If You Want To Succeed You Need To Build Your Inner Circle

During this time of significant recovery and adaptive challenge where we are all paving a new path and navigating a re-imagined future, your personal inner circle is more critical than ever.  We are all experiencing significant adaptive challenges of having to explore how to replace the complexities of work and the world around us with clarity; replace fear and anxiety with calm and trust; and replace disconnection with connection and we cannot do this alone.

Building an inner circle for your success is about:

• Connecting and collaborating with the right people
• Openly sharing knowledge and insights with individuals who understand at a deeper level, our goal and aspirations
• Knowing that when we learn to move together, we start to move faster

A Harvard Business Review article “Managing Yourself, A Smarter Way to Network” found that “the executives who consistently rank in the top 20% of their companies in both performance and well-being have diverse but select networks …made up of high-quality relationships with people who come from several different spheres.”

Steve Jobs’ life was full of connections that ultimately created the legacy of the Apple brand,

Rutha Nuguse, an IT developer who started developing her skills from home at the age of 16 building marketable technology skills on a home computer knew the power of connection.  Despite her fear, she attended a technology-networking event where she met Celeste Brown, an engineer at Intel.  After the event, Rutha connected with Celeste on LinkedIn.  A month later, Celeste hired Rutha as a Software Validation Engineer.

Motivational speaker and successful businessman, Jim Rohn famously said ‘You are the average of the five people you surround yourself with’. Whether we like it or not, we are all greatly influenced by those closest to us – our confidence, the decisions we make, our thinking, our belief in ourselves and our belief in possibility.

So, who are the right people to have in your inner circle to support your success?

The Promoters

Your own personal cheerleading squad is key to your success.  These individuals make noise about you, they are your marketing machine, opening doors to opportunity, helping you explore different paths and solutions to achieve success. We all need inspiration along the road to success and this is exactly what your Promoters do.

According to research from the Centre For Talent Innovation, people with promoters (aka sponsors) are 23% more likely to move up in their career than those without sponsors.

The Pit Crew
Climbing the ladder of success can be a lonely task, requiring grit, determination and perseverance. We all experience days of frustration and disappointment, days when we have to face our fears, make tough decisions or calls, push past failures, recalibrate our reality and keep focused on opportunities that lie outside our comfort zone. Having the right crew to help you overcome these difficulties, keeping you mentally tough and balanced, is crucial.

Like a Formula One pit stop, your pit crew can make or break a race.  They add stamina to run the marathon of your dreams; to navigate complexities and recover from setbacks.  They help you learn from mistakes and keep pushing you on anyway.

The Teachers
Seek out teachers who will continue to help develop your mastery and knowledge, pushing you to know more. They may have already achieved what you want to achieve and will willingly open doors, make introductions and pave the way to your success.

Harvard professor Linda Hill says, ‘You can’t think of something new unless you are being pushed to think in new directions, and you can’t do that unless you are engaging with people who have a different viewpoint.’

The Butt-kickers

Love them or hate them, we all need butt-kickers – those individuals that help accelerate the journey, pushing you to do more and holding you accountable for all your actions.

Ensure you have the critical people around you; guiding, mentoring and cheering you on all the way to success.

Commentary by Janine Garner. Here’s what you’ve missed?
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