Hi there,

Are you a high potential leader?  

It’s one of the questions I ask when someone joins my Private Facebook group.  If the answer is YES then great, you’re in.  If the answer is NO, then you are still in.  I don’t discriminate.  The answer just provides me an idea of your starting place.

But after almost getting hit by a bus this week, I asked myself the question, “Is high-potential good enough?”

My daughter attends preschool in Berkeley.  It’s not the busiest city but I do have to park on a busy street to get her there.  And as I am returning to my car after drop off (thankfully she wasn’t with me), I open the drivers side door on the busy street and within seconds I hear, 

“HOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK” 

followed by an uncomfortably strong breeze less than a foot from my face.

I froze in my tracks.  My heart was racing.  And after I caught my breath, I thought “That was entirely too close.”

What if you got hit by a bus tomorrow?  I know it sounds grim.  But it’s a great philosophical question.  Would you be happy with where you are in your career right now?

What do you think?  Are you comfortable continuing to be considered a potential leader year after year?  How long is it OK to live in “potential”?

I have a client that came to me after receiving “exceeds expectations” on 3 performance evaluations with no increase in salary or title.   Instead she received more work.  That was considered her compensation and she had had enough.  Which is what led her to coaching.

On Tuesday, I got to ask myself that same question.  Am I happy in my career?

Thankfully the answer is yes!  I know I can do better.  I know I can work harder.  I am learning everyday.  But I am 100% confident that I am working within my leadership capabilities not just my leadership potential.

It wasn’t always this way.  For about a decade working at a hedge fund in New York, I was a follower.  I thought the only way to get ahead in the corporate world was to work hard, produce great results and hope to receive “exceeds expectations” on my performance reviews.  

I was well liked.

I was well respected.

I was good at my job.

But I wasn’t making the impact I knew I could make.  To do that, I would need to become a LEADER instead of a FOLLOWER.

So what are you waiting for?  Is it your time to LEAD or your time to FOLLOW?

Let’s continue this conversation on a free discovery call.  You will get complete clarity on what specifically you need to do move into a leadership position NOW (not tomorrow).

Thank you for joining me on my mission to make organizations a better place, one high-performance leader at a time.

All the best,
Stacy

PS: I want to hear from you.  Reply to this email with the answer to this question, “What is one shift you are going to make today to move the needle from being seen as a high-potential to being KNOWN as a high-performance leader?”