You've Got This!

4Embrace Your FallibilityGet of f your own back and forgive your failings!

I arrived at my hotel in Nashville in the early afternoon. The following morning I was to be the opening keynote speaker at a large conference hosted by a Silicon Valley tech company. I had a pile of work to do (like writing this book), and so I ordered a late lunch via room service. After eating my salad, I placed the tray outside my door and kept the fruit cup for later. After a few hours, I decided to take a short nap and took off my jeans before lying down. When I got up, I decided to eat the fruit. Of course, I could have eaten it with my fingers but I thought I’d just check if my lunch tray was still outside the door so I could grab the fork I’d left on it. I popped my head out and sure enough, it was. Bending over to grab the fork, I kept my foot wedged in the door behind me, just as I’d done when I put the tray out. But alas, it mustn’t have been wedged quite far enough back because bam, the door locked shut behind me.

So there I was, stranded in the hallway, on the top executive floor of the hotel, in just a t-shirt and knickers. No pants. No room key. And no place to hide!

If that wasn’t bad enough, the hotel was almost entirely booked out by those attending my conference. So as I stood there, trying to process what I had just done, I realised that the people exiting the elevator around the corner and walking past me, mostly middle-aged men in blazers, wearing lanyards from the pre-conference ...