Latest / The Talent Brief / Dangerous Scripts
Transcript
- Jeff Ganter: Welcome back to the talent brief. I want to start with a simple question. Have you ever made a decision that looked right on paper but felt wrong in your gut? Maybe it was a job, a promotion, a relationship, a commitment you thought you should want. Everyone around you thought it made sense. Maybe you did too. And yet there was something inside you trying to get your attention. A hesitation, a nut in your stomach, a feeling you couldn't quite explain. But instead of listening, you talked yourself out of it. You told yourself you were overthinking. You needed more information. You should be grateful. And that's the word I want to focus on today. Should Because I've noticed something over the years. Most people don't get stuck because they don't know what they want. They get stuck because they're following a script they've never stopped to question. A script that says work harder, stay longer, don't rock the boat. Be grateful. Push through. The challenge is that after hearing these messages long enough, We stop recognizing them as scripts. We start believing they're our own voice. And that's where things get dangerous. Because now we're making decisions based on what's familiar, not necessarily what's true. Over the past 20 plus years in recruiting and coaching, I've watched this happen repeatedly. People stay in jobs they've outgrown. Leaders remain in roles that no longer challenge them. Individuals ignore the same feeling over and over again because the script sounds more responsible than the signal. Which brings me to something that I've been talking about more recently. Signals versus scripts. A signal is information. It's happening right now. It's that feeling during an interview, that recurring thought you can't shake, that excitement about an opportunity. Or that exhaustion that keeps showing up no matter how much y rest you get. A script is different. A script is learned. It's a belief, an expectation, an old story trying to manage a current situation. The signal says this isn't working anymore. The script says keep going. The signal says something feels off. The script says you're overthinking. The signal says you've outgrown this. The script says. Don't start over. Most of us have spent years listening to the script. Very few of us have spent time understanding the signal. And the reality is signals rarely disappear. They get louder. What begins as a whisper often becoming becomes frustration, then exhaustion, then burnout. Not because a signal changed, because we ignored it. That's why I don't believe most people lack clarity. I think many people are overriding themselves. They're looking for certainty while dismissing awareness. They're collecting more information when what they really need is more trust. The people I've seen make the biggest changes in their careers and lives aren't always the smartest or most confident. They're the ones willing to pay attention before they have proof. They're willing to trust that a signal is worth exploring. So this week, I want to challenge you to get curious. What's the signal that's been showing up repeatedly in your life? The conversation you've been avoiding, the decision you've been delaying. The feeling you've been explaining away. Because maybe the next step isn't finding a new answer. Maybe it's questioning an old script. Thanks for joining me for for this episode of the Talent Brief. And before you go, here's the question I want you to sit with. What signal are you receiving right now? And what script keeps talking you out of listening to it? See you soon. Bye.