Bet on Yourself with Ann Hiatt: An EOFire Classic from 2021
Nov 23, 2024
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Ann Hiatt, a Silicon Valley veteran with experience working for Jeff Bezos at Amazon and Eric Schmidt at Google, shares her insights as a CEO consultant. She emphasizes the importance of invisible tasks in achieving success and constantly reinventing oneself for career growth. Ann discusses embracing fear and the power of saying yes, along with leadership strategies during crises. She encourages self-reflection to define a personal path to success, reminding listeners that there is no single route to achieving their goals.
Betting on yourself involves taking on invisible tasks that build trust and reliability, leading to personal growth and career advancement.
Successful leaders navigate challenges through clear communication and engagement, fostering adaptability within their teams during times of disruption.
Deep dives
The Importance of Betting on Yourself
One of the central themes discussed revolves around the necessity of betting on yourself as a means of achieving success. Anne Hyatt emphasizes that many individuals may avoid taking on seemingly thankless tasks, preferring instead to seek recognition and visibility. However, her own career advancements came from being dependable and earning trust through consistent efforts behind the scenes. This approach illustrates the value of self-belief and an understanding that personal growth often stems from reliability and hard work rather than public accolades.
Lessons Learned from High-Impact CEOs
Throughout her career, Anne Hyatt has gleaned valuable insights from her experiences working under influential CEOs like Jeff Bezos, Marissa Mayer, and Eric Schmidt. One key lesson from Bezos is to focus on hiring exceptional talent, advising that one should only bring on board those who need to be held back rather than pushed forward. From Mayer, she learned the importance of embracing challenges without the pressure of perfection, encouraging individuals to take on new tasks even if they haven't mastered every requirement. Schmidt highlighted the value of insatiable curiosity and saying 'yes' to opportunities that challenge one’s knowledge and skills, underscoring that growth is facilitated by stepping outside one's comfort zone.
Navigating Challenges and Pivoting During Crisis
Hyatt shares that successful leaders during disruptions, such as the recent pandemic, exhibit consistent and clear communication as a pivotal strategy for navigating challenges. Leaders who actively increased their engagement and made themselves available to their teams were significantly better positioned to pivot and adapt without losing momentum. This practice included creating open-door policies reminiscent of university office hours, where team members could easily drop by for brief discussions. By prioritizing clarity and transparency in communication, those leaders effectively guided their organizations through obstacles, adapting productively even in uncertain times.
From the archive: This episode was originally recorded and published in 2021. Our interviews on Entrepreneurs On Fire are meant to be evergreen, and we do our best to confirm that all offers and URL's in these archive episodes are still relevant.
Ann Hiatt is a Silicon Valley veteran who worked directly for CEOs Jeff Bezos at Amazon and Eric Schmidt at Google for 15 years. She is now a consultant for CEOs across the globe.
Top 3 Value Bombs
1. You can get your advancement and success by doing invisible tasks and working behind the scenes.
2. To stay innovative, you have to reinvent yourself for your career and your skills consistently.
3. There is no one path towards success.
Recognize, Own, and Implement Breakthrough Opportunities - Bet On Yourself
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