Seeking Advice

Have you ever been driving your car, exercising, taking a shower or just drifting off to sleep and suddenly… You feel a brilliant, daring new idea being born within you? I had that moment a few weeks ago and immediately picked up the telephone to call a friend and discuss it.

She listened and, as I had hoped, gave me some advice… just not quite the kind I was expecting. She told me she liked the idea and encouraged me to pursue it, but she also warned me about asking too many people too early for their opinions about this big new idea of mine. Once she sensed my enthusiasm and passion around the idea, her advice was to follow my strong intuition and get a little further down the road with my idea before opening myself up to the well-meaning friends and colleagues who might, in an effort to keep my knees unskinned, raise some personal flags of fear and pessimism.

She was right. After a few stumbles, and the epiphanies and adjustments that accompany them, I already intuitively knew that this was a valuable and worthy idea before I finally presented it to some other folks. Some did try to warn me off the project, which I quickly recognized as an extension of their own fear, but I was already well on my way. Others offered some terrific helpful hints and added valuable ideas that I know will make my final project much better. And I learned an invaluable business lesson in the process.

I want the counsel of people I admire and respect, especially those who have blazed a trail already that is similar to one I want to navigate. I will carefully consider their input and advice. But, it’s helpful to remember that while most people around me are my biggest cheerleaders, their advice can’t help but be filtered through their own fears, prejudices, and limiting beliefs. Many will never be comfortable with the level of risk that I might be willing to take. So, I will be cautious not to seek that counsel too early and let myself be filled with unnecessary fear and pessimism before I give the ideas, about which I am passionate and intuitively confident, a fair start. Conversely, there are likely to also be ideas that I decide are not the direction I wish to pursue… no matter how good it looks on paper or how much my friends say it’s the only way to go. In the end, it has to feel right to me. I will first use my own internal wisdom to allow the idea to blossom and either make my own intuitive cut or not. If it does, then I’ll seek insights from the brightest minds I know to help it grow and prosper.

This week, while Katherine joins fellow speakers and consultants at SCN’s annual meeting, we are recycling
a favorite MMS from a few years ago. Our new subscribers will enjoy Katherine’s story and the lessons
she took from the experience. And to all of our MMS readers who have been loyal subscribers from the
beginning… you’ll remember why we love seeing the world of business and life through the eyes of The Lioness.


“Don’t follow any advice, no matter how good, until you feel as
deeply in your spirit as you think in your mind that the counsel is wise.”
~ Joan Rivers


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