13th of October is world skeptic day. But how does skepticism impact your business leadership and company success?

Believe it or not, the 13th of October is National Skeptics Day. For us in business coaching everyday is skeptic day. How many times do you think we hear “what is business coaching? and “that won’t work in my business?”

At some point, every client was once a skeptic towards business coaching. However, all clients years later say that coaching was a turning point for not just their business, but for their personal growth.

Think of business as driving a car for the first time. Everybody can see others driving cars around them and can see it is possible. However when we first sit in that driving seat we become aware of all the controls and what it takes to not stall the engine. Overtime it becomes easy, and then we are able to make it a skill that we can use everyday for getting us from A to B. As our knowing and experience increases we get better at the things we do. But what do you think people would have said when cars were first designed, and, that within decades most wives, husbands, and children would all be driving, letting them drive all across the country and the world at 70mph at their free will. Would they have been skeptical too?

Until something becomes the norm and we see others achieving with it then we are in a place of unknowing. Unknowing brings lack of confidence. Lack of confidence brings skepticism. Now today we know we can drive cars because we can see everyone else doing it. But when we look at the stats that only 4% of businesses make it successfully through the first ten years, we realise that building a successful business is not as easy as learning to drive. Yet we are still behind that wheel of our business.

So what is it about these 96% businesses that cause them to fail in 10 years?

The “I KNOW” Attitude

The “I KNOW” attitude. It is the biggest killer of opportunity out there. Business is expanding with technology each year. Businesses that do not adapt to change are soon left behind. Skepticism and the “I KNOW” attitude blocks out all learning, which means you never try new things.

Never trying new things doesn’t just leave you in the dark ages, it leaves your team and your company in the dark ages too. Most companies are still stuck pedalling on their bikes whilst the successful are getting from A to B faster in their cars.

It is also important to remember that if the managers in the business are skeptics then this impacts leadership—thus creating skeptic employees and skeptical culture. This culture can then spread to your sales team and your potential customers. Skepticism and lack of confidence in your customers is not a good situation to be in if you are looking to sell more.

CEOs of top firms, successful entrepreneurs, even film stars all have mentors and coaches guiding them from A to B—sometimes even multiple coaches for different skills such as a finance coach, business coach, mindset coach. They understand that to get there faster they need guidance and increased awareness towards their goals.

Did you know the word coach actually means to get from A to B?

The truth is this, skepticism leads to not taking different action. The top 4% in the world are doing something different. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Here is the thing. In this modern world, if a company stays in one place, it gets eaten alive by faster moving companies. The question is, how do you stay ahead of the game?

If you never try anything different, then you never get a different result.

 

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