Whenever you start anything—a new job or a new project—it’s an opportunity to both disrupt and better yourself, author and C-suite coach Whitney Johnson said during her keynote address today at Business Report’s annual Influential Women in Business luncheon.
Johnson, twice been recognized as one of the world’s 50 leading business thinkers by Thinkers50, encourages people throughout corporate organizations to disrupt themselves—working to change themselves by doing things differently than what they’re used to and by taking risks. Those who embrace disruption, she says, have greater odds of success and 20 times greater opportunities for revenue.
“You don’t cope with change, you harness its unabridged ability, its power to propel you forward,” she says.
Johnson—an author and host of a weekly podcast about business professionals who have disrupted their industries—encourages people to take advantage of market risk by identifying problems no one else is trying to solve and then create the market to solve it.
“Play where no one else is playing,” Johnson says. “By building myself a door, I build my company a door.”
Managers should not only push themselves toward success, but also their employees. When building an “A-Team,” she says, managers should strive for a staff where 15% are new and learning, 70% are comfortable and 15% have a mastery understanding of what they do.
“Bring your genius to work, and make sure your employees are too,” Johnson says.
Not only is the ability to remain flexible and make adjustments to your strategy a key to success, so, too, is the ability to move on after grieving over failures. Shame, she cautions, limits disruption, not failure.
“If it feels scary and lonely, you are on the right path,” Johnson says.
Johnson gave her speech before a crowd of 600 at Crowne Plaza during an event honoring this year’s Influential Women in Business winners. Read about the honorees here
