This post is my contribution to Blog Action Day, joining thousands of other bloggers to write about one topic for a single day. This year’s topic is poverty.
I grew up in Southern Ohio in a county with one of the highest unemployment rates in the state. Incidentally, also close to another county where the number of drug trafficking arrests were also high (no pun intended). Families who lived on welfare were abundant.
In his bestselling book, The Dip, Seth Godin, Internet Marketing Extraordinaire writes about leadership and perseverance. Seth tells us that great leaders are the ones who can push through the hard times to get to the finish line. Specifically, The Dip indicates that most of us can achieve a moderate level of success. Next, things level off again and then we experience a little dip in performance because it gets much harder to get to the next level. Maybe we get bored, maybe the highs of accomplishment wear off. It sometimes feels easier to regroup and change direction than to continue pushing boulders uphill. I like Seth’s concepts. They fit nicely with the “Whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” mantra. The Dip is especially relevant for working women and entrepreneurs because there are so many tests along the way that it’s normal to have days where you want to give up on pursuing what’s most important to you. You have to be committed and you have to keep reminding yourself that The Dip and other bad days are all part of the learning process to get to the next level. Easy stuff is boring anyway!
So, I bet you’re wondering what in the world could rap music have to do with life lessons for executive women? Keep reading. I was perusing Tony Robbins’ newsletter when I noticed a link to an appearance on MTV. I thought, “Tony Robbins is going to take a shot at being a rapper now? Come on!”. Anyway, I was just curious enough to watch so I clicked through. Seems that Hurricane Chris in his 51/50 Ratchet CD has some serious clarity about personal leadership. The video from Hip Hop Owner’s Manual describes a rap music term, RATCHET. The definition of Ratchet is living your life’s dream and being yourself without regard for what anyone else thinks. In Rapper speak, “Doing YOU”. Ratchet comes with a few guiding principles: