For those who don’t know, Noorul was fired from the Apprentice in episode 6 despite a complete lack of either leadership or management from his team leader, the odious Ben. Although Nooral stood up to Ben’s latest superficial rant, Sugar dismissed Noorul as he hadn’t seen him contribute during any of the tasks and questioned his capabilities. Was Nooral a likely apprentice? – clearly not. Was he a quiet unassuming guy who would get done what he was asked? – maybe. Did he have any further capabilities? – who knows as he didn’t see managing his impact on others as important (a ‘typical science teacher’ screamed my 14 year old who believes his science teacher has the capability of a fish but less charm!), in the same way Susan Boyle allowed herself to be an object of ridicule and not taken seriously.
Being aware of our impact on others and how that effects the way they treat you, is seen by some of our clients as merely being political and inauthentic. Our stance would be that this is far from the case. If we don’t monitor the impact we make on others and make modifications, how can we expect to be consistently successful? As with Susan Boyle, we may one day be seen for what we can really offer – if we are fortunate. If this doesn’t happen we can spend all our time blaming others for not recognising our gifts. If we only have one style it will provide success in some scenarios (usually where others are similar to us), but deprive us of broader influence and impact on others. Avoid being like Nooral, Susan and many managers – fully use your capabilities by monitoring the footprint you leave in your dealings with others, and notice where you consciously need to project something different to enable others to take you seriously – then do so in a way that still feels authentic for you.