#BONUS EPISODE Myth Busted: Why Doing Another Course is Not The Answer to Accelerating Your Leadership Career

If you want to accelerate your leadership career, this is an episode of the show you do not want to miss. One of the most common things I hear from women is they think that doing another technical course is gonna be the answer to accelerating their career. However, in this episode of the show, I am busting that myth and I am sharing with you why doing another course is not the answer to getting to your next level.

Why saying things like, I don’t have enough time is stopping you from accelerating your success. And three excuses that are gonna stop you from accelerating your career in 2024 and 2025. So this is an episode you don’t want to miss.

Let’s get into it. Welcome to the 360 Leadership Podcast, the top rated show for driven women in senior leadership with new episodes released every Wednesday. I’m your host, Lucy Garnan, a multi-award winning executive coach for women leaders and the founder of 360 Leaders Club, an exclusive high level membership for career driven, family orientated women just like you.

I created the 360 Leadership Podcast to share practical tips, actionable step-by-step strategies and inspiring stories to support you to unlock the power and belief within to accelerate your impact and potential so you can build a life filled with success, balance and happiness. So are you ready to achieve 360 degree success? No more excuses, no more waiting. Your time is now.

Hi there and welcome back to a very special bonus episode of the 360 Leadership Podcast. I’m your host, Lucy Garnan. And if you haven’t already liked and reviewed this show, I would so appreciate if you would do that for me because it makes such a huge difference to the amount of people that Apple and Spotify and all the platforms push this episode to.

And you’ll really be helping me out as we put a lot of effort into this and I know that you get a lot of value from it. So just when you’re finished, just head into whatever app you’re listening to and click that rate and review button. I would so, so appreciate it.

Why is doing another course not the answer to advancing your leadership career? I have been talking to a lot of ladies at the moment who want to potentially join 360 Leaders Club and I’ve been reviewing applications that you guys have been sending in because if you haven’t already heard and you’re listening live, we are now enrolling new members to start with us on the 1st of October, 2024. We only open the doors a handful of times a year. And right now, this is the final opportunity to enroll in 2024.

So if you are interested, actually you can just head over to 360leaderslub.com and you’ll be able to get all the information there. But in the process of all of these flurry of applications coming in and exciting conversations I’m having with women who really, really want to advance their career, something that’s come up with a few people is I’m not sure if this is right for me. And I’ve been thinking about doing another course.

I’m really not sure whether I need a course for work, if I need a therapist or if I need a coach. So I really wanted to firstly today, bust a myth around why technical courses are usually absolutely not the answer to accelerating your career. And the reason for that is this.

I know with absolute certainty that if you were to work on one thing and one thing only between now and the end of the year, I can guarantee you that you will advance your career. Now, I have worked with women who in the first eight weeks have got a promotion after trying for four years. I’ve worked with other women who it’s taken maybe six months, but they had to do a lot of groundwork to get there because you can’t just wave a magic wand and get an opportunity.

Like, you know, we’re smart ladies here. I’m not gonna start lying to you because that’s not how it works, right? But I know for sure, I mean, I know with every fiber of my being that when you work on this one thing, you are going to unlock opportunities like never before, very, very fast, like in the first 30 days. And that one thing is confidence.

Confidence is the thing that you need to work on. And here’s why. People can smell a mile off if you’re uncertain in yourself.

And if you’re uncertain in yourself and your capabilities and you’re playing small and you’re being timid and you’re not owning your voice and you are not advocating for yourself, you come across, and I’m gonna be really blunt and I’m saying this with care and love, you come across as weak. We don’t want weak leaders, do we? We want leaders who we can trust to do the job, who give us a sense of safety because safety comes from certainty and confidence. So you think about somebody on your team who has a confident demeanor and who instills trust in you that they can do the job.

They’re the ones you see as superstars, the ones that have a can-do attitude, that advocate for themselves, that show up with authority and show up with certainty, and you might even be jealous of them. I know I have been like that in the past before I worked on my confidence, but I promise you, I absolutely promise you that when you work on your own self-belief, your confidence, you work and you take action, I can guarantee you, you are going to accelerate your success. So that’s why I know that investing in another course, if you’re not confident and you don’t believe in yourself, is not the best option for you.

Now, if you have unwavering confidence in your abilities, and if you believe in yourself, and if you show up with authority, and if you show up with certainty, and if you can manage your emotions, and if you can command a room and have an unbelievable executive presence, well, then this episode of the show is not relevant to you and I am celebrating you, and I know some of my clients are listening to this right now and you’re going, oh my God, I don’t feel like that anymore. But for anyone who does feel like that, firstly, I want you to know that you’re not alone. Absolutely not alone.

I’ve been there myself. I had no self-belief. I had very low self-worth.

I thought what I had to say didn’t matter. I thought I wasn’t good enough and so on and so forth. But when I did one thing and invested in coaching, my whole entire life changed.

I always say there’s Lucy before coaching and Lucy after coaching. Lucy before coaching, by the way, didn’t have Botox, and Lucy after coaching has Botox and she needs to get it topped up. But there’s a lot of things that change because before coaching, I was working in the corporate world.

I was absolutely playing small. I had so much to give. I had so much business acumen.

You know, I was highly strategic. I was a good communicator, yet I was not using these skills because I was doing what other people wanted me to do. And then when I started coaching, professional coaching, which is exactly what I do, I found the confidence and the clarity to actually quit my 20-year corporate career, get rid of the golden handcuffs, and go and chase my dreams of founding my own company.

And it was the scariest thing I ever did in my life. It was stepping out of my comfort zone, beyond belief, into a brand new industry. And I could not have done that without my coaches.

So what I really want to, I suppose, share with you today is I’m talking a lot about the five Cs at the moment and the five Cs of success. And the first one is confidence, okay? We’ve already discussed confidence. In fact, 76% of executives believe that confidence is the number one trait of executive presence, okay? So if you want to advance your senior leadership career, you’ve got to work on your confidence.

And that is absolutely something I am extremely, extremely good at helping women with because I fucking believe in you. I want to support you to believe in you as much as everybody else does so that you can fulfill your potential. We’d only get one shot at this life.

Please don’t waste it, okay? Stop playing small. The second C then is coaching. I’ve already shared that.

I mean, the women who are really, really successful and who advance, like one of my clients, Lisa, who had been waiting four years for a promotion, her confidence was at an all-time low when she started working with me. And after a few months of, you know, working on herself, doing the work, she joined 360 Leaders Club. She came to all of the calls.

She did the homework. She engaged in the community. She learned from the amazing women who were in there.

She showed up vulnerably when, you know, as herself, when she had a question so she could move forward. And as a result, she got her promotion. And not only that, but at the moment she is doing so well in that role.

You know, she’s being given so many new opportunities, okay? I won’t get into detail, but there’s lots of opportunities coming her way. And then also there is my client, Suzanne, who literally was completely burnt out. And you can listen to her episode, actually.

I think it was episode 101 on the show, where she shares her journey from burnout. And right now she is a VP in a large Fortune 500. She has a thousand people in her, underneath her.

She manages time zones. She travels a lot. She has two kids.

But amid all of that, she told me, Lucy, this is the first time in my entire career where I’m in a new role without imposter syndrome. And she found her dream home at the same time. And she found time to train for a marathon, okay? And she told me this, like, and I am not, you know, I don’t like blowing my own trumpet.

Here we go as women, not liking to do that. But it’s, I have tools, guys, that can help you. I have tools that you are missing, that I can give you, that are gonna help you to absolutely surge forward, to help you to unlock your potential, to give you the encouragement, the motivation, support, and the accountability you’re missing to surge forward, okay? So if you are ready to invest in yourself and you’re listening to this live, the doors to 360 Leaders Club are open for the final time to start with us in 2024, all right? Imagine in three months from now, if you were to work on your confidence, your leadership, your executive presence, you know, freeing up time so you can do this, because I know time is a problem for you, but I’m sorry, time is a problem for everybody.

It’s about prioritization. And I know this is gonna trigger some people, and that’s okay, because usually when you’re triggered, it’s because you know deep down there’s truth in it. Career advancement and success does not just happen.

It’s never an accident. It’s always intentional. And it starts with you setting an intention to put yourself first, to get clear on what you want, and to take massive action.

Now, only about 5% of people in the world will ever invest in themselves like this. And that’s who I wanna work with. Are you in the 5%? Are you in that elite group? Are you in that level where you know the smart thing to do is to invest in others who have gone before you to show you the way? Because I know I’m in that 5%.

I know I wasn’t, but I’m absolutely in that 5% now, because I’ve seen the return over and over and over again, not just for myself, but for my clients as well. So we’ve covered coaching. We’ve covered confidence.

The other ones then would be community. So the women who I see who are super successful, obviously I work with them in 360 Leaders Club in community. And Harvard did a study and they looked at what was one thing that the most successful people in the world had in common? And it was their reference group.

So your reference group are those people that you refer to as like your benchmark. And the ladies in 360 Leaders Club are a reference group that you want to be around because not only are they superstars, not only are you gonna meet like introverts, extroverts, engineers, accountants, lawyers, there’s such an array of people, mothers, single people. Like there’s just such a diverse group from all over the world, okay? We’ve had people from the States, from the UK, from Europe, from Ireland, and they’re all supporting each other, but they’re so sound.

And because they actually engage in the community, we have an online community platform and they support each other, you get this unbelievable momentum, unbelievable momentum. And we love celebrating wins every single week as well. The other thing you need then is connection.

So it’s really important that you kind of are super clear on who you need to connect with to advance your career. Like who are the stakeholders within your organization? Who are the people that are gonna support you? And if you do those five things, I promise you, you are going to surge forward. So that’s why doing another course is not the answer.

I have women in the group who have MBAs, okay? And one of the girls told me about a month ago that she’s learned more in 360 Leaders Club in terms of things that will help her to advance than she did in the MBA, that she can’t believe how practical the frameworks and the tips and the tools are, how supportive the community is. Guys, I know, like I have a master’s degree in science. I used to think if I just go back and I might do an MBA and I might go back and do another master’s, right? Another master’s is not going to get you promoted.

It’s not going to get you the opportunities. What is, is working on the soft skills. And that’s exactly what I teach.

That’s exactly what I teach. Work on your confidence, work on your leadership, work on managing your emotions, work on influencing other people, work on your communication style, work on advocating for yourself, work on building relationships. It’s all of this stuff.

Am I making sense? Doesn’t it sound reasonable to you that that’s where you need to focus? It’s not another master’s. I promise you, it’s not another master’s. So that’s it for this week’s episode of the show.

I really want you to stop making excuses for yourself and saying, you know, I don’t have enough time to focus on myself. You’ve got to make the time if it’s important to you. If it’s not important to you, don’t make the time.

Don’t make the time. But if advancing your career with more confidence, without sacrificing balance or working a million hours is actually what you want, you’ve got to do something different and you’ve got to carve out the time. Another thing I hear a lot, actually, is I’m not sure if I can invest in myself.

And I get that. It’s a huge investment. Like, you know, to work within 360 Leaders Club for six months is for, I think it’s like 4,995 euro.

It’s a massive investment in yourself. And if you’re not used to investing in yourself, that’s gonna seem alien. It’s gonna seem scary.

It’s gonna seem like a lot of money. But actually, that’s the very problem. Your money mindset is keeping you stuck.

And if you won’t invest in yourself to do something like this, you’re certainly not gonna have the confidence to advocate for yourself when it comes to negotiating pay increases or advocating for yourself or looking for promotions because your money mindset plays a huge role in your success. And the second you make that investment in yourself, the second I invested, my very first coach, I paid her $8,000. I’ll never forget.

I felt sick. I had no clue if it was gonna work, but I knew I needed help. And I was talking to loads of people and they were saying like, yeah, just invest in yourself.

I do this all the time. And I was going, what? How come nobody around me ever invested in themselves? It’s because I wasn’t playing with the big dogs. I wasn’t around people who were achieving what I wanted to achieve.

And since I started investing in myself, like I’m ashamed to say, no, I’m not ashamed, but I’ve invested a significant amount, like six figures in myself, but it’s paid dividends in my, I mean, in my confidence is the biggest thing, but the confidence has enabled me to speak on big stages with confidence, to start a new company, to get out and advocate for myself, to start a podcast, to do all of those things. And I have three kids at home as well, and I’m able to juggle it all. And it’s only because I invested in myself.

It’s only because I invested in myself. There’s no way I’d be here without it. So please stop making excuses about time, about money.

Now, if you don’t have the money, I get that. I’m not stupid, I know that. But if you’re listening to my podcast, I’m pretty certain you’re on a good salary, or you may have access to company funds.

It’s just a mindset shift around seeing it as an investment and not a cost, because the cost is more staying as you are if what you want is greater than that, you know? But you’ve got to really want it and be committed to doing the work. And the other thing, the other quickly, the other excuse that I hear a lot is, you know, about not, I’m not sure if it’s a course I need, and I’ve already kind of covered that one. So, you know, only you can make that call based on what I’ve shared with you on the show today.

So just have a little reflect. And if you have any questions and you’re ready to work with me, please, please send me a DM and we can have a chat or head over to 360leadersclub.com for more information. We start on the 1st of October, our final cohort for 2024.

I’m so excited because my podcast listeners, you guys, like there’s so many of you in 360, and that’s why I know that if you’re listening to the show, it would be a perfect fit. So please, please reach out. If you’ve enjoyed this episode, go out for a little walk, have a little reflect, talk to your husband, talk to your partner, reach out to me and just reflect on what I’ve shared.

Because life is too short to stay as you are. If you’re not happy, it really is, and it doesn’t have to be this way. And if you want more, you can listen to episode 101, which is Suzanne Sheridan’s episode where she’s talking about how she went from burnout to leading her billion dollar revenue stream as a mother of two.

There’s another episode with my client, Lisa Miller. I’ll link it in the show notes where she’s sharing her journey of how she worked in her confidence. And another episode that you might enjoy is there is an episode where I’m explaining a little bit more about 360 Leaders Club and I link that in the show notes as well.

But to be honest, there’s so many questions coming in. I think I’m gonna record another bonus episode that I’ll release maybe next week or the week after answering all of your questions. So that’s it.

I hope you enjoyed the show. I think you’re amazing. Please remember, you are in full control of your life.

Stop making excuses, go and chase your dreams, and I’ll talk to you soon. Bye for now.