2022 has been very confusing for me. I have never felt more challenged mentally. For those who know me personally, I have always been a soldier. Every barrier ever thrown at me was just another thing I knew I had to break through. I owe my career and expertise to that resilience and self-sacrifice.
That wasn’t enough. After much thought this whole year, these are 12 painful truths I wish I applied sooner - Part 1 of 2.
Everything in life is a negotiation
Anytime you ask or are asked for something, it’s a negotiation. People who are more aware of this than others, usually get more out of every engagement.
We only ever go in prepared to negotiate if it’s a life opportunity or threat i.e. Salaries, deals, police e.t.c
Those who have learned it as a skill get more out of you than you actually think. Learn it as an important life skill - at the very least, to know when you are being negotiated against.
Power matters, don’t ignore power, learn it - connected to the first point
The most naive thing you can do in your career is to believe that every engagement is equal. The power most of us understand is formal power - which comes from an official position i.e Employer, government
But every single daily engagement involves parties with different levels of power. These dynamics affect how you are treated and what you get out of life.
The biggest lesson came earlier in the year when we were doing a performance review with one of our key clients. They are a house of different consumer brands. This came after a very successful campaign we had just concluded with one of the brands. I went into that meeting confident and with high spirits - hopeful for a retainer review.
The first thing the head of the department did was to acknowledge the efforts and success and then they immediately asked why the other brands weren’t as successful considering we are paid a holistic value retainer.
At that particular point, the power dynamics had shifted greatly against us. Anything we said after appeared defensive, however valid.
Learn power. Notice when it is being put to use.
Learning how to speak and bringing out your thoughts clearly is an underrated skill
Of all the skills one has to learn in life, I believe speaking is at the top 2 and it’s not number 2. Being able to learn how to voice your actual thoughts isn’t being highlighted enough.
Those who articulate their perspectives more clearly get more out of life - and not just in business, even in the most normal interactions.
This affects Africans like me who grew up in conservative homes and went through the rigid Kenyan public education system where expressing yourself was not encouraged at all.
You will meet people who learned how to express their thoughts verbally and clearly from a very early age.
I started and would wish to resume my public speaking lessons from a young brilliant mind - Mathew George.
Speaking is a skill that determines how first impressions go. Learn it.
Be an expert in one field
This has been true for a while but over time, the concept has been diluted by the ‘jack of all trades’ evangelists. Workplaces started rewarding attitude, skill diversity, and hard work as opposed to expertise.
This is a new economy. The digital and entrepreneur economy. We have seen opportunities and roles that did not exist 10 years ago. I don’t want a videographer, I want a stop-motion creator. I am not looking for a visual designer, I want the best street motion graphics animator. It’s a world that needs specialists. If I run an e-commerce platform, I don’t want a digital marketer, I want the below roles and the best experts in them;
SEO Specialist
Ad Media Performance and Growth Expert
Influencer Strategist
Client Service Manager
This applies to all industries.
Don’t be shamed into being everything, be an expert in one thing.
People will always undervalue you. Go to war to protect your value.
I learned this the painful way. People will always value what you can do for them but devalue the worth of that service. It’s sadly called business.
Every business situation involves a party buying a service or product while instinctively looking for a deal. Don’t leave the room without your value secured. Negotiate and be flexible but don’t leave devalued.
Your value is your armor. Always wear it.
Quitting is unfairly demonized.
It took 3 painful years to understand this. 3 years that came with a lot of crippling anxiety. If it looks like it isn’t working, if you have genuinely applied yourself to the best of your ability and the problem keeps revealing itself, the best path is most likely to quit. The earlier you do it, the easier and faster the new path/journey will reveal itself.
It took that long for me to come to an understanding that our creative agency needed to wind down the business model we have operated with for the last 10 years. This path came with painful decisions that needed to be made, some I am still healing from.
But it was the right decision. I was ashamed at first. It was hard for me to discuss it. I felt like a failure. But now I see the great ripple effects of it.
Quit when your gut is screaming for a change. It might be the single best decision you will make.
This makes a whole load of sense Akil and looking forward to put them into practice.
Read part 2 and came for part 1. Amazing work bro.