bold, Brilliant social media channels. and of course you might be watching this on our YouTube channel or listening to it on the podcast on Spotify or on Apple podcast so if you are hit subscribe it really helps make sure that you don't miss an episode because we're here to help you know and at Brave Bold Brilliant we are passionate about building a community of leaders that are there not only to push ahead with your own career and with your own business but to really support each other on the journey so I love business I I love people.

4:02Jeannette McClain:And that's why we do everything that we do at Brave Bold Brilliant. It's what drives us. It's our purpose to help you unlock your brilliant. So let's get into this. The word belief then. We're going to take each letter in turn and go through what each section actually means. So the first B, you will not be surprised, is brave. Now, in order to achieve greatness, we have to push out of our comfort zone and that means even when things feel uncomfortable or we might be fearful of a certain scenario we take action anyway now bravery means different things to different people and of course sometimes that can be a big decision a big move that you need to make or it might just be actually a smaller action that you've been procrastinating on for a while.

4:59Jeannette McClain:So, you know, not every single moment of every day involves massive big decisions and huge action. But often the bravery comes in the consistency, keeping going, even when it's tough, still making those sales calls when you get constant, you know, no after no after no, whatever it may be. It could be working on your fitness and you're really on a journey to self-improvement. So bravery, it can be those big moments where we really need to take a deep breath and push out of our comfort zone. What a great conversation we're having with this episode. And if you're enjoying this or you feel there's someone in your network that would benefit from hearing this conversation, please make sure that you share the episode with those around you and hit the subscribe button.

5:49But most importantly, if you are ready for that next stage of growth both in your business, with your teams, or for your own leadership. We're here to help. And at Brave Bold Brilliant, we're building an incredible community of ambitious business leaders. So make sure you check out the website. Go to www.brave-bold-brilliant.com. Now, let's get back to the show. Or it could be just consistently taking action. The beginning feels uncomfortable,

6:22Jeannette McClain:but over time actually is where you're going to get results. And probably one of the bravest scenarios that I found myself in actually is, I'm going to give you a professional example. So it was when I was at TUI, and for those of you that don't know, TUI is the largest leisure travel business in the world. And at the time, TUI had made a strategic decision to move into the emerging markets. And I had been asked to go to Russia and Ukraine. Now, I had been running a very large functional division for a number of years as product director. But then this opportunity came out of the blue. And my first reaction was, I can't do that.

7:03Jeannette McClain:You know, I don't speak Russian. I've never done any corporate finance. How do I go and acquire three businesses, rebrand them, run the whole business portfolio at the same time as actually delivering for the TUI shareholders. It was an enormous task. But I took a deep breath and I said yes. And actually, that became a real pivotal moment in my career because from there, I got promoted. I became the managing director across all of the emerging markets, including China, India, South America. And then, as they say, the rest is history. But had I not been brave and thought, actually, I'll give it a go.

7:42Who knows what my future would have been?

7:45Jeannette McClain:So that's the first letter of belief framework. Brave. So think about for yourselves, what do you need to be braver with? What are some of the big decisions that you've been putting off maybe that you need to make a call on? Because this is where you're going to really unlock your superpower. All right. Now, the E, the first E of belief. This is all about your energy. All right. Now, you have to put your own oxygen mask on first. That's what they say when you go on a flight, when they're doing the safety demonstration, put your own oxygen mask on first. And energy is everything. It really is. So you have to make sure that you're looking after the basics, sleep, nutrition, exercise, exercise whatever it may be mental well-being physical well-being and sometimes that can just be as simple as actually if you've spent a lot of time at your desk get up move around go for a walk because your energy is really your source of power as well right so if you're not in the best shape physically and mentally how can you be the best leader how can you be the best you know person for your business, your loved ones around you.

8:56Jeannette McClain:And there's a big difference how you walk into a room. If you walk into a room with your shoulders down, your head bowed, you know, slumped with sort of, you know, just no energy, that sends a very clear message. But if you walk into a room with a bounce in your step, your shoulders back, open body language, big smile, what a difference. OK, so energy is really something to pay attention to. So that's the E of the belief system. What does the L stand for? Well, I'm going to tell you. So that stands for love. Now, if you love what you do, you are going to, one, enjoy it more. Two, the chances are you're going to be actually better at it.

9:41Jeannette McClain:But there are so many people that I see. And sometimes I work with, you know, really senior business leaders. and they don't really love what they're doing. They don't really feel passionate and a calling for where they're spending their time professionally or personally. And what a great shame, you know, but why is it important? You might say, well, okay, that's all well and good, but I have to pay the bills, Jeanette. Well, of course we all have to pay our bills and our financial commitments. But let me tell you, it's a lot easier to do that if you find something that you really care about, that you love, you're passionate about, because then the money will come.

10:20All right. That is secondary. The money will come. But if you spend your time and your days really resenting what you're doing, feeling like you're just waiting, how many people are wishing away the week? I'm wishing away the day so I can get home and put the TV on. I'm wishing away the week so it can get to the weekend. I'm wishing away the month until the next holiday. Whatever it may be. I'm waiting for my retirement. But here's the thing. None of us know how much time we've got. So we want to make sure that we're absolutely loving what we're doing. Now, I'm not naive. You can't exactly love every single day.

10:53You're going to have good days, bad days. Of course you are. But actually, in the whole, ask yourself, do you love what you're doing?

11:01Jeannette McClain:Do you love the people you spend time with? Do you love where you're living? Because all of this is in your control, right? You make a decision as to how you go about your life. No one else, just you. So that's the L. The I stands for influencers. Now, this is a big one for me, actually, because we all have people in our lives and they have an influence on our approach. And have you ever been in a room with someone that just sucks the oxygen out of the room and you walk away feeling drained. But equally, if you're in the company of someone that is, you know, very energetic, they're going to lift you up, support you, make you feel you can take on the world, that's a very different experience, a very different relationship you're going to have.

11:52Now, you can't always cut people out of your life.

11:56Jeannette McClain:Sometimes it's often the people that are closest to us that can actually put doubt in our mind or maybe they're just not on the same journey that we're on and that's okay. but choose very carefully very carefully who you've got in your life and i think it was the great jim rowan actually that said you know you're the average of the five people you spend the most time with now whether that's true or not it might be that five people ten people but you get the concept so choose wisely and if there are people in your life that are really not supporting you they're not serving you they're not helping you they're not being honest with you because we want people that give us honest feedback as well.

12:35Jeannette McClain:Well, then really look at how you can reduce the time with those people. Or maybe you just don't discuss certain topics with those people. But you may have to make choices and leave certain people behind. And that's okay, because we're all on a journey. And sometimes people come with us on that journey. And sometimes people don't. And that's okay. so influencers so so important then the second d is about execution so i am a huge believer in have a plan and take action against the plan now the plan never works out exactly as you expect it to but you need to know what you're where you're heading you need to know what you're actually looking to achieve and then of course what action do you need to take in order to get you there What gets measured gets done.

13:26That is the reality in life and in business. So execution.

13:31Jeannette McClain:And, you know, if you're asking, if you're feeling you're not actually making progress, you know, just look into each of these areas and really ask yourself, am I taking enough action? Am I executing or am I wasting time? Am I spending time scrolling through social media or, you know, not actually focused on the right things that's going to take your business and your career forward? So execution, execution, execution. And the thing is, this often means doing the boring stuff as well. It can't all be the big glamorous, you know, strategic things that we spend our times on. Sometimes we've just got to do lots and lots of repetitive tasks in order to get good.

14:10Jeannette McClain:You know, and that's the reality. Making a sales call time and time and time and time again, whatever it may be, in order to get the results that you need. So repetition, repetition, repetition leads to mastery. All right. So you've got to take the action and then you will get the results. the final letter is F failure fail your way to greatness that's what I say and if you're not failing enough you're probably in your comfort zone I fail all the time I cock up all the time you know I learn I make mistakes and that's okay the key is don't repeat those mistakes all right learn from them accept that not everything's going to go right and that's actually good.

14:57Jeannette McClain:The problem that most people have is that they think they're not going to have any problems. Well, you are, and you're going to fail a lot. So get over it. That's where the growth comes. So that is the belief framework that I've just taken you through, which has really helped me over the years. So just a very, very quick recap. The B stands for brave. The E, energy. The L for love. I for influencers. E for execution. And F for failure. Super powerful. Super impactful. It's what's allowed me to build my career in the corporate world, but also to build a portfolio of businesses today and to advise some of the biggest global brands on how they step up into their greatness.

15:40So I hope it's been super helpful for you. In order to also say thank you to you for keeping attention, we have got a dedicated belief toolkit for you.

15:50Jeannette McClain:So what we need you to do is just put a comment, belief, write the word belief in the comments or send us an email with belief, send me a DM and the team will send you that belief toolkit because it's going to absolutely transform not just your day to day living life and enjoyment, but the results that you're going to achieve over the next year, the next five years, the next 10 years. so don't forget there's only one life that you have you've got to believe in yourself you can achieve anything you want use the belief framework give us your details so that we can send you that toolkit and then of course we're always here to help so if you need more help mentoring help with your teams maybe you're interested in our executive edge program or potentially even our rise academy which is the ultimate digital leadership development program.

16:47We are here to help. So whatever you're doing today, remember it is by being brave and bold that you will unlock your brilliant.