Re-Invention: Some Strategies that Work!

There are two ways you can pursue (this word means both: to hunt, chase AND to attract) uncharted opportunities and reinvention for yourself: You go and claim something that you are convinced that you can do, even though you have not done it before; or jump on an opportunity someone offers you, because someone believes that you can do it, even though you know that you have not done it before!

In my coaching practice I often come across clients who want to do the former, despite their apprehensions and the countless inner voices that goad them to say no to something that stirs their passions and inner calling, mostly stemming from their existential fear. In the case of the latter, when someone offers them an amazing opportunity and they’re not sure, I help them by getting them to a yes, when I see enough critical mass as a combination of their will, resourcefulness, and their willingness to give more to succeed than to just win. In more cases than not what they need to do to reach this tipping point is to get some help in overcoming their apprehensions, enabling them to find their own comfort zone, which allows them to move ahead with their decision with anticipation and confidence, and not with hesitation. Most clients come in putting too much premium on experience and not on their abilities and inner drive. Wrong!

My own career is filled with examples from both sides: two of my career transitions were a result of someone offering me two distinct opportunities just because they felt that I would be the right person, despite my lack of any experience in those areas; the other two resulted from my spotting these opportunities and realizing that if I presented the right approach to pursue these to the right person they would be mine to have. Now that I am in my fifth career, looking back, each of the calls I made were the right ones at the right time! So, serendipity plays a big part in your success when you are confronted with such possibilities; you luck, then, cements it!

In this blog I’d like to share my–and my clients’–experiences pursuing both, opportunities that present new challenges when someone offers them to you, and going after new opportunities that you want to pursue because you see how they can be brought to fruition with your unique approach. Both require the same basic ability to jump into an unknown situation, but only after developing a plan and then knowing how to execute that plan. In either case I find that even if you do not win you are in a position to create your own success, only if you know first how to define it in its broader sense:

A: When someone offers something new:

Here is the prescription for accepting a challenge when someone presents you with an amazing opportunity when you know others are much better qualified to succeed at it than you perhaps are:

1. Listen to what the person making that offer has say about why they picked you to prosecute their idea. Ask questions about the idea, why they think that you were their right choice, and discuss with them their role in making you successful in their endeavor.
2. Do NOT bring up for discussion your lack of experience in the area of work that you will be undertaking, but do bring up relevant experience and skills that you bring to the endeavor. This will allow you to cement your candidacy for the role and allow the person (your sponsor) offering the role to trust you in making them successful. Here, your success is their success.
3.  Working with that person (your sponsor) develop a tenable plan that clearly shows how you are going to go after the task and what some of the key success factors are and also the assumptions that are central to making the project successful. Validate the assumptions on your own and using the sponsor as your sounding board. This critical step will allow you to earn the trust of the sponsor throughout the project and allow you to perform more as a team than as boss-subordinate duo.
4. Find ways to overcome obstacles and anticipate roadblocks by being resourceful and by being proactive. Seek help from the right people, especially in the areas where you lack that expertise. No one expects you to be a know-it-all.
5. Provide leadership and inspiration to your team and acknowledge their contributions, without assuming all credit to yourself. The more credit you give the more credit you will get for the overall success of the endeavor.

B. When you spot a new opportunity

1. Quickly assess the opportunity and analyze its scope (e.g., market size, competition, customer trends, and long-term viability)
2. Develop a proof-of-concept (PoC) and try it out within your trusted circle.
3. Refine the PoC and get some viable proxies in your potential customers’ hands. Seek their response, feedback, and refine to earn their loyalty.
4. Scale the product/service in its pilot phase so that you can rapidly learn from a larger customer pool to improve your offering’s credibility. This is your Minimum Viable Product (MVP).
5. Find resources (money, talent, distribution channels, and, ecosystem players) to scale your endeavor.

Embarking on uncharted vistas should not be a scary proposition. If you trust your own abilities and trust those who work with you (Trusting your universe) then such endeavors are not only worth pursuing, they are often rewarding beyond your wildest dreams! I’d like to end this blog with a famous quote:

“I learned this, at least, by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”
—Henry David Thoreau

Good luck!