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Welcome to the new manager 
podcast. 

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I'm your host, Kim nickel. 
Hello and welcome, I'm glad 

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you're here. 
I hope you're doing well. 

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I want to start with a bit of a 
celebration today because I have

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received my first reviews on my 
podcast. 

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Not just the ratings, which I 
love, but folks actually writing

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in their thoughts about why they
listen, why they love this 

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podcast, how it helps them. 
M. 

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And it's great because I know 
you're listening. 

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I know that you don't always 
write in but it's really a cool 

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thing. 
And it's one of the only ways 

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that I get to hear directly from
my listeners is when you leave a

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review. 
So if that was you I want to 

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thank you so much and if you 
hadn't left a review, then 

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please feel invited to do. 
So let me know what you love 

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about the podcast. 
Let me know how it helps you let

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me know. 
Are you listen? 

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It would be really cool to hear 
from you. 

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Okay? 
So for today's episode, I wanted

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to talk with you about Authority
and decision-making. 

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And the reason, these two things
are important in the workplace 

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is because when we have clarity 
about who gets to make what 

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decisions it can reduce 
ambiguity, it can create more. 

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He's like we feel anxious. 
This when we don't know what's 

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going on and we can feel anxious
when we're not sure who who gets

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to make what decision. 
So when there's Clarity around 

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decision-making, who gets to 
make the decision, what is the 

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decision they get to make, when 
do they get to make it? 

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It creates like it reduces 
anxiety, it creates a lot of 

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clarity. 
It makes it easier to get work 

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done and it makes it easier to 
know what to do when there are 

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competing priorities. 
So when there are competing 

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demands for your time and 
attention, and the reason 

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Authority comes into play. 
I have a very specific way, I 

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think about Authority and I 
think of it in its most simple 

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terms as Authority is having the
power to create by declaration. 

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I'll say it one more time. 
Authority is the power to create

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by declaration like the word 
author. 

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Like if you're an author and you
are writing a story, you are 

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creating by declaration, it was 
a dark and stormy night Once 

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Upon a Time, long ago, deep in 
the forest, there lived a tiny 

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Mouse, you just create things 
with the power of declaring 

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them. 
And this is why a lot of us. 

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When we're growing up, we 
encounter a lot. 

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Of friction and conflict around 
Authority around someone 

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declaring. 
This is so this is your bedtime.

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This is what's expected of you. 
This is the grade that you need 

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to get. 
This is how you are supposed to 

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dress. 
This is how you're supposed to 

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be. 
We as we grow up and start to 

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develop our own sense of who we 
are. 

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We often bump up against 
authority figures. 

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People who have the power to 
just declare things that affect 

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us. 
And so very often we have, we 

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have a very complicated 
relationship with the word 

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authority. 
And it might even carry a lot of

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negativity for you or for the 
experiences that you've had with

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people in positions of power, 
who get to just say, this is 

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what, this is, what it is, 
right? 

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So I want to acknowledge that 
like if for you, the word 

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Authority or like an authority 
figure feels like it's really 

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Entangled or enmeshed with some 
really heavy or really complex 

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feelings or just some difficult 
experiences. 

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Totally cool. 
And I want to invite you to just

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look at the front part of that 
word author and see if that 

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helps you to connect with like 
how the word functions and how 

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I'm using it for the purposes of
this podcast because in the 

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workplace, the other place 
Authority comes up is in the 

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sense of who has the power to 
authorize this and to authorize 

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again, it's really I have the 
power to create by declaration 

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by signing my name on this 
contract or by granting approval

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for this project or granting 
approval for this you know, 

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budget request. 
The question of like who has the

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authority who has the power to 
create by declaration. 

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How something will We'll go 
becomes actually very important 

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for understanding how things 
function. 

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How do we work when we don't you
know, when we don't know, kind 

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of who holds that Authority and 
the other element to 

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distinguishes that there's 
formal Authority and informal 

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Authority. 
So sometimes we think of power 

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to make decisions as something 
that lives in the Somebody has 

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or the formal position. 
They have in the organization 

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that that's one part of it. 
Like the person is the manager 

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so they should have the 
authority to approve this 

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request. 
But there's also a more informal

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Authority, which is the ability 
to, you know, create by 

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declaration even without having 
a certain Conceit in the 

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organization or without having a
certain title and sometimes you 

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can think of this as influence, 
like I don't have the direct 

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power to make this decision, but
I can influence the people who 

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do and I can do that by 
understanding their 

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decision-making process by 
presenting my perspective in a 

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compelling Way by showing them, 
why? 

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The Proposal I'm putting 
forward, makes so much sense and

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why it's going to help them, you
know, to reach their goals and 

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the company goes like, you know,
we can, we can think of it in 

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those terms but it's really 
helpful when you're thinking 

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about authority to number one, 
realize that you you have more 

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of it than you think. 
And this sense of being sort of 

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self authorizing, I think is 
really helpful because off. 

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And we're looking to someone in 
a formal position of power to 

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Grant a permission or to get 
their approval and until we have

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that we feel really stuck or 
really powerless like it's out 

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of my hands and I find it to be 
really helpful to continue to 

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ask. 
Well where is my authority in 

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this? 
What do I have the power to 

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create by declaration? 
What do I have the power to 

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authorize myself to give? 
Permission to myself for. 

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And in a situation where there 
is uncertainty around 

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decision-making either who gets 
to make what decision. 

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When sometimes, simply asking 
the question and getting 

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Clarity, taking a pause and 
saying, hey, let's just pause 

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for a moment and clarify, like, 
what is the decision that needs 

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to be made? 
And who is it? 

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That ultimately has the 
authority to To make that 

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decision or who would, who would
we want to have on board in 

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making that decision or an 
implementing that decision? 

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Sometimes a person has the 
formal power to make a decision.

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But the people that execute that
decision and make it real, it's 

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so important to understand how 
to recruit them and bring them 

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on board and have them working 
with what that Vision is so you 

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don't have all of this 
resistance and kind of 

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roadblocks because people either
don't understand or they don't 

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feel respectfully included in 
the communication of what's 

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happening and why like there are
so many reasons why someone 

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makes a decision. 
But it doesn't really come to 

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life in an effective way because
they probably were only 

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leveraging, their formal 
Authority and they didn't 

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realize or think through how can
I and Table. 

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This decision to come to life 
through the work of these other 

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folks. 
How do we need to communicate 

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it? 
How do I need to think about 

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what they need to know, in order
to get on board with us? 

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Like, there's just this whole 
other dimension of strategic 

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thinking that comes into play. 
So, when you are thinking, in 

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terms of authority and 
decision-making. 

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Oh, and especially. 
Okay. 

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So Time is it? 
We have conversations at work 

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that can get very confusing 
because they turn into everyone 

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sharing opinions about things 
and having very strong opinions.

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But you lose sight of what is 
the decision that needs to be 

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made? 
Are we having this conversation 

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because it's helping us get 
closer to a decision because we 

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know the information that, you 
know, we were gathering 

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information or gathering 
perspective. 

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So when you pause and just, Ink 
about. 

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Okay, like, what is this 
conversation for? 

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How, how does this conversation 
connect with a decision making 

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process either? 
What is the decision who gets it

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to make it? 
When does it get to be made? 

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Are there other perspectives 
that are valuable to include? 

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Before we go ahead and make this
decision, like that piece. 

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You want to think through and 
then the Ready is the piece of 

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the like, who is the one that 
gets to authorize this who gets 

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to declare it into being? 
And when you have Clarity on 

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those two pieces, it makes 
things a lot easier and I will 

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tell you you know, every 
organization is organized a 

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little differently. 
But every human we're kind of 

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organized in some very similar 
ways in the sense like we want 

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Clarity, we want to feel 
respected. 

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Stood me want to know what we're
supposed to work on. 

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We want to know, like how to 
make decisions if we have 

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multiple people asking for our 
time and attention like that, 

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part of it kind of works the 
same. 

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So regardless of what you're 
facing and your organization 

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and, you know, within your 
particular team it would be 

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interesting. 
If you notice like how does 

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Authority function, how does 
decision making function and 

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stretch? 
Just start to wear that lens as 

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you go through the week and 
notice in your own work. 

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And in your own life, is there a
place where you can bring more 

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clarity around the decision? 
Can you bring more clarity 

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around? 
Like who has the authority to 

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make that decision? 
Can you create more clarity in 

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yourself and in your own mind 
around? 

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Like, where are you self? 
Erised where do you get to 

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declare like this is the 
decision that I'm making. 

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How do you get to do that for 
yourself? 

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And you know, these topics can 
get really interesting when we 

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examine our own internal 
patterns and fears and 

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resistance because none of us 
showed up here, you know, in the

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Working World Without first 
Living through years of engaging

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with other humans and we all 
have learned different lessons 

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about when it's okay to make 
decisions and who gets to make 

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decisions and sometimes it can 
feel fearful when we are 

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confronted with a decision that 
we're afraid to be wrong about 

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when we're afraid will 
disappoint people or simply when

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you're, you know, just feeling 
like the person who is your 

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manager, likes it. 
Is there the manager? 

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Shouldn't they want? 
Shouldn't it be the ones with 

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Clarity around decision-making? 
They don't always have Clarity 

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around decision-making because 
they are also human and 

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sometimes they also got caught 
up in all the human stuff. 

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So that is all I wanted to share
with you today. 

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These two concepts around 
Authority and decision-making 

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around acknowledging. 
And just being curious about 

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where is this power to create by
declaration? 

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In the same way that you would, 
as an author in the same way 

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that you authorize something, 
and maybe even in the same way, 

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you think about authenticity, 
you know, like, authenticity is 

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the sense of I get to declare, 
like, I have the power to create

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by declaration, like, this is 
who I am. 

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This is what I'm about. 
And that's my authentic self. 

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Like I'm just declaring this to 
you, they all kind of fit 

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together in a way that I think 
is quite interesting when we 

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start to unpack it and look at 
the layers, so notice how those 

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show up in your life and look 
for opportunities to bring more 

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clarity to bring more curiosity 
and to bring a lot more kindness

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to yourself and to the other 
humans that you work with. 

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See you next time when you're 
more effective at work, you're 

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happier in your life and when 
you're happier in your life, 

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you're more effective. 
At work, I can help go to my 

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website. 
Kim nickel.com and sign up for a

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00:14:48,908 --> 00:14:51,900
coaching consult, it can get 
better.