Tomorrow evening I’ll be conducting a webinar for a couple hundred aspiring home business owner who are looking to learn how to market their businesses online.
As I’m sitting here preparing the content for the call, I can’t help but think back to the very first webinar that I did – probably about two years ago.
I was a newbie at “GoToMeeting”, and this combined with the fact that I’m technically challenged by birth…well, it resulted in what you could call a slightly embarrassing experience.
The meeting itself actually went pretty well – it was after the webinar was over that I made my big blunder. Or perhaps I should say, after the webinar was supposed to be over.
You see, after I wrapped up the call, I forgot to log off…so the meeting was running, broadcasting every word that I uttered – first, in a private conversation on Skype with my assistant, and afterwards with my husband right there in our home office.
It wasn’t until more than an hour later that I – much to my dismay – discovered that I was still “live”. And there was still a handful of attendees logged on.
I noticed a couple of comments in the webinar chat log: “Enjoy your chicken!”, “Mmmmm, bon appetite!”
Aaaaaargh - if I could have dug a big hole in the floor and dissappeared into it, I would have!
My mind raced as I tried to recall the details of my conversations with my assistant and with my husband, wondering what, specifically, my prospects would have overheard.
It was then that my dear Sam looked at me and said, “Lena, you have nothing to hide. You’re not leading a double life. You don’t go on these trainings and talk about how you’re going to help people, and then, once the call is over – or you think it is over – you reveal your real motives in private conversations with your accomplices.”
He added, “We were discussing what to order for lunch…we were talking about how the webinar went… That’s all.”
I thought about it for a second and realized he was right. Yes, it was embarrassing…in fact, it was a lot more than embarrassing.
I certainly didn’t come across as that confident leader I wanted to be seen as as hubby and I discussed the good and the bad of the call while still, unknowingly, “on air”.
But guess what – I survived. My business survived.
Because here’s the thing: everyone messes up from time to time – including leaders. And that’s okay. Messing up is human…we all know that.
What really matters, though, and which is non-negotiable, is the essence of who we are and what we stand for as leaders.
Because this truly is what makes others want to learn from us and strive to be better leaders themselves…
At least that’s the way I see it.
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