Don't be afraid to stand out

Time and time and again I've been confronted with colleagues that prefer to stand in the background and not be differentiated from the rest. Nowadays this invariably makes me think: why the hell not?

Sometimes I think it's a clear case of lack of confidence in themselves and their know-how, which is understandable. In those cases I like to remember a common quote by Richard Branson that says "If someone offers you an amazing opportunity and you're not sure you can do it, say yes - then learn how to do it later.". I've lost a few great opportunities for fear of failure, but now I do my best to remember this as often as I can.

Other times, people stand in the background, and I think this is the most common scenario, for fear of being in the spotlight. Yes I know, it's an obvious justification, but let me continue: it's not that they don't know their trade, they do; the thing is they don't want to get noticed by "the brass" and risk too much responsibility, aka, leaving their confort zone.

I've been there before: that state of mind where you do your job, follow the tasks laid out by your management and when the option comes for more exposure you step back and opt out. Lately though, with all my efforts directed at learning more and more about gamification and evangelizing it in my company, I've been "thrown to the lions" more times than I can count. And you know what? That's ok! It can be scary when your audience is the CEO, or even your colleagues and friends that you'll want to impress the most and make them proud. But believe me that every experience is going to make you grow, even the ones that go wrong. Especially those.

And if you're afraid of making too much of a splash start small: after all, what's life but a series of stepping stones to greater goals? But do it.

Some people say I have a knack for public speaking, but believe me, that is most certainly NOT my opinion. But I want it to be. I want to be that guy that people invite to talk about whatever theme is required. The thing is, I feel that if you don't take a step outside your confort zone, you're almost certainly not going to grow into the professional or individual that you want to become. And that requires standing out, putting your name out there and risking some misshaps. But hey, as Fernando Pessoa would say "stones in the path? I keep all of them, one day I'll build myself a castle...".

And it's really weird to translate Pessoa.

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What good is being awesome if no one knows about it?

I was wondering the other day about one or two colleagues of mine that are really good at what they do. And I mean really good. I've had the pleasure of working with quite a few amazingly competent people in my short career, but surprisingly, not that many of our colleagues knew or know right now how good these people are. And that phenomenon has been relatively constant throughout the years.

When you come to think of it, it's not that surprising: our culture is not one to encourage bragging. Let me rephrase that: our culture is one where self-advertising is considered bragging, which is seen as rude worldwide. No matter how humbly you do it. This of course generates a posture of not talking about what you did or not sharing amazing content you've created, just for the sake of keeping low and off the management's radar.

The problem is that this way of thinking only works if your plan is to sit at a computer doing the same stuff all over again for the rest of your life. And if you're ok with that, this post ends here for you, so cheers lad! :D

If you're not ok with that, let me tell you something: social networking was the best thing to happen to the internet after Google. The advent of Facebook, Twitter and all that followed, ushered a new age of global awareness and new channels for promoting yourself and your skills. Why should you do it? Because of Math of course.

Factor this in: you're in your bullpen/open-space/shared office with your colleagues. You're in a team that communicates a lot, so everybody's aware of each other's worth. You've got what, six people around you? Let's say ten. Ten people that know how good your work was in this project.

Now imagine a global community, with dozens, hundreds, even thousands of people that may be aware of your digital footprint, be it directly or indirectly. Do you realize the amount of hits a post from you can get even if it's by accident? Imagine hundreds of people reading what you've said, or high-fiving an answer you gave in a forum, or sharing a link you in turn shared yourself. The networking that is generated by a minimum of action is at worst two times more widespread than what you could do by talking to your team. That is the power of going social.

And it's not about bragging, it's about sharing your thoughts, contributing to online communities, spreading the knowledge, etc. Is it scary having all that people reading your posts, probably judging or even just trolling you for the fun of it? Yeah, it can be. But we live in an age where almost everyone in your team's an ok programmer, or a good-enough analyst, so you need an upper hand.

You don't need to tell the world how good you are, but at least let them see it for themselves. Make social networking your not-so-secret weapon!

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