PRETTYBIRD’s Post

So well deserved for such a distinguished career.

I wrote a post recently about being brave enough to stop self-victimising yourself and your situation and be brave enough to change it. Such insightful comments from Prateek Sanjay and Bree Rockwell highlighted the thought that happiness (or sadness) is a self-built construct; it’s a state of mind or being that leads to the self-realisation that only you can change that construct (or environment). One of my most memorable mentors and friends, Don Cope helped me through a difficult time I was having as an introvert, trying so desperately to climb the greasy leadership pole at Johnson & Johnson. His sapient advice was, an organisation is nothing more than an entity that will continue to survive under the momentum of size and scale, absolutely irrespective of your individual input. The entity does not care whether you’re here or not - there’s always a willing and congenial “empty suit” to step right in to take your place. So, as an individual, you have 2 choices - you can choose to “change yourself” or you can choose to “change your environment”. At that time, I chose to change myself - that involved the necessity to carefully and humbly rebuild relationships to show that I can be what they want me to be for the sole purpose of reaching the Top 200 executives in a 140,000 strong company - I didn’t want to be beaten so, needed to show capability and congeniality that would have made Sandra Bullock proud! However, a personality and style transplant can only hold an independent thinker for so long - within my next company, after the first 3 years of toeing the line, I chose to challenge my environment to drive my leaders to think beyond their current narrow field of self-preservation. The eventual realisation that they were never going to change from good to great, led to to difficult decision to change my environment to one where lateral thinking was acknowledged and, for the most part, encouraged. Back to Pratek & Bree’s insight - imagine being on Hollywood’s “A” list as the most magnificent “Superman” that ever took on the role, Mr. Christopher Reeve - had he decided against horse riding on that fateful day, he would never have had to survive for the remainder of his existence, trapped within his own body, through Tetraplegia. How would any of us honestly cope with a severed spinal cord at the C1 vertebrae if it were to happen, without notice, this afternoon? How would every goal and everything we thought so important to us just 5 seconds before, be less than insignificant now? Why are we so adamant that our problems are insurmountable - the ignorant boss, the report that we didn’t finish, the meeting where we know we have to completely “wing it”, the customer meeting we don’t want to do since it’s raining… aren’t our bubbles so pathetic? So what did Christopher Reeve do? The man in the cape was simply an actor playing a role - the man in the chair IS the real Superman.

Have you ever wondered what you should say if you have been selected to receive an award, the experts say the following: 1. Express your gratitude and be genuine. Speak from the heart and remember to acknowledge the sponsoring organization as well as any other nominees. 2. Demonstrate why you are deserving of the honor. Keep the self-deprecation to a minimum; don't make them regret selecting you over others. 3. Recognize those who helped you achieve success. Use your moment in the spotlight to pay it forward. Personalize your speech with anecdotes. This is still a speech, after all, so make it memorable and meaningful. 4. Respect the audience and the clock. Not every awards ceremony has an orchestra to play you off the stage when you overstay your welcome.

Waiting for Your Moment: The Power of Persistence When Martin Scorsese finally won his long-awaited Oscar for The Departed, he couldn’t help but ask Steven Spielberg, who was presenting the award, to double-check that there hadn’t been a mistake. "Are you sure?" he asked, almost disbelieving. And honestly, who could blame him? After all, he’d been nominated five times for Best Director and overlooked each time – even for iconic films like Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, and Goodfellas. While The Departed was brilliant, many of us felt there were other films in his career that were even more deserving of that recognition. But that’s the thing, isn’t it? Life doesn’t always reward us when we feel we’ve earned it. There are times when we might feel that we are more than deserving of recognition, but circumstances conspire against it. And when that happens, the real test is how we respond. Scorsese didn’t stop. He kept creating, kept doing what he was brilliant at, and eventually, his moment came. It’s a powerful lesson, one I’ve taken to heart. When life doesn’t immediately reward your hard work or dedication, don’t let it discourage you. Keep going, keep doing what you do best. There’s so much truth in the old saying – keep up the good work. Our moment of recognition will come. Just like Scorsese, we all have our time to make a comeback, to rise and claim what’s rightfully ours. Patience and perseverance always pay off in the end. #Patience #Perseverance #Persistence #Life #LifeLessons #MartinScorsese #Oscar

I rarely post personal updates on here but this one is special. Earlier this year I decided to enrol myself on a 4 month coaching programme called Courage to Soar. The goal was simple: learn how to show up powerfully and be loyal to my dreams, instead of my fears. Over the course of 4 months, thanks to Farah Ismail and her team I’ve had the chance to meet the most amazing community, be part of some eye opening master classes and dive deeper into Tara Mohr’s principles of ‘Playing Big’🤩 Here are some takeaways and aha’s I had: 🚀 ‘Be loyal to your dreams, not your fears’: a sentence you’ll come across often if you’re familiar with the playing big book, but one that really spoke to me because so often I have let fear control my decisions 🚀 Recognise your inner critic and add humour to it. Like many others, I’m well acquainted with my inner critic, always showing up when at the brink of my comfort zone, to rationalise why I shouldn’t step up or why I’m not ‘good enough’. I’ve learnt that recognising it and perhaps even adding humour by personifying is always a useful tool to separate myself (and what I truly want) from the critic. 🚀 Be my word. If I commit to doing something, make sure I’m staying true to it and getting it done with integrity. This one might seem simple, but I have surprised myself with the number of times I have wanted to back down from something I intended to do. Staying true to my word is now something I value deeply and try to do both in my work and relationships 🚀 Have an accountability partner. Regardless of your goal, I’ve learnt that having someone to share it with and hold you accountable is a crucial ingredient to achieving it. My accountability partners have been the courage to soar community and I’m super grateful to have been a part of it. #coaching #playingbig #leadership

Please check out my latest blog on how enlisting an awards expert can help bring home the gold. Thanks Business Intelligence Group for the opportunity to tell the world why they need one!

Well that will be us up there on the short list for best integrated campaign 👊 from the world renowned and prestigious The Drum Awards As part of our marketing transformation, 12 months ago we set ourselves an ambition to get some marketing swagger (aka a hefty gold embellishment for our newly installed and ambitiously big trophy cabinet). Not for the party (don’t get me wrong we like a party) but as recognition from industry gurus, creative pundits, marketing maestros that our work is as good as our customers (and our stats) say. Team… whether we win or not on the night it doesn’t matter. What matters is we are on our way and this recognition is the fuel we need for our onward journey. But for now “Cheers to us all’ 👏 #HiveHeros #WeveGotYourBack #BrilliantWork #MarketingSwagger

"Standing on the top of the podium is a rare pleasure. You're at the peak, and you're being recognized for it. This is the level we all want to live in. We want to sit on top of the mountain, having done all the hard work, and be acknowledged and recognized for what we've achieved. We want to just stay there. The most important thing to remember about winning is that it's a by-product of the first four levels. You only get to win if you've gone through all four of the other levels first. So if you live for the award show, the followers, and the fame, you're going to be disappointed to discover that winning is rare and only accounts for a tiny fraction of the time you spend in your purpose. You have to love the lower parts. Life is not spent at the pinnacle. Those mountaintop events are only a tenth of 1 percent of the experience. Winners are still learning, experimenting, performing, and struggling. It's all part of the journey, and it's all valuable." Jay Shetty I'm not necessarily interested in the game, followers etc. but I definitely feel the disappointments deeply. Recently, I've uncovered unresolved rejection issues that a year ago I'd have brushed off; 6 months ago I'd have said were grounded only in relationship contexts; and today, I recognise permeates throughout my entire life and is particularly connected to the perception I have of myself. The process I love. Until I don't get results after 2 weeks. Then I jump into a new process because lack of progress means i'm being rejected and I'm being rejected because I'm not good enough and because I'm not good enough I have to find something else... This was supposed to be a short post to inspire thinking 🙈 I'd love to know if it brought anything up for you 🙂

Proud to be part of the team and to continue aiming to Greater things. Connecting all local businesses to the right audience by placing them in the middle of it. Not exposing, not aiming with percentage, not covering a large spectrum hoping it hits the right audience somehow. I will put you right on their hands guaranteed they will see you (multiple times if I’m being over-confident) with a fraction of what other “Advertising” businesses charge you. So if you are a business owner in the area or if you know of someone that is, allow me to take you on a very short tour to show you what we do, how we do it and how you can be part of it. I’ll make 3 promises right now: 1. I won’t take more than 30 mins of your time. 2. I will be kicking in at least one discount and up to a max of 3 discounts. 3. I’m buying Coffee ☕️ 📱 702-400-4847 to get into the “MacDonalds Ranch & Highlands Neighbors” Magazine.

🎞️ Earlier this week, we announced Gil Mermelstein as our new president. Here are 🖐️ things you probably didn't know about him. Read the full Q&A to learn more about his remarkable journey: https://lnkd.in/gG7U6kyZ