Backable: The Surprising Truth Behind What Makes People Take a Chance on You by Suneel Gupta

Author:Suneel Gupta [Gupta, Suneel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Business & Economics, Entrepreneurship, skills, Workplace Culture
ISBN: 9780316494502
Google: 2GjqDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Little, Brown
Published: 2021-02-23T00:23:17.567523+00:00

STEP 7:

LET GO OF YOUR EGO

In 1959, a young biologist named Dr. George Schaller went to Central Africa to study mountain gorillas. At the time, the perception was that these were vicious, dangerous beasts. Something to fear. But after living among them for two years, Schaller discovered that gorillas were in fact gentle, compassionate, and extremely intelligent, with complex social structures. When he returned to present his groundbreaking findings, a biologist in the audience asked, “Dr. Schaller, we’ve been studying these creatures for centuries and we didn’t know any of this. How did you get such detailed information?”

“It’s simple,” Schaller replied. “I didn’t carry a gun.”1

While it was common practice for researchers to stash a weapon in their backpacks in case something went wrong, Schaller never did. He believed you could hide a gun, but you could never hide your attitude when you carried a gun. No smile or gentleness could fully cover your unease, and the gorillas could always pick up on that.

After many years of struggling to become backable, I came to realize that the gun inside my backpack was my ego. That my extreme desire to impress people in the room had created distance, not connection. No matter how professional or friendly I acted, people could always tell when I wasn’t at ease.

The other techniques in this book got me comfortable with content, but I still had to learn to get truly comfortable with myself. I had to learn to let go of my ego—to express, rather than impress.

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