Hi !

Hope you are all doing well and having a good weekend.

It's Thanksgiving weekend in the US, which is customary for people to talk about the things that they are grateful for in life and spending quality time with loved ones.

Coincidentally, the theme of the Leaderonomics' Bounce Back Summit this week is also on how to Lead with Gratitude, so I thought I could share with you some key takeaways from what I've learnt this past week.

Side note: I am currently a part of the Bounce Back Summit, a leadership development program consisting of weekly live sessions with top global leaders and coaching sessions to help us develop better habits and transform our lives for the better. I won the all-access pass (costs $120), thanks to Aaron from MrStingy, and thought that I could share what I learned from the summit with you guys through this newsletter (and perhaps a longer blog post in the future).

There are no mistakes, only learning opportunities.

I'm sure we are all afraid of making mistakes, especially when we are new at work and we are entrusted to do something important. But it is important to remember that when you are leading something (or someone), mistakes are bound to happen. No matter how careful you are, or how prepared you are, there will always be something out of your control that can mess things up.

So instead of looking at it from the mindset of "OMG, this person made a huge mistake!", think about it from a different perspective, "How can we learn from this and work towards a better process for next time?"

This is something that I am seeing first-hand at work with my manager. I've been given so many new things to try, and sometimes thing does not work out as well as I planned. Most recently, I organized a three-week long academic lecture series, where we invited speakers from universities to talk about different subject areas.

I thought that I was clear enough when I was dealing with the university representatives, but it seemed like some did not fully understand it, and the session ended up being more of a marketing stint for their university, instead of an academic lecture.

At that point, I was already feeling disheartened, and the thoughts of "OMG, I screwed this up. OMG OMG OMG what do I do now?" ran through my head. Thankfully, my manager was super supportive, and he took over to explain to the speaker on what we were actually looking for, and cleared the misunderstanding up. He also reassured me that it was not my fault (the other sessions were pretty much according to what we planned, so it was just that particular speaker who didn't follow what we asked), and helped me to craft out a better (and clearer) email for future engagements.

Praise people & give them hope.

We tend to focus a lot of negative things and less on the positive things around us. In this time, where things are uncertain and people are worried about losing their jobs or instability, it is important for us to show our appreciation to the people around us - be it our colleagues, our family members, or the strangers around us.

Help put a smile on someone's face by saying Thank you genuinely when they helped you. Ask about their day, and praise them for a job well done. If you are leading a team, motivate your team members by appreciating their work and giving them praises when they earned it, instead of waiting for the appraisal time.

From my past experiences, I've noticed that some of my managers were really upfront with praises, up to the point that I feel awkward. I'm not used to being complimented for what I do (especially if I feel like it was just normal boring old work that is a part of my job description), but they made me feel valued at work. And when I feel valued, it makes me so much more excited to do and contribute more, because it makes me feel that my contributions are being noticed and appreciated.

No new blog post, but read this one if you haven't already!

Read more!

One last month until the new year.

How's your 2020 resolutions going on? Are you on track to accomplish them, or have you completely abandoned them? I know I've abandoned some of my goals (no fun runs for me this year due to COVID, and Aiman and I decided not to run outside or at the gyms until we are completely sure it's safe and all), but that's OK.

I'm also thinking of recording a vlog to end the year, so if you have suggestions on what I can talk about, do send them over! :)

Until I see you again in two weeks - take care and stay awesome!

Love,

Nazu xx