Leena Nair

It's so easy to look at women and men in successful positions and imagine that they have never failed. But the truth is, every successful person has failed. The thing that makes them successful is that they say to themselves, ‘This is a moment of misery. What will it take for me to make this a moment of delight?’

The moment you embrace failure you become capable of greatness you never imagined.

#leadership #Failure #LearnWithLeena #LeenaLifeLessons #Unilever

One of the best pieces of advice I have ever received was perhaps fifteen or sixteen years ago.

We would take part in 360 degree feedback sessions where you send out performance feedback forms within your team. I’d always absolutely hate it and would dread reading something critical because I’d inevitably feel down about myself.

But this one individual made a point to remind me that feedback is a gift. We need to embrace feedback and learn from it as much as we can.

If people give feedback, it’s because they care and because you’ve made an impact on them, one way or another. If they didn’t care, they wouldn’t bother to tell you anything at all.

This completely changed my perception. I no longer dreaded receiving feedback; it just gave me another opportunity to take a step forward through learning. Even now, of course my feedback isn’t always perfect, but it really doesn’t matter.

And you know what? Now I’m always searching for feedback. Tell me how I’m doing; I want to progress in a positive way. What can I do better and what can I work on?

So this is my advice to you; treat comments and feedback as a gift. Embrace it. Don't be afraid. Don't see it as criticism. Take it all in and simply say to yourself “how can I make myself better?”

#LeenaLifeLessons #LearnWithLeena #Criticism #SelfImprovement #Leadership #PersonalDevelopment #Unilever