Rejections.

Rejections.

Rejections for everyone are heartbreakers. They deflate you & at times define you.

Imagine you applied for a job and didn't get through but in a couple of stances you would get a job or get promoted and life would move on... At least for most of us (unless you are in sales!)

Now imagine, you are an entrepreneur. You launch a new product, customers would reject you. You go to the supply chain, vendors would reject you. You want to raise capital for your business, investors would reject. You want an A+ team, and even potential employees - the Gen Z would nowadays reject.

Life as an entrepreneur is full of rejections. One day I was speaking to a friend, and she mentioned that she has applied for a job but didn't make it through the final round and how she felt dejected. And in this conversation, I mentioned to her how a couple of potential projects had fallen through (yes, a couple!) and especially now when I am consulting viz a viz when I was leading my own brands.

Leading my brands, I was in my own space though all the above rejections were still there, the comfort of my space was there viz a viz consulting, which is a more people-first job, and that has never been natural for me.

And only in this conversation, did I realize how rejections are a big part of our lives as leaders. We reject (sometimes!) and get rejected at such a pace in our lives that we grow resilient & thick skin towards rejections. And after a point, it doesn't even matter.

An entrepreneur has fallen so many times in her life that it's almost intuitive (like a child) to quickly brace yourself & stand and run again. And just like kids, it keeps happening with us in a loop.

But what is it that leaders do differently in case of adversities?

For a couple of things that come to my mind,

• We try new things
• We don't get stuck with failures
• We know there is always a Plan B, maybe not on paper & not even in mind. But maybe in our Gut & WE KNOW IT because we know giving up isn't an option.

• and we know it's okay to have a couple of rejections but we will find our way.

PS: There is a reason why entrepreneurs are the largest senders of Cold emails.