Business lessons from Kinky Boots?
Why not? It is based on a true story of a shoe factory in England so of course, there are valuable lessons included about running a business.
Trust me, I get some pretty strange looks from people when I start a conversation with this idea. But the lessons are there and they are good ones.
When I first saw the show (actually the movie), I wrote a blog about the lesson I learned from it. Now, a few years later, and a bit smarter when it comes to running my business, I see more lessons – all equally as important as the first one.
The lessons
- Know when to pivot. There comes a time when it is important to make changes in what you are doing, sometimes small course corrections, other times it might be significant redirections.
- Take advantage of opportunities that align with your purpose. Keep your eyes open for opportunities and understand what they mean in terms of your overall business purpose.
- Know your audience. Make sure you understand the who, what, why, where and how of your customers and the problem you can solve for them. Be observant.
- Accept others as they are. Keep an open mind. Get to know your colleagues, co-workers, bosses, employees and learn how you can best work with them to achieve your goals.
- Know your purpose. When we keep our purpose in mind, you have a roadmap for making decisions in your business or personal life. Take advantage of the clarity it brings.
During the discussion of lesson #4, I mention a number of personality assessments – and I’ve taken all of them. Each brings out different pieces of information about your personality. When I first took the StrengthFinders assessment, I didn’t think much of it. In fact, I put it on the shelf, forgetting about it for several years. Now I realize the top five strengths are representative of my how’s to support my why. My top five are: Woo, Communication, Adaptability, Empathy and Individualization.
If you know your top five, leave them in the comments – and how do you leverage them in your business and personal life?
As always, in pursuit of purpose,
Resources mentioned in the show:
- Kinky Boots Musical synopsis
- Kinky Boots video trailer
- Kinky Boots: The Musical
- Who’s your target audience? Episode 7, The Pursuit of Purpose
- What is customer discovery?
- Why Leaders Eat Last? video with Simon Sinek
- StrengthsFinder
- DISC Assessment
- Myers-Briggs Assesment
