A brief spoken reflection by Rick Foster, a corporate consultant and trainer, describing his biggest business mistake: believing he could change other people. He explains that people must change themselves, that his role is to share understanding and remain a learner, and that releasing responsibility for others’ motivation improved his wellbeing.
My name is Rick Foster. I am a corporate consultant. I am a trainer. My URL, if you want to find me, is www.fosterhix.com. and the biggest mistake that I have made in business, and it took me a long time to not make this mistake, is thinking that I could change people. Because actually, I can't change people. People have to change themselves. And the best thing I can do for people is to bring myself to them, to share my understandings with them, to maintain my status as a student. And then we all learn together. People used to call me a motivational speaker, but actually I don't believe it at all. Because I can't motivate them. They have to motivate themselves. And as soon as I realize that, I stopped killing myself with a feeling of omnipotent accountability and started to relax and really enjoy life.
