Empathy is defined as the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. To me the most key and important words of this definition are ABILITY and SHARE. Empathy’s an ability, not a weakness. It’s something you have to master and hone, not something you are giving away. And sharing, well isn’t that why you got into business in the first place? Didn’t you have some awesome idea you needed to share with the masses? Wasn’t there a product you believed everyone should also own and share in the joy of its use. Was the best recipe you’ve ever tasted for Chicken Tikka Masala something you wanted to keep to yourself, or something you wanted to market and share with the people?

Those lessons are:

1. Never sell yourself short or underestimate yourself. If you see genius that a teacher or boss doesn’t see, keep persisting.

2. Your worth, or the worth of your work is not created in the value it has for others. While creating value may be important, and at times required, you will be most happy valuing your own worth and merit based on your passion, ideas, and follow through. If you are happy with your creation, then it cannot be unsuccessful.

3. Give your 4th grade self more credit, that was a world where your intentions were pure, your ideas new, and your future limitless. Honestly if I could tap into the raw potential of my 4th grade brain more often, I surely would. And now I know how to recognize it.

4. Sometimes, the most obvious problem requires only the most obvious solution. Complexity of a solution does not equal success, oftentimes the opposite is true.

5. Finally, don’t be too hard on yourself. Whether or not you're successful should never stop you from trying in the future. If you fail or fall, get up and try again. If you succeed, keep it up. Don’t let the misunderstanding of a few authority figures keep you from using your awesomeness and originality.

Question: What made you decide to get into a HR career?

Answer: Honestly it’s something that just kind of fell into my lap, and was not initially chosen. I was an area Sales Manager for Belk, and all of these HR duties kept landing in my “to do” list, so I took them over. Within 6 months I fully transitioned into the HR director role, and never looked back.

Question: What made you decide to get into a training/consulting career?

Answer: I have always been a good leader. Whether in sports or business, I thought good leadership alone would carry me far in the world. While training and consulting are not a specific field I intended to pursue, I found that I had developed a knack for teaching best practices and offering advice to those who asked. Before I knew it, more peers and leaders were asking for my input and these traits became greater assets than what I had previously thought to be my defining trait of leadership. Leadership is great, but without a clear direction of where the ship is heading and why, a good leader may be lost.

Are you disgruntled? Oxford dictionary defines this word as an adjective meaning angry or dissatisfied. So, while that definition is quite specific, it can also be very vague in business. Technically, to the individual who is always striving to do better, or do more, being dissatisfied with your current situation is a key to your future success. This isn’t a bad thing. Always moving forward, and never being stagnant is basically the mentality of a shark. If your shark-like way of thinking has served you well, then this lesson may be disregarded.

While we may all be unsure what tomorrow brings, or what changes lie on the horizon: C&S Business Solutions is on a mission to bring consistency, quality, and growth back to the business world, no matter the obstacles.

Misses, shortcomings, opportunities, weaknesses, we all have them. Personally and professionally. General Areas to Problem Solve, I like to call them “GAPS”. That is all they really are, a GAP in space between where we are and where we want to be.

Welcome to the “Workplace Whisperer”, a blog meant to inspire, advise, entertain and inform those in the business world. This “virtual watercooler” was created by the team at C&S Business Solutions to be a consistent voice in the digital business arena, and to be an advocate for anyone working on improving their life in the “workplace”.