Beliefs About Success, Hard Feedback & The Advice You'll Disagree With

0:00Big color, bigger savings. Sherwin-Williams Super Sale is here. Get 40 % off paints and stains October 16th through the 26th with prices starting at$29.86. Whether you're refreshing your interior or exterior, we've got the colors to bring your vision to life. And with delivery, getting everything to your door is easier than ever. Shop online to have it delivered or visit your neighborhood Sherwin-Williams store. Click the banner to learn more. Retail sales only. Some exclusions apply. See store for details. Delivery available on qualifying orders. You're listening to Reworking with Tim Campbell.

0:33This is a podcast designed to help you feel more confident at work, make sense of your next career move, and build a working life that feels successful and sustainable. Today, it's just the two of us. I'll be answering questions that have come in through social media, LinkedIn, and via email at reworking at bowermedia.co.uk. The topics are as varied as the people sending them. You might be thinking about changing jobs, feeling stuck in your current role, or trying to navigate a tricky situation with a colleague or manager. Whatever's on your mind, you're certainly not alone. In more than two decades of business, I've seen how rewarding, unpredictable, exciting and challenging work can be.

1:11Sometimes all before Wednesday afternoon. So consider this a chance to sit down with someone who understands what you're going through. As always, I'm not a financial advisor and any decisions that you make need to be right for you. What I can offer though is perspective. Lessons from my own career, insights from some exceptional people I've worked with and advice gathered from the brilliant guests who have joined me on this podcast. For more support, encouragement, practical career advice between episodes, please sign up for our newsletter. And don't forget to follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.

1:44You can also keep in touch with us on social media at Reworking Podcast. Right, let's dive into three questions that get beneath the surface of success, challenge some well-worn career myths and uncover the lessons that only experience can teach.

2:02Okay, our first question is coming from Harvey, who sent us a message via Reworking Podcast's social media handle on Instagram. His question is, what belief about success have you completely changed your mind on? Great question, Harvey. The big myth that I know is not true is that if you were good enough, you'd be noticed. Trust me, I believe that completely. over 21 years ago, I won a television show where everybody knew who I was. Everybody knew my name. Well, not quite everybody. It was on BBC Two, but you get what I mean, right? But I hadn't built anything yet. It was just because I'd won the show.

2:37I'd won a competition. What that didn't give me was success. I hadn't achieved anything really. I hadn't built anything. I hadn't started anything. What I actually had was visibility. And that's very, very different from value. I hadn't given or contributed anything that had given anyone or anything any value. And I've spent 20 years since doing exactly the opposite. I now focus solely on what value do I bring? What value do I add? What value do I create? Because that's the calling card that matters. Being visible is not enough. Lots of people will have 20 million people following them on social media.

3:13They'll have LinkedIn accounts with comments coming down their arms. But it doesn't matter. If nobody can see any value they've got, they're just making a lot of noise. Don't get distracted by this seemingly powerful need to be seen. Everybody wants you to focus on create this personal brand, shout and tell this story, share all the things that you are about. I completely disagree with that. What you need to share is what difference that you've made, what solutions you've created and what people you've helped. Those are the things that resonate more than anything else you could think about. So what I'm saying is that being good is not based on being seen.

3:52Being good is based on creating value, making things happen, creating solutions that people care about. What I think great leaders have, which differentiates them from average leaders, is that they're able to tell great stories. But at the heart of the story isn't about them or their ego. At the heart of their story is what difference they made to others, what things they created, what value they delivered that wasn't there before. If you can focus on the great story, you can start writing that now. And that's the thing that's going to make sure that you are visible and you are valued. So that's the belief about success that I've changed my mind on.

4:34The next question comes in from Harriet, who sent us in an email, and she asked a really powerful question. She says, what's the hardest piece of feedback that you've ever received? Now, I'm a great believer that feedback is incredibly important. I find it really distressing when I hear lots of people who have applied for hundreds of jobs and nobody's ever told them what went wrong or have gone for an interview and never been told what they could have done better. How are you supposed to improve if you don't know the feedback on what wasn't successful? So I actually seek feedback, but that wasn't always the case.

5:04I remember the hardest bit of feedback that I ever got told was that I was getting in the way. I founded an organisation called Bright Ideas Trust, which helped over 750 individuals start their own business, helped thousands of people understand and navigate the world of work and business, all because I was very annoyed that if you didn't come from a wealthy background and you weren't surrounded by a network of people, you may never have the opportunity to start something of your own. And I built this thing from scratch. I had the idea in my head and I created it against the winds of rejection, of doubt, of criticism.

5:41and I'm incredibly proud of what we did. But after starting it and getting it to the point where we raised over three million pounds and we'd invested in these companies, I was told by my mentor that I had to step aside. I was told that actually, if I wanted to grow it to the next level, I'd need to find somebody who was better than me at the thing that the organization needed. And when I got that bit of feedback, it punched me in the stomach and winded me because I was like, it was painful. my baby the thing I'd created I was told I wasn't the best parent for it and that was exactly how as it felt and as a parent now I really can say that's exactly how it felt but what I was being told by this mentor who was completely benevolent and really objective was that in order for me to allow the thing that I love so much to grow it needed a different set of skills I had the set of skills, which was the instigator, the evangelical, the starter of a project, the blue sky thinker, the person who would solve the initial problems and get everybody so energized that they thought it was definitely the thing that we're going to do.

6:52But once that had been achieved, it needed somebody with a different set of skills who are going to help it to scale to the next level. And that wasn't me. And although it hurt at the time, it was actually probably the best thing that needed to happen, not only for my own personal development, but for the organization. so all too often I think people in their careers aspire to be good at everything but actually what you should be focused on is doubling down on what you're greater and then partnering with other people who are better than you at the things that you're not that's the way that synergy works that's the way great teams are created that's the way that great organizations like Bright Ideas Trust grow beyond the founder I was really at risk of strangling the thing that I'd created and until I got that piece of feedback, which initially stung, I was taking the organisation in the wrong direction.

7:42But having taken the feedback and looking back retrospectively now, it was probably the best thing that could have been done because it not only did it save the organisation, it probably saved me from making more mistakes. So sometimes feedback hurts, but that's okay. In terms of the feedback that hurt the most, it was being told that I needed to get out of the way.

8:06Our third question is from Farrow in Colchester. And they ask, what career advice do people give that you completely disagree with? Well, I'm always surrounded by people who think they know better than me giving me loads of different advice. Do this, wear that, say this, ask these funny interview questions at the end of stuff. And I think sometimes what you've got to do is step back and think what works for you. The example I'll give is this. I remember when I was early on in my career, I was applying for different roles within a transport company and applying for a position that was a little bit more money than I was currently earning and in a different part of the business, I was told that I had too many skills for the role.

8:49I didn't understand what they were talking about. I was like, just give me the job. No one will ever know if I've got extra stuff and it must be a benefit if I've got more than what you're acquiring. But the reality was they didn't think I was best suited for the position that I was applying for. And my reaction was, that's crazy. Like, just give me the job. I'm so eager for it. But what it actually taught me is this. It taught me something more about management than it did about me as an individual. I now, as a manager, realize that in that situation, somebody should have said no, but added a but to it.

9:23Instead of just being told no, go off and go back and apply for something different, that person should have identified that I was eager and enthusiastic to apply. I'd put myself through a quite taxing process. Is there something else that I could be directed into doing that wasn't this particular role? So although I don't think they should have taken me on for the role if I wasn't right, I would like somebody to listen to what my mum's mantra or one of my mum's many mantras is, which I think is really powerful. Sometimes when you're hearing people come for different positions or into your realm of influence, sometimes you have to apply this rule.

10:02Sometimes you must use two ears and one mouth in that proportion. They didn't listen to what I actually was doing, which was I was looking for a different opportunity and they just focused on telling me no. So the words that came out, what that did for me, it broke my psychological contract with the organization. And from that moment on, I was doing different things or looking for different opportunities rather than being embraced as somebody who's enthusiastic and then pointed in another direction. So although it was really tough to hear that I had too many skills for a particular role, what it actually taught me is that not everybody listens to what's being said.

10:40They just speak sometimes based on the facts that they have in front of them. So the advice that was wrong was that I had too many skills where the advice should have been, where else can they be utilized?

10:57If you enjoyed today's episode, please share it with someone you think might find it useful too. We're on a mission to help as many people as possible make work feel more fulfilling and a lot less complicated than it sometimes seems. And if you'd like more ideas, insights and practical advice between episodes, be sure to subscribe to our newsletter. It's a great way to stay connected and get fresh content delivered straight to your inbox. And finally, thank you for spending some of your time with me today. I always love hearing from listeners. So if there's a question you'd like me to tackle on a future episode, just drop me an email at reworking at bowermedia.co.uk.

11:31You might even hear your question featured on the show. Thanks for listening, and I'll see you again very soon.