In the past couple of weeks, I’ve been fortunate enough to spend 10 days travelling to the UK and back.

The purpose of the trip was to learn and grow myself (I attended Chris Ducker's 2-day Youpreneur Summit event) as well as provide space for the rest of our executive team at The Physio Co to lead while I’m out of the way.

A couple of things I learned while I was away:

1. Focusing on the people in your business (and life) as the unique individuals they are is as important as ever

In this era of always-on, including the never-ending flow of emails, online content, SMS messages, notifications and distractions, there has never been a more important time to be present with the people you are with.

When listening/speaking/messaging – do it once and do it well - a single person at a time. Trying to be everything to everyone at the same time simply does not work.

Paying attention to the task you’re on, speaking to the people who are in the room with you and appreciating the uniqueness of each person in your life, for being for the unique person that they are, is the opportunity that we all have and need to make the most of.

2. There is much more to being authentic than simply knowing about it.

There is one important word I’ve known about and have been using for years but I now know I didn’t really understand in any meaningful way.

In recent months I've worked hard to rectify this. That word is authenticity.

Authenticity is important in business, in life, in leadership. We hear it all the time. But what does it really mean to be authentic?

In her powerful presentation at the Youpreneur Summit, live-streaming expert Luria Petrucci went deep into how to be an authentic person in a practical sense, and how to use that to become a better communicator and leader. Luria challenged everyone in the big room to ask themselves:

  • What are some of the things about you that only your family or closest mates know?
  • What habits or traits do you really dislike about yourself?

The answers to these questions, the stuff that we really dislike about ourselves, is the birthplace of vulnerability and authenticity that is uniquely us.