This week’s theme is self-awareness. I landed on this theme due to the many people I encounter who spend way too much time comparing themselves. It’s why I intentionally built the foundation last week focused on your mental health. Now we’re going to work at getting very real with ourselves. It’s not about who or what you want to become, it’s about who and what you are right now. Sure, we’re all subject to growth and improvement – which means we can change, but I want to push you to consider innate strengths, talents, and abilities. I also want you to think about your beliefs, convictions and character traits. It’s time to look deeply into the mirror.

Randy

 

We're talking about you. Your self-awareness. Your beliefs. Your decisions. Your actions. Changes YOU need to make so you can improve.

It's not about what other people need to do. Or what you think they need to do. This week we're being selfish in that we're looking into the mirror so we can grow. We want to become better human beings.

New flash: It may appear to have anything to do with your business. But it does.

You may wonder how being a better person can serve you at work. Well, let me offer up a few pieces of evidence - proof of why you should put in this work.

The Pacific Gas and Electric Co. continues to be in the news for bad behavior. Well, if you think criminal behavior is bad. And I do.

Uber's rocky road toward an IPO was commented upon by TechCrunch. The company has a history of bad behavior from the top down.

Boeing may have known about the safety issues with the 737 Max before that fatal crash last year.

Daily big companies and small companies make the news because of illegal, immoral or questionable behavior from the C-suite. Nevermind that many other companies don't make the news for doing good work, behaving honestly with high integrity. But the pursuit of business success is a strong siren call that lures many founders, CEOs and executives to ignore whatever character and moral compass once defined them. Others were likely scoundrels from the get-go. It just took some time before they were found out.

Still think being a good human has no correlation with growing great at running a business?

John isn't his real name, but John is the CEO and founder of a software company that has passed the $100 million mark. He's a programming fool. Gifted. A skill beyond my comprehension really. Forget computer languages, I'm still trying to master English, my native tongue.

John is hard-charging and proud of it. He has no reservations in being a jerk. Or being considered a jerk. I joke with him that he's read too many stories about Steve Jobs. But I suspect it's true.

He churns through developers with a rapid clip. Ask him and he'll admit he's constantly surrounded by inept people, incapable of crafting clean code. Maybe he's right. I just know his tactics aren't serving him. Or the business. At least not serving either of them to grow great.

I'm patient with John though because he realizes he's learned this behavior. Those early years of having to do most of the coding himself taught him what it took to succeed. And it also taught him what it would take to fail. But he refused to fail.

Privately, John hates it. He hates "having to be like that." That is being a jerk, berating people, exhibiting intolerance for even the slightest error. "Man,