Throughout 18 years of business coaching, I’ve often observed how a person’s relationship with themselves drives their behaviour towards clients, colleagues and peers. For example, when someone goes for an interview (or a first meeting), what is their intention? Are they trying to impress, or are they trying to explore? Are they interested in making a good impression, or in how they might bring value to the role? Like the proverbial iceberg, self-worth is the 80% below the waterline, driving a multitude of behaviours above the waterline.
Then, in the years 2015-16, I got a personal lesson in self-worth. One after the other, I was hit by a series of personal losses (end of a relationship, project-failure, Brexit and its consequences, the death of my mother) and suddenly I was that person self-preoccupied with the “Who-the-hell-am-I” question. Though I might have intellectually understood the difference between conditional self-esteem and intrinsic self-worth, I found I was certainly not living it.
The Self-Worth Safari grew out of my own struggles and the subsequent discovery that I was not alone. It has turned into the adventure of a lifetime: the realisation that no matter what is happening around me, I can always be a friend to myself. Having piloted this with c. 120 people, we see the power of self-worth to transform careers, sales, confidence as well as a host of personal applications: from self-care to sense of purpose.
