Attitude towards Failure - Reputation and Gratitude - What Matters Ep 4

In the fourth and last episode, Ricardo talks about the importance of reputation and the use of social media. He also discusses our attitude towards failure, empathy, humility and gratitude and how these aspects become fundamental as you progress professionally in life.

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Episode transcript

The transcript is generated automatically by Podscribe, Sonix, Otter and other electronic transcription services.

Ricardo (4s):
Hello, everyone. Welcome to the five minutes podcast. Today I like to share with you the fourth and final episode of the series, what matters it's called attitude. And at this time I talk about reputation. I talk about failure and success, gratitude and humility. And this is something like a wrap up of what I try to present in these four episodes. The audio is original audio, okay? And it takes a little bit longer than five minutes, but I hope you enjoy it and see you next week with another five minutes podcast.

After developing your roadmap, covered in the previous episode,
it is time to take care of other aspects of your professional life.
And one of your most relevant is reputation.
It's sad to see when a student asks their colleagues to sign a project
without even seeing what it was about.
This attitude is not smart at all. Besides being dishonest,
it shows a lack of care for their reputation.
If it is bad work, it is yours. If it is good to work, it is not yours.
It is a lose-lose game.
It's easy to get trapped by this anything-goes game.
You must care about your "brand."
It is who you are, and it must reflect that on everything.
Remember that you are one person.
It does not matter if you are at work,
in a social event, or at home.
It is you.
I can see this clearly on social media.
Some people still believe that they can have some privacy on these platforms.
Unless you have a different definition of privacy,
the one thing you don't really have on social media is privacy.
It does not matter if you tell me that you share
only with a group of close friends.
Every time you click on the send button
it is over.
What you shared becomes public.
You must acknowledge that.
We have so many examples of political leaders and
personalities with old photos, messages or videos
leaked that have damaged their reputation.
This is how I see social media.
And I use it a lot.
Another important point about social media is not related to privacy or reputation.
It's about who you are.
It is very dangerous for you to position yourself
as someone different from who you really are.
This is why I decided to record this video in a theatre.
It's easy for you to pretend to be someone you are not
just because you want to be accepted or you want to belong to a specific group.
But this works only for a limited time.
Be mindful that any serious company that might be considering
hiring you will check your social media.
It is as important as your CV.
A CV that, by the way,
will only portrait you as a perfect professional
— a superhuman.
Companies don't want to only know the best of you.
They want to know who you really are.
And this leads me to my second point:
failure and weakness.
Are you ready to share in an interview
your biggest failure or your weaknesses openly?
Something that makes you feel really embarrassed?
Something that makes you feel uncomfortable?
And please, do not say your biggest weakness
is that you are addicted to work and stressed to get the job done.
Don't think that the person on the other side of the table is naive.
Be open to show your human side, with strengths and weakness.
I've messed up many times.
For example, on several occasions during my time at the United Nations,
I was arrogant with some of my colleagues.
I wrongly assumed that, because I was an outsider,
I knew more, and I was more prepared than they were.
And as a consequence, I stopped listening.
It was a big mistake.
I hurt my colleagues with my acts and made decisions that could have been better if I had listened to them.
and now, years later, if I had the chance to go back,
I would do things differently.
Sadly, I cannot go back.
But at least I learned — the hard way.
The third and final point I want to mention is about humility and gratitude.
As you move up in your professional life and become more successful,
it is natural to start thinking that you are good.
Then you start thinking you are really good.
Then you think you have superpowers.
And finally, you really believe you are a superhero.
I have seen many top executives in my career
that are so proud of themselves
that they genuinely believe they know everything.
It is more than sad. It is unwise.
And it is a terrible example to those who are coming.
The further you go up, the more humble you must be.
I want to share something that happened to me in 2004.
I went to the US for some events and meetings at Microsoft Campus in Redmond.
One of these events was with Bill Gates.
I was incredibly excited.
After the event, I asked Bill Gates for a photo.
He was very friendly to me.
After the photo was taken, he asked to see the image to check if it was good.
He knew that the photo was relevant to me.
That 15-second act was a clear demonstration of empathy.
And that photo is still in my office today.
We are now back to where we started
the Douro river
and one last piece of advice.
It is essential to be grateful to everybody that has supported you to get where you are today.
From your parents to your teachers.
From the doctor that treated you when you got sick to your first boss.
From your partner to your friends and colleagues.
They made you who you are.
And when you have the chance, give back to those who are coming behind you.
Never forget where you came from.
Help them start building their passion, their options,
and their roadmap to a meaningful life.
Let's make a better future for all of us.
This
is what really matters.
Good luck and take care.

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Attitude towards Failure - Reputation and Gratitude - What Matters Ep 4

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