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Lessons From An Advertising Guru

Discomfort can often be an obstacle to many. To Anselmo Ramos, it was an opportunity for growth.

Ramos, who is the co-founder and CCO at GUT, an advertising agency, recently explained why discomfort leads to growth and happiness – along with a few other lessons he learned as a student at Harvard Business School – in an article for Campaign.

“Putting yourself in unfamiliar situations can be unsettling, but it’s essential for creating neural pathways that expand your mind, ignite new kinds of engagement and foster creative thinking,” Ramos writes.

Discomfort Leads To Enlightenment

Ramos argues that discomfort often leads to a new sense of creativity. For him, taking a break from his company and immersing himself as a student offered a fresh slate.

“I was back to being a student—waking up early, classes all day, homework all night, group projects, and sleeping in a dorm,” he writes. “After that, I went back to work with a new resilience and confidence. Getting out of your comfort zone and immersing yourself in a new environment does wonders for stretching your creative self, and I can’t recommend it enough.”

The Importance Of Confidence And Humility

Confidence is important, but without humility, it matters little. Romos discovered this when he was among the best-of-the-best at Harvard Business School.

“Imagine a class with a 150 CEOs and business owners. That’s where I found myself at Harvard, and it’s an extremely humbling experience,” Romos writes. “While confidence is important, being humble is key; there will always be someone with bigger revenue, a bigger margin and a bigger heart.”

These two traits may seem as if they are on the opposite ends of the spectrum, but it’s finding how they coexist together that empowers great leaders.

How can you tap into both?

Orly Maravankin, founder of Edge Consulting—a company specializing in growth strategy through organizational development and executive coaching—says it’s all about adopting the right mindset.

“Humility and confidence need not be on different ends of the spectrum; in fact, they co-exist,” Maravankin writes in an article for Forbes. “Former President Obama, for example, shared that he grew both more humble and also more confident the longer he was in office. Leaders can be confident that with a group effort they can figure things out and humble in believing that they alone can’t resolve challenges.”

Business Is All About People

A successful business, Romos emphasizes, comes down to its people. Variables like company size, location, and product or service won’t matter if you don’t care for your people.

“Invest in people, spend time, nurture, and care about people,” he writes. “If you do that, everything else falls into place. Learn to be a people-person, a people-leader and to build a people-business. It sounds obvious, but we forget the importance of it. Oh, and yes, culture. But guess who builds culture? People.”

Sources: Campaign, Forbes