King of Mediocrity

Today's episode is a special solo-Margy episode to talk about a concept that she coined, called “The King of Mediocrity.” What Margy means by that is, you can be a king of a mediocre life, or you can be a student of a great life. 

In other words, you can be right or you can be successful. The most successful people Margy knows care more about learning and being a student, than they do about being right. They don’t care as much about saying “This is what I know, I’m not open to other perspectives, I’m the expert on this.” Those are not the people Margy sees living lives that Margy wants to live!

Margy came to this statement while she was thinking about leadership. The leadership at Interview Connections always views their team as a mirror of the leadership. If we’re seeing results we don’t like in our team, instead of complaining about it, we look at ourselves and ask, “What does this say about us? About our leadership?”

Looking at results you don’t want and seeing it as a reflection of your own leadership requires humility. But this is the only way to develop as a business owner and as a leader! Practice looking at those results and saying “What is this telling me? What can I work on as a leader?”

When Jess and Margy wanted to grow to 7+ figures, they knew they needed to get in rooms and masterminds with entrepreneurs who are at 7, 8, and 9 figures. A common theme in successful entrepreneurs that Jess and Margy witnessed was kindness and humility. What are the chances that all these highly successful entrepreneurs just happen to be this nice and this humble?

There is a strong correlation between success and humility. Before Jess & Margy hit 7 figures, they went to Ali Brown’s Mastermind and met the incredibly successful entrepreneur, Michelle Bosch. At the Mastermind, while Michelle was talking about her multiple businesses, Margy felt like small fish. Michelle was so high-level, and that felt so beyond where Interview Connections was at that point.

Jess and Margy started chatting with Miichelle, and they were stunned by how Michelle was so humble and kind, even though Margy knew she was so successful and intelligent. Michelle said “It’s so great to meet you, I have so much to learn from you.” This absolutely blew Margy away. Margy said, “You are so high-level, what could you learn from us?”

Michelle said “But you are experts in podcasting, and I don’t know anything about podcasting so I am so excited to learn from you!” What Margy realized in that moment was that there was something else in that humility, it’s curiosity. The most successful entrepreneurs are students and are hungry to learn more.

If you are a genuine student and you want to learn, by default there is humility in that. You are admitting that you don’t know everything, and that curiosity is what leads to humility, and that is what leads to these incredible levels of success. 

There has been a myriad of studies that show the correlation between success and curiosity. These studies show that curiosity prepares the brain for better learning. Why does curiosity matter? Curiosity makes it so that you will be less likely to fall prey to confirmation bias, and you’ll be less likely to see what you’ve always seen. 

We need to stay curious, so we can be innovative and reach new growth while creating better results! When we’re curious, we view tough situations more creatively. In business, things are constantly going wrong. Breakdowns happen and it’s important to not fall apart.

But when we’re curious, studies show we are able to view difficult situations in a more creative way and that allows us to innovate and to overcome the issues and breakdowns. It also helps you see other people’s perspectives and have more empathy.

Curiosity makes you more focused on other people’s perspectives and less focused on your own, and this leads to connecting with other people better. And we all know that relationship and connection are the root of a healthy business!

You can be the king of a mediocre life or the student of a great one. Margy invites you to look at your life, look at your business, ask yourself - are you being a king or are you being a student? If you’re being a king, Margy implores you to make that shift to being a student and staying curious!