Why there's no outside or inside in business.
If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s how connected we can be.
The beginning of the pandemic saw many of us in the same shoes, gripped by the fear and anxiety of a global health and economic scare. What we witnessed during the bushfires saw many of us put ourselves in the shoes of those affected – from a personal and business perspective. And now, as we face the truths of systemic racism in Australia and America, it seems many us are wearing different shoes – we’re all at different stages of education, understanding, and experience.
In the words of the great Brene Brown, “Empathy fuels connection. Sympathy drives disconnection.”
There is real power when we put ourselves in someone else’s shoes, which Brene refers to as Perspective Taking.
When things feel too enormous or too difficult to comprehend due to our own experience (or privilege), can we put ourselves in someone else’s shoes, to feel more connected? Can we listen deeply before we speak? Can we check if we’re being empathetic or sympathetic before we act (or share)?
Through real, judgment-free, face-to-face conversations, can we help each other to navigate uncharted waters? Who are those people you can turn to?
As a small business owner myself, I know the power of having an outside perspective.
This month, I’ve handed the keys of my newsletter over to Nat Woods – freelance storyteller and editor of Paradiso Magazine – who has been giving me an outside perspective on my writing for 6 months now. She is incredible at simplifying my words and connecting the dots into a story, and when we both sat with the pandemic-induced pause in our businesses, we traded services, embracing radical reciprocity in order to continue to do what we love – help one another.
The thing I love about working with Nat, is that she does exactly what I do for creative founders. She offers me an outside perspective on my words and offering. Helping me find my voice.
Let me hand over to my own outsider now. Over to you Nat …
Thanks Katie.
I was thinking about where our fear or reluctance to outside advice comes from, because as a business it can be daunting to bring in an outside perspective – will they pick apart everything we’ve been working so hard for? Will they misunderstand what we are trying to build? Will they give us advice that we don’t believe in?
We don’t want others to think we haven’t got our sh*t together, or that we aren’t smart enough to figure it out on our own.
But here’s the thing that I realised – there is no ‘inside’ or ‘outside’ in business because the reason you are in business is to serve your community. Not to build your dream home or create the life you want to live (they are potential bonuses), business is a community service in the same way that a bakery provides bread for its community or a lawyer provides legal advice. And if you truly want to serve your community or your customers, then it’s not about you anymore, it’s about them.
It’s the reason businesses regularly check-in with their community and customers with surveys to ask ‘What can we do better? What do you need?’.
It’s also the reason that sometimes we need to get some perspective from someone else within our community who can give a bird's-eye perspective on our business. Someone who knows us and knows the community we are wanting to service – for us that is our local community in Byron Bay, for you, your community might be a specific niche in the market.
Katie’s birds-eye perspective on our business and her knowledge of the community we work within was a reaffirming breath of fresh air, bringing us back to our purpose and honing in on where we needed to focus our energies.
So don’t be afraid of bringing in external help to your business, because it may just help you be more purposeful and effective in serving your community with your product or service. If 2020 has taught us anything so far, it’s that we need each other and we need to listen to each other.