How the World Sees You - Emerging Nurse Leader

By Rose O. Sherman, EdD, RN, FAAN

A young nurse leader new to her position recently asked me who she should emulate in her role. While there are many great leader role models, what ultimately makes a great leader is the ability to be an authentic person. As I explained to this young leader, you will be at your best when you are able to leverage your unique strengths and talents into your new role. Yet many of us are not always sure about what those unique strengths and talents are that make us different and help us to add value. This is the major premise of an important new book that can be especially helpful for new leaders. How the World Sees You: Discover Your Highest Value Through the Science of Fascination is written by Sally Hogshead who has a strong background in advertising and media. The premise behind her book is that most of us understand how we see the world but are less aware of how the world sees us. If we understand how the world sees us and how we fascinate the world, then we can focus on being more authentic to those unique traits.

Seven Triggers of Fascination

In this book, Hogstead discusses 7 triggers of fascination. Power, Innovation, Trust, Mystique, Alert, Prestige, and Passion that individuals use to influence those around them. We all have preferred triggers. To become more successful, you don’t have to change who you are. You have to become more of who you are. Your personality has a built-in specialty. It’s how you do what you do– and how you do it differently than everyone else. This is your highest value. It’s what makes you fascinating. Tiny differences represent the most valuable part of yourself— your little zone of genius. The book includes a code that gives you access to an online assessment of your triggers of fascination. You receive a thorough report on your “Personality or Leadership Archetype,” the way Hogshead helps individuals identify their leadership branding strengths. The 49 archetypes are depicted on a 7X7 grid, with your Primary Advantage on one axis and your Secondary Advantage on another. Once the reader goes through the assessment exercise, they’re ready to learn how they fit in the individual branding world and how they can create their own personal “brand” to focus their efforts and others’ perceptions. You are provided with coaching tips for your Archetype and given information about your danger zone—situations that put you at a disadvantage, even damaging your reputation.

Example of a Chart Identifying a Person’s Primary Advantage

Clues to Look For	How They Operate	How They Fascinate	Primary Advantage Is…
Expressive, Intuitive, Engaging	Immediately creates connections	Applies natural optimism and energy to instantly build relationships.	Passion
Proactive, Organized, Reliable	Incites immediate and urgent action	Keeps team focused on deadlines, structure, and potential negative consequences	Alert
Understated, Logical, Observant	Reserve communication for best and highest value	Keeps the focus on results, not drama. Carefully selects what they reveal	Mystique
Confident, Goal-Oriented, Decisive	Commands environment	Becomes the opinion of authority	Power
Ambitious, Uncompromising, Respected	Immediately earns respect for results	Uses admiration to raise the value of themselves and their company	Prestige
Creative, Independent, Entrepreneurial	Changes the game	Invents creative solutions that tweak tradition	Innovation
Stable, Dependable, Familiar	Builds loyalty with stability and dependability	Repeats and reinforce patterns	Trust

How this Can Be Helpful to Nurse Leaders

The successful nurse leader is able to influence the behaviors of others. Knowing about yourself and how you can best do this is an important key to being successful. I rarely recommend books in this blog but I do think this one has the potential to help nurse leaders become more authentic by playing to the strengths that others naturally see in them. To become more successful, you do not have to change who you are—you have to become more of who you are.

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