What does freedom feel like?
Very early in my career, I felt like I needed to know the answer to every question to assert myself as belonging in my leadership positions. When people asked me things, they expected that I had the answer, and I felt the need to give them one. When I didn’t have the answer, I felt like I wasn’t enough and didn’t belong where I stood. My lack of answers left me feeling trapped.
Then something interesting happened. I don’t recall when or how it occurred, and I don’t have an epiphany moment etched in my mind that I can rewind back to and see. The day and time are lost, but the realization I captured is crystal clear, and it set me free.
I don’t have to know everything.
I don’t need every answer, and I don’t need to be an expert in the areas where I lack experience or education. What I DO need is a circle of colleagues, connections, and collaborators who possess knowledge and skills that I don’t. Each of these relationships represents a well that I can draw upon when those questions come up that I lack answers for. They fill my gaps.
Now, my response doesn’t end with “I don’t know.” I’ve replaced that reply with, “I don’t know, but I do know someone who does. Let me find out.”
My network has made me a powerful resource to everyone I encounter, not because of my own smarts or expertise, but because of the knowledge and know-how of my collected network. My circle includes leaders in finance, manufacturing, leadership, culture, retail, process, real estate, and more. If you need someone, I know someone. My value is no longer tied to what I can do alone. Now, it comes from what I can provide together with the help of my professional connections.
I don’t have to know it all anymore, and in that, there is immense freedom.
The Takeaway
These relationships do not simply appear or exist. They are built, brick by brick, day by day. This week, get out of your comfort zone and work to expand your own network with one or two valuable new connections.