This story is based on a conversation with Jenny Wood, a former director of Google, who is the writer of the Bulletin Big small things and the upcoming book Wild courage: follow what you wish and get. At Google, Wood managed a large operating team that helped increase billions of dollars of income annually and began a passion project in a company called Own Your Career, which developed into one of the largest profession development programs in Google history. Wood lives in Boulder in Colorado with two young children and husband Jon.
Picture Loan: Tim Gillies. Jenny Wood.
I moved to New York in 2008 and I had a mission to meet with my husband. I used to be so excited about moving from Denver to New York, because there are many more people in New York and I believed I used to be expanding my perspectives. At some point – and my sister talked about it in her speech at my wedding – inside 24 hours I went on five dates.
I used to be so powered and acting in my approach that I maintained a spreadsheet that follows the first dates. Columns are: name, age, height, first contact, summary of our conversation online and if the date has been set. Is it fun on a scale from one to the third or is he funny? What is my level of emotions? I didn’t play. But I used to be also sad because I didn’t find anyone and I used to be 30 years old. I probably met with too much leftist perseverance-I have a tendency to think my head, not with my heart.
Picture Credit: Courtesy of Jenny Wood. A reproduction of wood spreadsheet used to track dates.
“My life has changed to a crowded, smelly, dirty Subway Line of New York.”
My life has modified to a crowded, smelly, dirty Subway New York line. It was on January 11, 2011. I remember because my mother’s birthday was. There was a blizzard, and after trying on Google I went home. (I used to be in the Capella group called scalability).
I’m sitting in the subway; This is a packed train, and about 20 feet from me stands this attractive guy. Great blue eyes. Perfectly embarrassed shadow of the fifth. It works. Although I wanted to turn to him, I talked about it. What if he is a convicted criminal? What if it’s married? What if I make a idiot of myself In this packed train, and 100 people watch? Later I noticed that these are three classic fears that stop so many people: fear of uncertainty, fear of failure and fear of judgment.
I sit and do nothing when the subway passes after stopping. I’m a brave and confident Google leader outside, but shy and scared inside. However, it still attracts me and I conclude a contract with myself: If he goes to my stop, 72nd Street, I’ll talk to him. If not, it’s C’est La Vie.
On 59th Street raises the bag and leaves the train. I’m in my place, thinking Oh, it is so frustrating, but it is the universe that tells me that it wasn’t. At this point, this wave of wild courage washes me and pushes me out of the subway seat towards the closing door of the subway. No, fuck the universe. I run away from this train and I think I’ll do my own rattling ”that it was supposed to be. “
“With a zero plan, I tap him on my shoulder when the Columbus circle goes out of the stairs.”
I chase him, all disheveled in my winter coat and I take off my hat – my hair is a mess. Thanks to Zero Plan, I tap him in my shoulder when the Columbus circle goes out of the stairs and say: “I’m sorry, I’m sorry I disturb you.” “All right. You seem nice, “he says. And I say: “You’re wearing gloves, so I can’t say if you wear a wedding ring, but if you’re not married, you were in my subway and I thought you were sweet. Any chance or can you give you my business card? “
It seems that he’ll answer him eternity, but he takes the card.
The first date we went to Dive 75 at 75. And Columbus on Upper West Side. I knew straight away that I wanted to marry this guy. We sat in these heavy leather chairs with shoulders, which created a certain distance, so when he went to the bar to attract us to the beer, I attracted the chairs closer. Yes, I used to be dizzy. My heart was pounding.
We agreed for three years, we got married, and now we have two children who are 7 and 9 years old.
“The sense of this wave of wild courage on the subway changed my life.”
The feeling of this wave of wild courage on the subway modified my life. It inspired me to develop as a director in Google, to build a skilled program in Google, which was used tens of 1000’s of people in almost 100 countries and to write my upcoming book Wild courage: follow what you wish and get. This wild courage knocked in my right brain, not my left brain. It inspired me to leave the intestines, throw caution on the wind and take a calculated risk, which made my whole life success.
Image loan: Courtesy of Penguin Random House
From that moment I made a mental change and that is how much I began. I began asking what I wanted at work. I used to be promoted. He grew out of the base to the management, ultimately helping to increase billions of dollars of annual revenues for Google. People were impressed by my height and got here to me for mentoring. Sometimes the pupils asked how I got here to my managerial position in Google, so I began the program called my own career-careful approach to skilled achievement.
Remember that I might never work on HR or people on the day. Over the years, I used to be mainly the operational director of various Google departments. I did the whole lot that Fortune 500 EXECS does. I hired and slowed down people, reories, I closed business units in one part of the world and built them in one other and provided a double-digit increase in revenues-but I might never give official profession advice. Google didn’t pay me for it. Nevertheless, I saved suggestions and collected training, expecting a dozen people. The program broke out, becoming one of the largest Google profession programs in the company’s 26-year history.
I noticed that I really like to train people to make them higher than they think. Fast forward for several years, and the custom of wild courage still served me: I convinced the best literary agent who signed me. I made a decision to help not only technology employees, but thousands and thousands of people around the world. So I wrote a book proposal that may occur Wild courage. Wild courage is how to get what you wish in life, regardless of whether it is a relationship, goal or promotion. A big part focuses on nine features that you need to embrace to get there. The titles of chapters are “strange”, “selfish”, “shameless”, “obsessive”, “noses”, “manipulative”, “brutal”, “reckless” and “bosses”. It is about recovering those labels that create the rods of an invisible cage that gives a small one.
“Don’t let fear shape your decisions.”
That day I regained these qualities in the subway and stopped living in fear: fear of someone meaning one of these features, in addition to fear of uncertainty and failure.
Don’t let fear shape your decisions. How often do you avoid something because you are afraid of what can occur? How often do you postpone the client’s asking for what you would like? How often do you not ask your partner about what you wish? How often do you not give your phone number to an attractive person in the subway? I need people to realize that there is no lack of money, skills or contacts will stand in your way – it’s you. This is excellent news because it implies that you have an agency and control over your activities. When you possibly can move fear in the past, you possibly can achieve so much.
You won’t ever feel so deliberate, powerful or alive, as when pushing next to fear to success on the other side – because the whole lot you wanted, lives on the other side of fear, and that is what is waiting for you.
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