Some of the most successful and creative businesses in the world, like Google and Walt Disney, understand the value in nurturing employee skills and allowing them to find their own voice. Do this in your business, and you’ll be leaps and bounds ahead of the competition.
Wow, the voice has been a real phenomenon here in Australia (I don’t usually watch a lot of TV but I must admit, I got sucked in a bit too!), what amazing talents, Australia really is very lucky.
In one of the shows, Lionel Richie was asked about what he thinks makes a winner and he said the most important thing is to find your own voice. Even when singing someone else’s song, you need to make it your own. Very wise, Lionel. I think this not only applies to The Voice, but also to business. And not only to the business owner, but also their employees.
Look at some of the most successful and creative companies in the world such as Walt Disney or Google. They understand the value in nurturing each individual’s skills and creativity and allowing their employees to find their own voice rather than the cookie cutter approach where no one has any input except for the business owner. Luckily we are seeing more and more businesses embracing the bottom up approach where they let their team members come up with creative ideas and input in all areas of the business. I think there is even a new word for this ‘intrapreneur’ (not sure if we needed a new word, but why not).
I believe it is very important for a small business to find their own voice rather than following the crowd or what their big competitors are doing. We need more variety, more uniqueness and maybe even a bit more ‘out there’.
I was chatting to a dear friend over the weekend and she said ‘you are lucky to be able to just be yourself in your videos, radio and marketing workshops.’ Yes we are very lucky, and it’s because we’re entrepreneurs. When I was in corporate advertising, I wasn’t, I did have to pull back a little (not sure if wearing a banana suit in the office and making monkey noises would have been ok).
That is the great news about being in business for yourself, you don’t need to try and please anyone and especially not everyone.
Not everyone likes our style and cheekiness levels and that’s ok. We don’t need to please everybody. Of course some industries are different to others, but if I couldn’t walk around in jeans and flip flops for most of the year (or banana suits), I would probably change industry.
So from a business owner’s perspective, you not only want to find your own voice, you also want to let your team members do the same and add value to your business by finding their own voice.
Thanks for listening.
