To Soar Above the Creative Crowd? Don’t be Better. Be Yourself – the Unmitigated Authentic YOU!
Sometimes the best information we get is when we are wandering around in another field. My challenge in starting a new business is connecting with people and marketing. I listen to podcasts when I’m driving (which is a lot, I live in rural Colorado, and we drive a lot by necessity!). I happened to hear the brilliant marketer Sally Hogshead turn the tables on what it takes to connect with people and was immediately riveted to her main message:
“Different is better than better. Different doesn’t try to turn you into something else. Different allows you to highlight the singular traits you already have within you. You aren’t necessarily better than your competition. But you are already different. …strengths matter less than differences.” – Sally Hogshead, How the World Sees You
And isn’t that what creative genius is all about? Seeing things in a way no one else sees, connecting the dots, finding solutions that flexibly solve complex problems that no one else thought about in the same way? Your differentness is the foundation of your creative genius.
Sally Hogshead is a creative genius with an attention-getting last name who claimed BMW and Coca-Cola as clients before working on what she’s most passionate about – teaching people what “fascinating” qualities they have and how they bring value to others. She thoroughly researched what people find attractive in other people.
Sally backs up her message with brain science and market research that proves this point. And creative habits and practices – when filtered through our own innate gifts and traits, who we fully are, how we uniquely think, gather and analyze information, get ideas, and move through change – will transform our lives and our world.
And many of you reading this – when you expressed yourself fully as a child got stomped on. Me included. Heck, in corporate America, stomping out differences, outside-the-box thinking, and personality quirks is a national pastime. And it doesn’t make things better.
Someone in a high position once told me that I brought too much of myself to the office. He recommended only showing up as a 10% solution. My femaleness might have unconsciously entered into this critique. Men seem to be admired for their strong personalities. All 100% of them.
[Employer] “Confidence levels increased by 34% when employees communicated who they are rather than what they do.” – Sally Hogshead, How the World Sees You
When working with elected officials, as I have, being in the background is essential. Don’t outshine the people the voters have elected.
But, it is my irreverent tender maverick personality that allowed me to address complex problems effectively, find funding to make things happen, and get projects off the paper and built. Someone with different personality traits would have done it differently. But I couldn’t get results by suppressing my own gifts and trying methods that squelch my own brand of ingeniousness. I am most effective when I can be myself. This is true of you too.
You have your own gifts and style. In an environment that needs your ideas, brilliance, and guidance, bringing your whole self to the table is the most effective way to address problems, move forward, and bring the most value to the people you work with.
The problem might be that you think you know “who you are,” but people might have a different perception of the best you are. I certainly have struggled with claiming my best qualities because of the trauma I went through as a kid – my mother was very threatened by my personality and did a lot of stomping.
I took Sally’s Fascinate Test at howtofascinate.com. According to her test, the very things that threatened my unsolicited ‘advisor’ and my mom are the traits that people find most valuable in me. In the words of the test, I am a Maverick Leader whose highest value to others is “Pioneering Ideas.” My specialties are Pioneering (creativity?), Irreverence (oops, I have been called witty and am a quipper), Entrepreneurial (interesting because I haven’t claimed this one, Artful (which she describes as clever and charming, with sharp humor), Dramatic (which she describes as presenting ideas vividly, energized and intriguing presentations, using strong body language).
Whew, ok. I recall about 100% of that being reflected back to me by admirers in a similar language.
If you think I flatter myself, that is the point. We need to move toward our best traits, not be obsessed with changing ourselves, so we fit in. False humility and focusing on our least attractive traits does not move us forward and provides little to no value to others.
People do want you to be authentic. And they want what is best in you, what provides the most value. So why not want in ourselves what other people see as best in us?
Sally’s test names “Alert” as my least attractive advantage and cautions me against being in situations where the qualities of an “Alert” advantage. Those are jobs/situations that are highly regimented or tightly controlled, where I’m required to measure and manage each meticulous detail constantly.
Eek! Describes every job I’ve been fired from. If you’ve been reading my other posts, you can also see that those situational traits are all creative stiflers. So my advice, stay away from those situations as well!
Starting on a committed, thoughtful, creative journey by building the approaches, practices, and habits of creativity might mean you need to start releasing what oppresses you and what doesn’t want you to show up 100% as you authentically are. Shift toward people and environments who are glad you can bring value with your whole self.
And from Sally: “Few people recognize the full worth of their personality, let alone protect it. Yet your personality is an asset to be protected and watched over, just as you would carefully watch over your stock portfolio. You are the custodian of your personality. You have a duty to derive the most value from it, as well as preserve it; you won’t be able to value to employees [and employers], family, or anyone else. And you won’t get the most value out of your best natural asset.” – How the World Sees You
You. Are the solution. You are a creative genius. Suppressing any part of your best self (including those traits others were threatened by and forced you to suppress them) will stifle your creativity, innovative powers and dim your light.
The people and work you should want in your life want you to shine, to fly your flag high. Not be a pompous ass (born out of insecurity), but a mature, authentic, kind, creative superpower. They want you to be you and bring your you-ness to add value to work and life.
Interested in the steps to a creative life? Download The Seedbop Navigator: 9 Seedbop Habits: Move Past Fear and Stuckness, Become Wildly Creative, Unveil Your One-of-a-Kind Brilliance, Solve Big Problems, Persist Through the Hard Stuff, Flourish in Your Work and Life, Have Fun, Make Things Happen, and Make Your Heart Sing. (click here)
This is the guidebook that will point you in the direction of a more creative life. It’s free. I’m here to help. Walk with me on the seedbop journey. Let’s do this together.
Sally Hogshead. How the World Sees You: Discover Your Highest Value Through the Science of Fascination, 2014, HarperCollins Publishers, New York.