I’ve always thought that one of the best parts of being raised in a military family is that it taught me how to be direct.
Coming from the top down, that directness could take a lot of forms, some good, some…not so much.
But what I never was after walking away from a conversation with my old man was ‘unsure’ of what he meant.
Now, I think a lot of us lump together the idea of ‘being direct’ with the notion of telling people something they don’t want to hear.
As if there is a sort of cold cruelness attached to it.
But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve discovered that being direct really means telling people what you need them to hear in a way that they will listen.
But - plot twist! - what happens if the person you need to be direct with is yourself?
As leaders, it’s our job to spend a huge portion of our bandwidth thinking about the needs of others.
Too often, however, what feels like self-sacrifice is actually self-sabotage.
After all, how can we be direct with ourselves if we barely know what’s going on with us in the first place?
That’s a question Kekua Kobashigawa found herself asking after the “dream life” she worked so hard to build began falling apart.
But not one to sit among the rubble, Kekua began to build the life she never even knew she wanted in the first place.
Now she’s a Woman’s Leadership Mentor and the best-selling author of “Do Big Shit: The Road Map for Taking Control of Your Life.”
She is also the founder of the HBIC Development.
And yes - it stands for exactly what you think it does.
Kekua and I discuss the perils of common sense, why auto-pilot doesn’t equal safety, and what leaders need to know about how engagement is a two way street.
Fair warning: there’s some salty language so maybe listen with headphones