[Music] i was once called an exotic bird now you might think well yeah look at the outfit she's wearing but i wasn't wearing this outfit i was in a i want to look serious and confident kind of outfit and the comment the exotic bird comment came from rob a pharma company ceo i was interviewing him when he asked me why are you writing a book about navigating uncertainty because i have wrestled with uncertainty my entire career and my journey has been a circuitous path imagine landing your dream job at 38 years old hired to be
the marketing director for europe for technology company nav tech i move with my husband and my two little kids to paris france i have a boss i love colleagues i respect and a wonderful mashed up team of three germans two french and one brit after a while my new team's on fuego then everything changes naftek gets acquired by another company nokia the ground beneath my feet becomes shifting sands what i believe to be important becomes secondary what i know to be true becomes false what i think is valued becomes less valued i become less valued
have you ever had that feeling that feeling of being on top of the world one minute and then everything changes confidence dissolves into fear as everyone tries to figure out what matters i know what fear and uncertainty can do to your confidence your psyche your soul i've seen smart and talented people lose their way and doubt their value when their future becomes unclear i'm writing this book i finished telling him to help those people know their value through times of change and uncertainty so rob answered you know i hadn't really thought about that how people
can lose sight of their value when their company gets acquired that hasn't really been written about this makes you a bit of an exotic bird jennifer in this space i agree the funny thing is i'm a certainty kind of girl i believe work hard and you'll be rewarded plan well and your dreams will come true my mom said if you put your mind to it jennifer you can do anything i was certain i could direct my entire career going through that acquisition taught me otherwise i learned as hard as you work to create certainty life
works just as hard to create uncertainty life sprinkles your journey with variables out of your control anybody feel in control in 2020 2021 now given our collective experience we have fixated on bringing certainty back we want to be all in on something but don't even know what we're working toward hello great resignation i say we give up not give up give up but give up fighting uncertainty give up navigating uncertainty stop talking about how to cope with or deal with or manage through uncertainty uncertainty isn't to be avoided or even tolerated i say we go
all in on uncertainty let's embrace it let us embrace uncertainty embracing uncertainty moves us forward i know because when i didn't embrace uncertainty i stayed stuck during that acquisition experience i clung to the world that made sense to me the one where i had been valued i clung to my past achievements because i was afraid of not being good enough for what the future held where are you right now what uncertainty beast are you fighting are you at a point in your career where your future's unclear or maybe you're navigating life with a sick parent
or an anxious child or maybe you're at a crossroads with a partner or a career path wondering which direction to take i've been there that nafta acquisition that was the first of three by the third one i wasn't sure what to do but i was tired of repeatedly questioning my value and yet i was convinced that my acquisition experience could somehow help others so i bet on me and embrace the uncertainty of becoming an entrepreneur that but didn't always feel smart at the beginning but it led to the most creative period in my career including
coming up with this outfit embracing uncertainty changed my life's trajectory it can do the same for you start by focusing on what you can control we spend so much energy worrying about or trying to fix things that are out of our control here's what i've learned there are more things you cannot control than you can you cannot control other people and how they react to change you cannot control changes at work like a new boss or shifts in strategy and you cannot control life and the opportunities or challenges presented the one factor you can control
is the most important of all you how you react to change and your belief in yourself accepting this fact helps you recognize your three magical gifts that no one can mess with control them and you call your own shots these are your t-e-a your talent your effort and your attitude i learned this lesson over time thanks to my nav tech team michael was my german events director thrifty and resourceful michael created event experiences he even obsessed about the in-car environment for our executive clients from the moment they were picked up till the time they entered
one of our events he created memorable moments the problem was nokia the company that acquired us didn't understand why we did so many events suddenly michael was worried about his future and his value but as we talked about his expertise michael began to realize his real talent while he created memorable events more importantly michael translated our company's vision into meaningful customer experiences experiences that drove sales michael reframed how he saw his contributions we each have a talent take the time to figure out yours it may not be your job description or even the school subjects
you excel in but recognizing your real talent puts you in the dry receipt of your life next we have e for effort sorry if i triggered memories of report cards for anyone your effort is the next magical piece of your tea your effort is the most powerful action you control i'm standing here in front of you because of effort i pivoted from a marketing career to the finance world of mergers and acquisitions and i suck at math i crafted a career path that didn't even exist through persistence and tenacity and putting down one brick at
a time on my path slowly people got what i was doing but more importantly they saw the effort i was putting into it and they each contributed a brick to my path doing your best rather than half-assing things creates opportunities putting in your best effort taps into your power center because your self-worth is tied directly to how you contribute to the outcome effort is the next magical piece of your t-e-a finally we get to the a the most important thing you can control attitude more than your diploma or job proficiency a positive attitude enables success
when you're positive people want to work with you hell they want to be with you a positive attitude propelled angela's career at a time of great uncertainty she was my 25 year old chief of staff at nav tech after the acquisition she wasn't sure of what she did which would be valued but she kept a positive attitude and shared insights and her knowledge in every interaction this got her invited to more important meetings which gave her a privileged view on the evolving business strategy but rather than hoard that knowledge she shared it so colleagues and
teammates could be equally smart attitude enabled angela's success be positive and people see you acting at your best they wish to see you succeed they see your success contributing to theirs actively choosing to focus on what we can control our talent our effort and our attitude enables us to embrace uncertainty because then our energy it's future focused not backwards bound i've witnessed when people don't embrace uncertainty they stay stuck waiting for things to happen to them they focus their energy on clinging to the past it almost happened to me focusing my energy on my talent
and effort and attitude built up my confidence and this gave me the courage to embrace uncertainty and take a leap of faith and that allowed me to recognize my real talent and the unique value i could contribute and it empowered me to own my exotic bird what if we all did the same what if we each focused on our talent and effort and attitude and embraced uncertainty i've shared with you my journey to help you see your possibilities to illuminate your path and give you your first brick i encourage you go ahead start now embrace
uncertainty and own your exotic bird you
