Krav Maga training taught me about ‘Role Models’
Last year, in July 2019, I finally hit a milestone at Microsoft that I was striving for, and that was to present at our internal conference known as Microsoft Ready. The conference takes place twice a year, roughly 30000 employees from all over the globe converge for a week of learning. The instructors are other employees who are considered experts in the subject they are presenting. Basically, you better know the subject you are presenting very well.
It was a great experience because it took 8 years for me to build the knowledge and confidence to get accepted and deliver a great presentation. I partnered with another colleague who already had experience, she had delivered previously, so that was a big help for me. Our session was well received, I felt good at the end.
Later that night, one of the attendees came up to me, asked to take a photo and then says “You are my role model, I want to do what you do.” To summarize, he was referring to the community work that I do as well as the fact that I had just successfully presented at this event. We are also both of Mexican descent so that was another motivating factor of his comment.
I was very flattered and thanked him for the comment, but for some reason, the teachings of my Krav Maga instructor popped in my head.
While working on punching combinations during class I was hitting the boxing mitts, he stops me and says. “”You need to aim THROUGH the target.” He went on to explain I wasn’t putting the full power into my punches because I was supposed to aim as if I am hitting a foot behind the target.
It’s the same thing I recommend for having a role model. It is ok and a good practice to look up to someone who has already accomplished something that you want to do, but strive to do better. And the way to do that is:
read about or talk to them about HOW they achieved the accomplishment
read about or ask them what they would have done differently
do it better
It never hurt anyone striving to do better than their predecessor.