No One Cares Until You Show Results

“My team was struggling with a problem, and I knew what we could do to deal with the problem. No one took me seriously. It was as if my opinion did not matter”,  my mentee wistfully lamented to me during a conversation last week. He was referring to some issue at work that he felt he knew how to deal with. But no one was willing to hear him out.

“How are you doing at work in terms of results?” I asked him.

“I am struggling to deliver results. Things are not going well for me”, he said.

“Well, that explains,” I replied empathetically, “It is unfortunate but true- No one cares about your opinion until you show results.”

The world pays attention to people who have results behind them. Opinions backed by results give you a voice. Opinions in the absence of any results or track record is empty bluster everyone ignores.

Spend time in the game notching up results and successes. You do that well; whatever opinion you share will become wisdom others seek and pay attention to.