Today, I’m talking about what I call the Yet Statement. This is one of those truly powerful ways of thinking that changes everything. So, this is a quick down-and-dirty teaching that’s going to help you transform the way you think about anything you currently believe you can’t do.
The truth is, there is an endless amount of things you can’t do… yet. This is all about adding one word to change your whole mindset, and this is also an amazing tool to share with your team or the other people in your life, so they can see the potential they have available to them.
Tune in this week to open your world up to the idea that it’s not that you’re not good at something, you’re just not good at it yet. I’m sharing how to apply this thought to anything that’s holding you back as a leader, and how your whole mindset will change as a result.
If you’re a family business leader and you’re interested in exploring this work further, send me an email for more details about The Family Business Leader Mastermind.
What You Will Discover:
- An example from a client of mine who is stepping into a new role as a CEO.
- Why adding one simple word changes everything in how you approach the things you think you’re not good at.
- How to start using Yet Statements every day in your role as a leader.
Listen to the Full Episode:
Featured on the Show:
- The Family Business Leader Mastermind is now accepting applications.
Full Episode Transcript:
Hi there, this is episode 19 and in this episode, I introduce you to the yet statement. Enjoy.
Welcome to The Family Business Leader Podcast. A podcast for multigenerational family business leaders who want to become the leader they were meant to be. If you’re ready to learn how to develop your own authentic leadership style, successfully lead your family business and create your own lasting legacy while still honoring theirs this is the podcast for you. I’m your host, Ellie Frey Zagel, family business leadership coach and third-generation family business leader. Let’s get to it.
Hello my family business leaders. How are doing today? Today I want to talk about what I call the yet statement. It’s one of those really powerful ways of thinking that changes everything. So, this is going to be a kind of a quick down and dirty teaching. I’m going to teach you how to transform your thinking about anything you think you can’t do. I’m going to teach you to change your mindset just really powerfully super quick by adding one word.
What you can do is you might like this so much that you want to teach your team as well. So, I want to give you a recent example. I have a client who is going to be CEO and she started coaching with me because she was really in the mindset of I am a problem solver, I can do it. I can do it really well. And I call this, this kind of this mindset is kind of like the hero problem solver mindset. She is very good at what she does. She gets stuff done but she also takes on a lot of responsibility that she doesn’t necessarily need to take on.
So, I really believe that as a leader, especially as a CEO the saying, give a person a fish and you feed them for a day, teach them to fish and you feed them for a lifetime. I really believe this is a leader’s responsibility, one of their primary tasks, if you will. We’ve got to teach our team to fish. We can’t solve their problems for them. Really as a CEO, you really want to have a very capable at least C-Suite director level etc. You want to have them capable for thinking for themselves, thinking how they can do this.
So, as I mentioned, my client, upcoming CEO, we’re transforming her from hero problem solver, I’ll do it, to CEO, I can empower you to do it. And we were coaching the other day and she was talking about kind of a conversation that she was having with somebody. And she just wanted to fix it. This person was talking to her about a situation she was having. And my client was like, “I can fix it. What about this? What about that?” And her teammate, her colleague wasn’t really wanting her to fix it. Really she just wanted my client to listen.
She didn’t think that at all, she just kept trying to fix it. This is part of her identity. She’s been a hero for a long, long time. And so, she never asked, “Wait, do you just want me to listen? I can totally do that.” All she kept thinking is I can help her, I can fix it. And she was doing it from the best place. I just want to help. I want to serve. I can help you. I want to solve it. And she actually was saying, the reason that she didn’t ask the question, “Do you want me to help you solve this, or do you want me to listen”, is she felt that question was insensitive and so she of course did not ask.
So, when we talked about this quote, teaching people to fish, she said to me, she’s like, “You know what? I don’t know how to do that.” I’m not good at teaching people how to fish. I’m really good at solving problems. I’m not good at empowering others to solve their own problems.” And I thought that was really honest and vulnerable of her to say. But it kind of leads me to today’s teaching.
And what we got her to do was get to the thought, I’m not good at teaching people to fish yet. I want you just to feel that statement, going from I don’t know how to do that, I’m not good at that to I’m not good at that yet. That yet is everything. It’s just such an empowering feeling to realize, I might not be good at this yet but I will be. And then what she immediately got to was, I can learn how to teach people to fish, I can figure this out.
Immediately after she heard the statement, her thought, I’m not good at teaching people to fish, she heard it with a yet at the end of that thought, end of that statement. I am not good at teaching people to fish yet, immediately the world opened up. Instead of being very closed, I’m just not good at that. How could I possibly ask those questions? How could I possibly just listen? I’m not good at that, I’m good at solving problems. And then all of a sudden she’s like, “I’m not good at it yet. Oh yeah, I can figure this out.”
Using her problem solving ability not on the other person but on herself, very, very empowering. And that from there, I can figure this out, because she can figure this out, she’s an identity in figuring things out. She felt very certain that she was able to do that. And her whole mindset changed. She really got behind this idea that she can actually help people, empower her team to figure out their own problems, coach them, if you will. And as soon as she got there she started smiling, she said, “I got really excited.” It was fantastic to see and witness.
So, I would like you, if you have something that you’ve just been grappling and like I can’t do that, I’m not good at that. If there’s something that feels heavy like that, that’s kind of holding you back, I’m not good at talking about my feelings, I want you just to add a yet, add that yet and turn it into a yet statement. I’m not good at taking in constructive criticism yet, but I will be, I’m working on it. I think it’s important. Now, I should also preface she and I have done work on how she wants to lead as a CEO.
And as a CEO she does not want to lead constantly solving other people’s problems. So, she did identify that this is not what she wanted to do when she was in the CEO spot.
Alright my friends, let me know, send me an email ellie@successfulgenerations.com, what you think about this episode, what are some of the statements that maybe you can turn into yet statements, what are some of those thoughts that you have that you can add a yet to? How did that go when you did, was this helpful? I’m very curious, I’m super interested in knowing. Alright, I’ll talk to you soon, thank you so much, have a great day.
Well, there you have it. Thank you so much for listening to The Family Business Leader Podcast. If you’ve enjoyed today’s episode, be sure to share it with someone who needs it. If you’d like more information about family business leadership development, please visit successfulgenerations.com. I can’t wait to connect with you again next week, until then.
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