Speaker 1: 0:10

Welcome to another episode of transformative change. Today we're gonna have a topic that I find really interesting and I encounter it quite often. We're gonna talk about owning your own agenda, but it is a hard topic. And why is it a hard topic? Because owning your agenda means to take accountability and responsibility of what happens to you in life, to be proactive, be decisive and find a solution for getting to where you want to be.

Speaker 1: 0:48

So much of my life I spent trying to fulfill other people's agenda, and it's quite easier, I would say, as a human being, to be influenced by other people's visions. We meet them from time to time. We see them on TV, they are in organizations, they start companies, they have a vision, they inspire and they have an agenda on how to get there. Some are better than others, some are really good at making stuff happen and drive a worldwide transformation. The question is, who do you want to be? Do you want to fulfill somebody else's vision and goals or do you want to have your own and create a clear agenda for the future? So that's the topic of today. Welcome to transformative change, the cross-cutting podcast, where we have as a target to give you tools to drive and implement transformative change into the world, not just in organizations but in society, to make sure that we have a positive impact for the future that is all of ours. So, owning your agenda, we need to start somewhere.

Speaker 1: 2:16

I think that how I encountered this problem well, let's not call it a problem how I encountered this phenomenon is that, as a leader, throughout my career, I've been asked multiple times how can I support you? And as a leader, it's a very hard question because that means you need to be on top of everything and sometimes questions comes like that, and it's very hard Because that means you need to do the work yourself as a leader. What you want to do as a leader is to have a clear vision. You want to be able to communicate that, but you don't want to be the person necessarily and I'm saying necessarily and underlining it here that defines the action to get there. You might want to define the actions to get there when you're in a smaller organization or a circle of friends, because you need to be quite actionable with driving your agenda yourself. But the larger the organization or community or the type of change you want to do that, the further away you have to be to defining actions and you need to surround yourself with people that can Interpreter your vision into clear action. As a leader, you should work on the strategic perspective, but if you are going to micromanage every single interaction, it becomes quite hard for you to manage complexity. So, once more, communication is so important.

Speaker 1: 3:54

Spending time with A clear calendar when I say clear, I mean empty calendar to be able to formulate the division and a strategic approaches on how to receive that. That is your goal, or that should be basically the only thing you focus on as a leader. Unfortunately, that is not really the case, and this comes to you as a human being what do you want? Probably the hardest sentence to answer, and I'm not meaning what do you want for dinner here. I'm basically meaning when do you want to get? What's your vision?

Speaker 1: 4:34

What is your angle into the conversations? Because that what is boil is down to the angle, the agenda. Why are you having this meetings? Are you a strategic thinker? So if you set up a lot of networking meetings, do you know why you're setting up these meetings? Or just keeping all the options open? And this is what I see quite often with people. They focus quite a lot on having the options just open without a clear agenda. That's why sometimes, when I meet individuals that have, I want to do this and this is how I'm going to do it, and they go out, they meet people, they drive their own agenda and that's very inspirational. So the question is here are you going to be a person that's handed opportunity based on you just hanging around or having a conversation, or are you going to define what your agenda is?

Speaker 1: 5:38

How do you define your agenda? Well, as usual, it always boils down to what do you want? What is it that you want to drive here in life? What are your targets? What is it that you want to improve? And this is a completely different topic outside of this conversation. But when you know that, then it's Very important to define the different scenarios that you foresee your future to be starting an old company OK. Why are you starting a company?

Speaker 1: 6:13

For many years, I thought about starting a company and I thought the business idea it's all that matters. No, maybe not really, and you've probably seen this Presentation when they talk about the why of a company and people can align around. Why? Because the business idea doesn't necessarily need to define how am I going to get the cash flow? This is the way I'm going to do it, and then you just stick to that because you don't know. So the why, which could be equal in a sense to what do you want? The why of an organization, the why over person, could manifest in so many different ways.

Speaker 1: 6:52

So defining the why always becomes super important in driving your own agenda, because your agenda shouldn't be I want to be rich. Well, it can be. I'm not going to judge you, but you would most likely not be. You would have a more comfortable life, but usually much more stressful. But it should really about be about defining the, the why. Building great technology, distributing technology, making people's life better the why is a big fluffy, a dosh adasha's target, when you know that you need to figure out how to get there.

Speaker 1: 7:32

So you start with the why and when you have this why, the how, that's your, that's your action plan and you need to be Flexible in this thinking. So once upon a time, hmm, I read this book lean, lean startup, and in is a classic in the startup world and I found it very interesting. And a few years later, one of my favorite books of all time came out lean analytics and it really Explores how iterations become the the key for success, because the only thing we know is that we don't know anything, and and that's just a epistemology. How do you get to knowledge? Well, you have to try and you have to test and you can never take it for granted. So driving your agenda should be connected to your vibe, but there needs to be a clear Flexibility built into this as well.

Speaker 1: 8:32

When you go into a conversation with a leader, somebody that inspires you, somebody that you believe possess some sort of skill or Vision or mission or something that you need, the first thing you need to do is to think strategically about the meeting. That doesn't mean that you go in having Mean agenda or you are being selfish. That means that you're actually being quite Considerate of the other person's time, because most of the most of these cases, they are busy people. If they are business leaders or some sort of leader somewhere, they have stuff to do. So when you have a clear agenda, when you have a clear ask, when you have a clear purpose of these meetings, the interactions can be so much more fruitful, and the driving your own agenda doesn't need to be you have to. They have to invest so much of their time or money. It can just be hey, I know that you have these type of skills. I would love to be mentored by you. That can also be your agenda to learn, to get yourself to the next level. You're able to execute on the topics that you believe are aligning with your why.

Speaker 1: 9:53

So, going into these type of meetings, it's important with goal-setting and have a clear and transparent, because you don't want to trick the other person into To supporting you as well. I think transparency is an underrated Skill in this type of interactions. I love it when people come to me and they reveal their agenda Immediately. They're not trying to trick me into supporting them. I love it when people say hey, I've seen that you do this. Can I learn from you? This is how I would like to learn for you. Can you support me in these things? Can I be a part of doing x, y set and then defining clear activities that you believe would contribute to value? Because figuring out this work is what takes time and Putting that effort on the other person that you want to interact with is quite unfair. You have to do the work yourself. Never believe that the person on the other side in that interaction have the time, the mental capacity Even to know what type of skills you present and how you can be Supportive in what they're doing.

Speaker 1: 11:07

So driving your agenda is also about being conscious, self-aware what is my strengths, what is my weaknesses, how can I be a part of all of this? And being good in these interactions Will serve as a good foundation for you being on people's radar. Understanding their agenda is also key perspective. Do your research. Don't just read the headlines, but actually understand where they're going, because most of the time, information is available public archives, records, youtube. People are much more visible today than they were 10, 15, 20, 50 years ago. It's so much easier or even start with that if your agenda is to learn from somebody else. So be a part of something. Talk to them and ask Straight out. Reveal your agenda. Hey, I think what you've done, what I've seen, is super cool. Could you describe a little bit more what drives you, what's the why? And Then you think on how you can support. Have this clear vision and it will be so much easier. In all of these things, owning your agenda Takes away the element of randomness to a certain degree, because it's persistence and luck and skill In a combination that determines if you are going to be able to actually Put that vision into something tangible. Make sure you are committed to this. Be committed to the why and owning your own agenda.

Speaker 1: 12:44

Have a sort of decisiveness. Don't wait for permission or approval from from other persons in order. This it's about being a go-getter. I Used to, early on in my career, spend a lot of time on waiting to get tasks assigned to me a reactive approach. But as you start progressing and as you build your skill sets, you you need to be more proactive in this type of interactions. Even if you're employed and you need to align with your employer's vision, there's still ways of creating actionable insights. Don't wait for an approval. If you have time over, fill your time with decisive actions. That contributes to the bigger picture, that puts you on the radar, that builds your skillset, and people are going to want to interact and need you. So make these decisions, go get it and then make sure that you also get notice for these things.

Speaker 1: 13:49

So working on these type of things with the commitment, persistence, decisiveness, clear agenda, clear why. Things will not always go your way. So it's about also being adaptable, and adaptable doesn't mean you give up. It means that you pivot. It means that if people's own agenda doesn't align with you or they're not willing to change as much as you would have needed them to in order to get exactly what you want, adapt Because you need to adjust your plans, because a vision is a big target and it's incremental steps towards getting there. We have a tendency of overestimating what we can do in the short term and underestimating what we can do in the long term Progressiveness towards our own vision and why, by owning our agenda, being decisive and adapting as different roadblocks show up. We might not hit the bullseye every single time, but as long as our arrows are on the board, we are moving towards the right direction, step by step. That is what counts, because we're not gonna be billionaires by the time you're 25, and maybe never in your life. But you can create a vision and a life that you want by having these type of tools at your disposal.

Speaker 1: 15:28

Make sure that you believe in yourself. We all doubt from time to time, but being confident and talk as you belong in that conversation, in that room, driving your own agenda, will also make people trust the words that you have. If you don't believe in yourself, if you're able to land this type of conversation and in these interactions? How and why should anybody else believe in you? It starts with yourself. Be confident and I can guarantee you start with faking it, even if you in the beginning are unsure how you will be perceived if you come off as overconfident. It's a mindset. It's not about being right or wrong. It's about getting your point true. It's about adapting and interacting with other people. So make sure you have this confidence going into conversation. But you should know also that being confident is not the same thing as being obnoxious. Confident, transparent, authentic. Make sure that people trust you. You can be confident that you don't know, don't overestimate your own abilities, but be confident that this is what I know, this is what I don't know, and there are things I know that I don't know, and a part of your own agenda can be to build more knowledge as well. So that's also one of the things. So owning your agenda is not about being selfish or self-centered. It's really about being proactive, taking responsibility for your own life. It's, in the end, towards making your dreams a reality and being a bit concrete. As we come towards the end of this episode, make sure that when you drive your own agenda.

Speaker 1: 17:35

Start with the why and defining it. Get clear goals. What do you want to achieve in life? Write down your goals and make them specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time bound, using the smart methodology. Obviously, what else we have? To make smart decisions here in life?

Speaker 1: 18:00

Make sure that you create a plan. Plans can be useless, but planning is so useful. How are you going to achieve these goals? Break them down into smaller steps. Make a plan for how you will achieve each and every one of these different goals, and then what is the action that you're going to do? Think about different scenarios. One of the techniques I always use is scenario-based planning, so when I go into a meeting and do my pre-analysis, always then I think about different scenarios. What if they do this? What if they do that? How would I react? What are different actions? Role play in your head how things will play out, and the more interactions you have when you're on your agenda and driving this forward, the better you will become at this planning aspect.

Speaker 1: 18:59

Don't just sit around waiting for things to happen. Take action, make things happen. And one of the final things with all of this don't give up. I guarantee you that there will be setbacks along the way. Don't give up on your dreams and your why. Just keep taking action and eventually you will achieve your goals. And don't forget if you, throughout the way, learn new things, if your why starts to change or becomes more specific, that's okay, because it's about you taking action and driving your own agenda, controlling your own life.

Speaker 1: 19:43

And then also, there will be things in this life that you can't control and you have to accept that you adapt towards those things. Owning your agenda is a journey, not a destination. It's about continuous growth and improvement. There will always be new challenges and opportunities to learn and grow. Face the journey and enjoy the process of creating your own life. That's all I had for this time. I hope you enjoyed listening to this episode. Make sure to listen to any of the other episodes that's available out there and I'll see all of you in a week. Until then, take care.