Grant Leboff: One of the things you talk about in your book, which I think is something that was different for me, was the importance of 'acceptance'. How does that play out for you in a business leader's life?
Nicci Roscoe: By accepting the situation that you're in, that can really enable a business leader, a person within a business situation, to move forward. If something isn't going the way they want it to, then by not accepting it, it is going to bring up all kinds of worries and it's going to cause all kinds of issues.
For instance, I had a client who stepped in as the new MD in a company and he found that there were people that were within that company who really weren't working - it wasn't happening for them - they weren't moving forward and they were bringing everybody else down. So he had to accept that he needed to let them go. And that was challenging, because they'd been there for years and he did. And he had a lot of flack for it, which was also very challenging for him. Once he did it, and once he accepted that he'd made that decision, he knew it was the right decision and actually, the company went on to be very successful, even more successful than they had been beforehand. So by accepting a situation that may not be going their way, that could enable them to move forward even more.
Grant Leboff: It's interesting because when you're ready acceptance, it's not a question of accepting that you're in a bad place and that's just how it is. It's an enabler to then take yourself out of that situation. So how does that play out? There is probably a fine line between acceptance in terms; I accept the situation I'm in, and acceptance as in; where you can't enable yourself to improve it or change it. So where's that line and how do people make sure that they're accepting the right things?
Nicci Roscoe: For me there's no word as 'can't'. I'd like to just delete the word can't' and I think in business, we all need to delete the word can't. There's always a way, we can find a way to move forward. So however much a fine line there is, if you're a chief executive of a company and you need to make those decisions - which can be challenging to you - and you need to accept that that decision you make is your decision, you need to go with your gut, you need to go with your feeling. Of course you have people around you, there are partners, there are directors there are other people, you discuss things, but ultimately it's your decision and you've got there, you've got this position because you have made good decisions.
Sometimes there are things that go wrong. It happens. Move on. But when it happens, you say to yourself; right, I accept that. That didn't go the way I wanted to but next time it's going to be fine and I'm going to learn from what happened. And how do you learn? By just keep going, by talking to others, by finding out what others want, by listening to your own gut, by making those decisions, by sticking to your values which are really important and by just accepting that what you do is the final word.
Grant Leboff: So acceptance, in some ways, is a sort of way of drawing a line under a particular place and having drawn that line, it enables you to then move forward, move on to the next one. Are there any techniques people can use to get to that point? Some people struggle, sometimes, to draw a line under certain things?
To accept what you do - again, it's affirmation, it's talking to yourself, it's self talk. It's telling yourself; this is the situation, this is what I need to do, this is how I'm going to do it. I also think when people are in situations, or I believe and I've seen it work, that when they are struggling, or they're feeling really stressed and uncomfortable about having to make a decision, or to accept what is going on at that moment... I also believe that they need to not only tell themselves that this is what they're going to do, but they also need to make sure that they have other people around them, talk to people - so they've got support - but at the same time look after themselves.
So mindfulness, taking care of themselves by taking some time out in meditation, because meditation, breathing, relaxation, are all part of helping you and enabling a business leader and anybody in business to come to decisions. So taking the stress away from having that, by doing meditation, relaxation, taking an hour out to do some exercise, even if it means getting out and having a walk around the block - and if it's raining that's no excuse - take an umbrella. All of these things, I feel, are really important as well as eating healthily and sleep - because if you don't get enough sleep, then you're not going to be able to think straight. So those areas are really important.
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