I recently started working on a side of my business I have no or little concept (yet). I am not even sure if that is good grammar. Anyway, I am developing a side of business with podcasts, blogging, facebook, etc. I understand the influence of social media but I do not know what I do not know. There are people who do know. I think immediately of Amanda Vega of Amanda Vega Consulting. She is considered by many to be a great resource for organizations to figure this out. And she is. I also think of a Canadian entrepreneur and consultant, Lisa Larter, a retail and social media mentor. These women are very good at what they do and beyond.
Now I think of the job of manager and how often a manager (especially a new manager) does not know what they do not know. Like myself as it applies to social media, managers will be in a situation within the business or with a team member and simply not know what to do. Not because they are inadequate or unable, it is just their capabilities lack a perspective. Perhaps it is a tactic yet to be learned. I have found managers are definitely smart enough, it is a challenge with being in a specific scenario where basic knowledge does not quite fit or maybe basic knowledge is not quite evident. Either way, there is always someone with some thing that can give you the insight necessary to be successful, even in the most unlikely of places.
I have built and am still building a business on the insight to make managers successful. I am also working on the unlikely of places part. My objective today is to make aware not knowing what you do not know is OK. As long as you seek others to help. I often think of the story of a little girl who watched her father drive up to the house. There was something on the driveway and the father asked the daughter to move it. She tried and tried but she could not move the thing. The father said “you have the power to move it”. She again tried and again could not move the thing. She told her father almost in tears that she could not do it. He said “You have the power”. This time she tried as hard as she could and it did not budge. In tears, she ran to her father, “I am sorry, I cannot.” He stopped the car, got out and held his daughter tightly. “I know you tried your best. I saw how much you wanted to move the object. You have the power. All you had to do is ask for help.” Now many might think that the father was a sadist. Relax, it is a story or rather it is an analogous story about the power we all have especially when there are those present to who can help. Sometimes obvious is painful and humbling. You have the power.