Advance

CHAPTER 2UNCOVERING YOUR BLIND SPOTS:Are You Self-Aware?

The lecture hall was nearly full, and every eye was trained I in my direction. At the end of my presentation on career development at this prestigious university, a young man in the back row called out, “What’s the one thing I need to know so I can get your job one day?" He sat, arms folded, his baseball cap on backward.

“There is one important quality,” I replied. “It’s so important, in fact, it’s the foundation for your career development.”

Now I had their attention.

When I asked the students what they thought that secret ingredient was, they came up with the predictable list: their intelligence, their digital savvy, their connections—plus the fact that they were attending one of the best schools in the country. Not one of them guessed the real answer.

“Whether you’re trying to get a job or keep a job, it comes down to the same: self-awareness,” I told them. “You can’t go through life thinking you’re this when you’re really that. You can’t pretend to be a lion if you’re only a squirrel.”

Self-awareness is everything—and it’s a concept you’re going to read about not only in this chapter but throughout this book. Ifyou aren’t selfaware, you’ll never learn, never grow, and definitely never improve. You’ll ignore your ...