This week we are delighted to have Emma Roffey from Cisco as our writer about bringing your Light. Emma saw Steve speak at The Marketing Society Conference, devoured the book and immediately invited us in. We are just about to start a leadership programme in Cisco. Thanks, Emma.

Emma Roffey

A few years ago I was fortunate enough to attend a “Leaders in London Forum” and over the course of three days had the luxury of listening to an eclectic array of leaders such as Kofi Annan, Al Gore, David Cameron, Alan Sugar, James Brown, Marcus Buckingham and Benjamin Zander to name a few. If I had to summarise my three days in two words, it would be: ‘Shiny Eyes’. Benjamin Zander briefly referred to the concept of shiny eyes at the end of his talk but those two words have had such an impact on me ever since.

Having ‘Shiny Eyes’ at work means being truly motivated, energised and engaged; it is when magic happens and you are bringing your own energy to the team or project. Shadows are nowhere to be seen! It is something I strive for myself and my team every hour of every day. Obviously this is not going to happen every day however understanding what gives us ‘Shiny Eyes’, understanding when we are playing to our strengths and having the opportunity to play to them most of the time is critical to achieving success.

Truly understanding our strengths and not our learned behaviours (things we are good at but do not energise us) allows us to build impactful development plans. We have a tendency to painstakingly articulate our weaknesses in our development plans. However when we grow our unrealized strengths – the things we are good at but that we are not using or bringing to our current role – we create new and exciting opportunities for achieving success. Our unrealised strengths are our greatest areas for development – not our weaknesses.

Leadership Nudge “Who are you being to make other people’s eyes shiny?“ Benjamin Zander.

Take a minute to reflect on how much shinier your eyes would be in your review if you focused on your unrealized strengths.

By Emma Roffey