Early on in my career while working for Bloomberg I was fortunate to do a lot of traveling for them between North and South America teaching technical analysis to traders, investors, analysts, salespeople, portfolio managers, etc. During that time I remember often feeling exceptionally grateful for the mentors who took the time to answer my questions and let me learn from them.
Some of my favorite meetings were those where I got to sit next to a portfolio manager, salesperson, or trader, and actually watch what they were doing and ask questions about their process. The people who still stand out to me are the ones who took the time to explain exactly not only what they were doing, but also why they were doing it. They explained the way they were thinking, why they would or would not do something specific, and were really open and generous with their time and attention. Those meetings always left a mark – I was so appreciative that they took the time to really help me learn and grow.
I was reading an article by Jeff Goins, a blogger I have followed for a number of years, which says: “Successful people are not generous because they are successful. They are successful because they are generous.”
Think about it…
People are successful and as a result, they have earned the ability to be generous. However, their ability to assist those around them and their openness and willingness to support others is also something that has made them truly successful.
One of the most seminal books for me as (both personally and professionally) is a book by Stephen Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. In this book, one of the fundamental topics he talks about is the ‘abundance mentality’ and treating life and your world with an abundance mentality.
Consider that you have an unlimited number of fantastic ideas. Give them away. Let someone else take it and run with it because you can always come up with another idea. The thought process behind this is that we tend to find one single AMAZING idea and wind up ‘circling the wagons’ around that one idea, defending it at all costs to keep anyone else from stealing it. Covey argues that instead, you should freely give that idea away.
Covey is not alone in this belief. Others have argued the same thing and one thing I truly enjoy about social media is that it encourages the free exchange of ideas. It encourages you to give away great insights, all for free.
What can happen on the flip side is that someone holds his or her idea so tightly that it essentially never gets out. I once had someone forward a report to me and ask me not to send it to anyone else. I was dumbfounded because I could not understand why I should not be forwarding this fantastic idea around to everyone I knew to promote the work they were are doing.
As you give more, you will find the benefits come back, ten-fold.
James Altucher, another author, investor, and entrepreneur talks about this in his book, Choose Yourself!. He says that one of the best things you can do is give the good stuff away because even though it feels like you are giving away irreplaceable content and ideas, the opportunities will come back to you in another way. The people you are giving the ideas to will return the favor in some way that you cannot imagine right now.
Now, if you are not good at coming up with ideas, Altucher suggests to write down ten ideas.
Any ten ideas.
Even if they suck.
Do this daily and over time you will come up with new ideas, and even if only one idea out of one hundred is really good, then you have one really good idea.
My call to action to you is to think of someone in your network who have not worked with in a while and see how you can connect and give him or her something unexpected. Whether it is a great idea, some encouragement, or even something they could do to grow professionally or personally. Encourage them in a way that gives them an idea, and see how over time the benefits come back to you.
RR#6,
Dave
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