I got promoted.
I’ll come back to that shortly.

During my company’s holiday party in December, I was walking through the venue.
It had thousands of people in attendance including. There was incredible food, drinks, laughs and a musical performance by one of the most legendary pop artists of our time.
As I waded through the crowd to use the bathroom, I got stopped by someone.
They nervously tugged at my blazer.
If you know me, I initially looked down in such disgust.
Like huh?
Who touched me????

I didn’t recognize the face as I looked down and they quickly introduced themselves
“Hi Ade, it’s me __”
I beamed a huge smile in response.
A quick awkward hug and I was looking at them again.
They quickly said
“Thank you for everything”
That was one of 4 similar encounters that night. I had hired him and the three other people that came up to me that night.
Because of the pandemic, much of their recruitment and onboarding had happened virtually. In some cases, I never saw their faces unless I stalked their LinkedIn profiles.
As I walked away that night, I felt a sense of pride. I brought some incredible people to the company.
In some cases, it was giving them their dream jobs.
One of the 4 was a recent Phd graduate and this was his first “big boy” job.

Last week, I found out that I got promoted.
The only one on my large team to get promoted and scored a 110% on my annual evaluation.
Why is all of this relevant?
I am pretty darn good at my job. Phenomenal actually. You should see me in action.
But I can’t help but remember how I almost never even got this far in my career.

A few years ago, I got called into a room with my director at the time and my lead. They told me that I wasn’t doing my job fast enough.
In my mind I was.
I may not have been moving as fast as they wanted and that’s okay. But their delivery that day was harsh.
And for someone only a few months into that role, it shook me and discouraged me.
I believe their intent was to inspire me but it actually made me consider quitting.
But obviously, y’all know how stubborn I am. So I didn’t give up and here I am today.

Sometimes I hear the way my teams and leaders praise my work and a part of me is truly amazed.
I got better. I worked harder.
I pushed myself but I had help along the way. After I left that company, I worked for two leaders that believed in me and gave me the reins to push boundaries.
I may not have been fast enough there but under the right leadership, I am the pace setter.

I wrote this WOW to remind you to believe in yourself and bet on you.
Don’t let anyone tell you you’re not good enough or great enough.
Always take constructive feedback and apply it where needed but never give up on you because of someone else.
Imagine if I gave up, the 100’s of candidates that have gone through me may not have the amazing opportunities they have right now.
You are right where you need to be. Slow it down or speed it up but never stop moving.

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You are highly appreciated.

WordsOfWednesday

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