The Brad Smith interview taught me about the importance of failure in success. Throughout the interview, Mr. Smith seemed to look upon failure not as an inhibitor or success, but a necessary component of it. His idea of falling forward inspired me to not be afraid of failure but to use it as a way to adapt and make myself a stronger person in the future. Without failure, people would have no reason to improve themselves.
I really enjoyed listening to Brad Smith as I felt like I related to his strive for organization and structure, which typically manifests itself as perfectionism. I thought Brad Smith's comment on admitting his closet is his biggest pride since he can control the environment and organize it in a very specific manner helped me to see how structured this man is. While organization and structure are good qualities of a leader, Mr. Smith emphasizes that he has to work hard and more intentionally to let go of his ideal structure in certain scenarios. These scenarios would include open discussion which is meant to flow and have no direct formatting or known end goal. Type A people like Brad Smith and myself find unstructured conversation intimidating as there is an unknown conclusion- nothing is planned as we would have it. Mr. Smith is always trying to improve and better himself and those around him know exactly what he is working on. As a structured person, he does have to work extra hard on being open-minded, like me, but I think it's so inspiring that he is intentionally exposing his weaknesses to those underneath him in order to better himself as a leader, whereas most people who always are working to be the best (enneagram #3's) aim to hide their flaws.
Super-interesting Caroline. What steps are you taking to become more comfortable when engaging in unstructured conversations? This is a very common--and important-- leadership development goal among high potential executives.