Helping leaders motivate their people to a higher level of performance through strong human relations, team building, and goal achieving. This is the seven Minute Leadership Podcast with your host Paul Fellovledo.
Hello everyone, and welcome to the seven Minute Leadership Podcast. It's episode three sixty three. And have you seen the motivational social media post by that person that says a bottle of water costs one dollar at the grocery store, The same bottle is two dollars at the gym if you go through TSA, it's now four dollars at the airport, and as soon as you strap into seat twenty two B on the airplane, that same bottle of water is seven dollars, same water, same content, same plastic bottle. So
what changed the location? In my friends, is one of the simplest realist leadership lessons that you'll ever hear. And here's my take on it. It's not about the water, It's about where the water is sitting. That seven dollars price tag isn't because the water suddenly became special. It's because the environment recognized the value it holds in that moment, in that place. As a leader, a professional, a person
trying to rise. It's time you take the same logic and apply it to yourself, because too many of you are doubting your worth based on the opinions of people who are standing in the wrong section of the store, people who don't have the capacity, experience, or mindset to recognize what you bring to the table. And you're sitting there questioning your value, your path, your future, all because you're surrounded by people who can't see your shine. Let me be blunt. Maybe it isn't you. Maybe it's just
your shelf. Let that sink in for a minute. Maybe it's just the shelf that you're sitting on. If you're in a place where your ideas get dismissed, if you're in a room where you're constantly overlooked, if you're in a workplace where your ambition is labeled as too much, then you're standing in the wrong place. You're sitting on the dollar shelf when you belong on the premium rack. You don't need to water yourself down. You don't need to sheut louder or beg for recognition. You just need
to move on. Leadership is knowing when to stay and when to go, when to fight for your place and when to build a new table altogether, because not everyone is built to see your value and that's not your fault, that's on them, But staying in that environment that's on you. So if we go a layer deeper. We've all heard phrases like know you're worth and don't settle, But here's my leadership upgrade to that. Put yourself in environments that
activate your value. Just like the bottle of water gets priced higher at the airport because of scarcity and convenience, your unique skills, mindset and hustle might be undervalued in your current role because it's simply the wrong audience. You might be the most loyal person in a disloyal environment, the most innovative thinker on a team that fears change, the hardest worker in a place that rewards politics over productivity. You were the same you, but the setting is suppressing
your price tag. And here's where most people get stuck. They try to convince the gem to start charging airport prices. They spend years trying to explain their value to people who don't have the capacity to understand it. That's the leadership trap. You can't drag people into vision and you can't force a culture to see something it refuses to look for. So what do you do. You move, You find the right setting, You switch shelves, and when you do,
here's what happens. You start getting paid what you're worth. Your voice carries weight, your passion is seen as a strength, not a nuisance, and you finally breathe because you're no longer swimming upstream in an environment that's allergic to growth. This isn't about chasing money or recognition. It's about alignment, finding the space that was built for your kind of leadership, your kind of fire, your kind of drive. And here's the most powerful part. When you level up your environment,
your confidence catches up. You stop questioning yourself, you stop shrinking, you stop playing small. You finally realize I was never the problem. I was just on the wrong shelf. So here's your leadership challenged today. Look around, Look close. Are you in the right room? Is your leadership being seen? Is your value being respected? Or are you still the one dollar bottle of water waiting for someone to come along and realize that you're worth more? Stop waiting. Move
because sometimes you have to leave to level up. And remember, your price tag doesn't define your worth. Your environment does This has been this seven minute leadership podcast, and I thank you for listening.
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