What does it take to make an exponential leap?
What does it take to make an exponential leap?
Hint: You've got to leave a LOT behind. Plus three of the biggest leaps in my life and career.
Last week, at the behest of my coach, I wrote a list of every time in my life I’ve “10x-ed” — every time I’ve created an exponential non-linear outcome.
The common denominators?
Being willing to be “weird” and misunderstood.
Walking away from something I’d worked hard on to build something new.
Leaving behind the security of the known for the unknown.
Sitting in what felt like long periods of the unknown, plateaus in growth, dips in “output”, and finding massive almost-instant leaps on the other side.
Faith in my read of people and my atypical strategies.
Trusting moments when I just knew something was right for me - and ignoring unaligned shiny opportunities.
Above all - pushing myself WAY outside my comfort zone and investing in growing myself, even when from the outside it looked like a huge professional side steep.
E.g. knocking on over 1000 stranger’s doors for a political campaign in my early 20s or signing up for six months of coach training - followed by a year of facilitation training - at a time in my life when I felt my strengths were “all business, not people” (HA!).
A few other examples from my list…
10x Example 1: A late-twenties game-changer for my career
In December 2012 I met the most interesting, charismatic serial entrepreneur at a tech industry Christmas party. We chatted for hours and he said he wanted to meet up for a follow-up, but that man was BUSY.
It took 4 months to turn that chat into a coffee.
I was freelancing at the time, and between January and April, I turned down multiple offers of client work to keep space on my dance card for whatever this might turn into - and this guy hadn’t even said he had a job available! I just knew I had to see where that coffee would lead.
That meeting turned into a part-time gig, which turned into five whole years of intensive world-class mentorship and mind-blowing career opportunities alongside someone at the peak of their game.
And it’s THE strategic and intellectual foundation of how I support other world-class entrepreneurs in my work today.
10 x Example 2: An unconventional strategy for finding my person
In my early 30s, finally took the plunge and went to Burning Man.
At the time I only knew one of my new campmates well, I brought a few friends from London and everyone else was an unknown quantity.
I pretty quickly realized that, for the first time in my life, I was surrounded by couples with dynamics that mirrored what I wanted for me and my eventual big love.
For the next 4 years - this is a long time to double down on an unconventional strategy! - I ignored dating apps and instead went to every event, trip and adventure this group had planned, certain they would attract my person.
Dear reader, it worked. I met my husband on a New Year’s trip in Marrakesh with this group, and we got engaged exactly a year later.
10x Example 3:
When I moved to New York - to be with my now-husband - I decided it would be helpful to get a big American brand on my very-British CV (that’s what we Brits call a resume).
People in London knew who I was, but in New York I was an unknown quantity.
By this point I knew that supporting female entrepreneurs was some flavor of my life’s work, but what to do?
I looked for female entrepreneurs I wanted to support and got intros to a couple of phenomenal New York CEOs, but I could feel I was pushing and my energy was a little off.
This time I lost the faith. After too many days trying to “figure it out” rather than “trusting it would come” and I applied for a couple of roles that were definitely not right and even considered a job with a lovely (but not aligned) sustainability start-up.
Then, at our engagement drinks, a dear old friend turned up and asked what I was doing work-wise. When I told her what I was looking for she said “talk to Tory Burch”. It turns out they needed an out-of-the-box hire for an out-of-the-box role, working with Tory and her comms team on everything Tory wanted to say for the brand, for her foundation, to the press, to her team, to her investors - and on any issue of the day. Tory is a true polymath, and they needed someone with an eclectic background and interests.
Now eclectic I can do :)
And that’s how with zero explicit experience in Fashion or PR - and over 15 years since I’d written my last speech for an executive - I ended up spending the pandemic leading “Brand Comms” for Tory.
(Ps. One of the gifts of the pandemic is that I ended up starting 4 months later than planned - plenty of time to take top-notch Harvard courses in speechwriting that got me back into my groove for Day 1!)
I share these stories because if you’re someone who moves forward in non-linear bursts, know that most people will not “get it” - and sometimes even you will not “get it” either!
Non-linear folks will have massive fallow periods where you’re growing under the soil and the universe is realigning around your next leap.
Non-linear folks will find themselves shouting and crying into the void…
Why is this so hard/so much harder for me than “normal people”?
Why am I waiting?
Why am I not applying for tons of jobs/on the apps/doing the thing everyone else is doing?
Why did I feel like I was “ahead” and now I’m “behind”?
That’s all part of the journey.
There was a TON of crying into the void in these stories - especially in the big love example, as I knew I wanted kids and my 30s were slipping by.
You’ve got to remember that most people are seeking 2x outcomes with 2x strategies.
If you’re a 10x person planning to make this a 10x year/life, those approaches are not for you.
I came to this way of being intuitively, but now I’ve studied and articulated frameworks, methods, and tools to make the rollercoaster more fun to build and easier to ride. And I’m always up for a chat with any woman who’s up for big leaps - just book a time to chat here (not a coaching sell, just love getting to know my readers).
Journaling prompt:
When in your work and personal life have you made exponential leaps?
What about you and/or the situations made these leaps possible?
How could you cultivate more of THAT in your business and your life?
Ps. To be clear EVERYTHING is potentially the 10x toolkit - including applying to random job ads and dating on the apps - but you’re going to need an exponential attitude to get a 10x result.