Kat Cole

By the age of 26, I was an executive in a very large company.

And while I had fantastic supervisors and managers,

who helped me through my career, I lacked some of that outside-in perspective, the mentoring, the things that could help stretch me beyond my day-to-day job.

So I started developing some self-coaching practices.

And one day, I heard from a restaurant consultant that you should sometimes imagine someone else in your role to help motivate you to take action.

So I started doing that, and it helped.

So I started thinking about people I admired, someone specific.

And there was something about thinking of someone I admired that brought this element of additional capabilities and excellence.

It also made me feel a little accountable to act on whatever came to mind.

And these practices evolved into, today, what is the hotshot rule.

The hotshot rule is simply this.

It is the act, regularly, of thinking about my role, everything I have, the challenges, the opportunities,

envisioning someone I admire in my role, asking myself what's one thing that person I admire would do differently to make that situation better, acting on it within 24 hours, and then that's not the last step, telling those involved once things get put in motion.

I say something like, hey, I could have or should have done this thing, but I didn't, and now we are.

And so let's practice it.

So I think first of my role as a mother.

I think of how can I be a better mom.

I think of my role as daughter.

I think of how can I be a better daughter, and I envision someone I admire.

But often, and we're here to talk about work, I think about my professional role.