Hi there! As we celebrate the arrival of our baby girl, I would like to take a moment to reflect on our self-confidence, both as parents and as individuals. But before we do that, let's start with something else as usual ..

Weekly Inventory Check:

The benefit of conducting a weekly inventory check lies in its regularity. If you don't periodically evaluate yourself, you won't know how much you have progressed as an individual. It's essential to monitor any metric that matters to you and track your progress. This doesn't necessarily have to be growth or progress in a conventional sense. It could be as simple as the number of TV shows you watched in a month. Any measurement that brings you an awareness of your current reality. Don't wait for life to give you a reality check; take the initiative yourself.

Power Dynamics and Experience

As a consultant, I frequently meet with potential clients, even when I am satisfied with my current project. It's crucial to keep a full pipeline in case anything happens with your ongoing project. This week, I met with a client in the training industry, which I am passionate about. Coaching and training individuals is one of the reasons why I started this newsletter. The client's focus was on Data Training, an area I have been working in for over five years. However, I have always felt like I need to overcompensate for my lack of confidence to land and keep my job. This insecurity dates back to my time in Pakistan in 2017 when my boss would tell me to say yes and figure it out later. When I moved to the Netherlands, I discovered that the work culture was different. Employers here prefer you to admit when you don't know something, and that it's acceptable to do so. I adapted to this new way of thinking, but a few months later, my contract wasn't renewed. They cited the reason as needing someone more senior and that I wasn't up to the task. I realized that pretending to know what I didn't was helping me survive in the company, and acknowledging my weaknesses and inexperience led me out the door.

I take issue with this story because my first bosses in the Netherlands did not understand the power dynamics at play. Being transparent about weaknesses and shortcomings might have been acceptable for them as the COO and Head of Operations, but it did not work for me as a junior who had just started in this field. Wearing my inexperience as a badge did not help, and I believe organizations need to train their leaders to be mindful of power dynamics. So, what happened with the data training company? During our conversation, I realized that everything I was saying about the new technologies and data landscape was not fake, as I had gained that knowledge and experience in the last 5 years. I was now comfortable being transparent about what I didn't know, and when they asked me about things I hadn't experienced, I confidently admitted that I didn't know. At the end of the conversation, the person I was speaking with mentioned that he sensed there was more to me than I was showing. I thought about it and responded that, for the first time, I was comfortable being transparent about my strengths and weaknesses without any negative consequences.

Do you agree or disagree? Shoot me an email. I would love to hear your thoughts!

Want More?

Feeling like you aren't good enough can lead to faking it, which is sometimes caused by Impostor Syndrome.

According to this post, Power Dynamics can have a negative impact on the culture of your organization.

What is Power Dynamics actually?

Read of the Week

Brene Brown is a well-known figure in the field of self-development, having made significant contributions to the field. It would be wise to suggest her book, "The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are," as the read of the week. I believe this book would be an excellent read for anyone struggling with accepting their true self.

Thoughts to Leave you With

I believe that Power Dynamics will continue to pervade various aspects of life for the foreseeable future. It's possible that in certain instances, being true to yourself could result in missing out on a job opportunity. However, I don't recommend being stubborn to the point of detriment. Instead, it's important to choose your battles wisely. In my own career, I've been able to establish a solid reputation over the course of five years, which affords me the luxury of being candid during meetings without fear of repercussions. However, I recognize that this might not be feasible if I were struggling to make ends meet and had no job prospects. Therefore, it's important to approach each situation with a tailored strategy.