Jia Jiang
Best-Selling Author; Blogger; Entrepreneur
Years after Jia Jiang began his career in the corporate world, he became an entrepreneur and discovered everyone’s biggest fear: rejection. To conquer his fear, Jiang embarked on a journey and discovered a world where people are much kinder than we imagine. The best-selling author of Rejection Proof, owner of Rejection Therapy and CEO of Wuju Learning, Jiang teaches people and trains organizations to become fearless through rejection training.
Jia Jiang, entrepreneur and owner of Rejection Therapy and author of Rejection Proof shares insights to leaders about how rejection can be their greatest gift in leadership. Rejection is something all leaders fear, but Jia shares how rejection can actually lead to our growth and achievement of our biggest dreams.
Reflecting on Rejection
Jia shares a life-marking moment when he was six years old and how that rejection experience allowed insecurity and fear to negatively influence his life. Recall a time you personally experienced rejection. How did that feel? What story did you begin to believe because of that rejection?
How has that rejection experience influenced your leadership positively or negatively?
Jia began his journey to overcome rejection by setting six months’ worth of rejection goals. Consider trying Jia’s rejection therapy over the next 6 months, either by yourself or with a team. Below, write down some of the ways you might try to get rejected. Make note of the learnings you had with each rejection (for teams: come together to debrief your experiences and what you learned).
Embrace Rejection
Rejection is a numbers game. Jia shares the reality that if you go through enough no’s you eventually get a yes. Thinking about the last time you continued to pursue a dream or an idea that you felt strongly about in the face of rejection, how many no’s did you have to overcome to reach that goal?
How might you begin to reframe rejection as playing a numbers game to discover who will say yes?
Rejection is an opinion.
Rejection actually helps you discover the preferences of others. As you go through your next week, with each rejection you encounter, make a note below of what you learn about the opinions of others.
Rejection is growth.
Connection, camaraderie, and unity are some of the outcomes of a shared rejection experience. In what ways has shared rejection positively impacted the culture of your team or organization?
How might your team be able to experience rejection together so you can all gain the benefits that rejection can teach?
ACT
Rejection is a universal experience when embraced, can lead to our growth and achievement of our biggest dreams. What ONE action can you apply the next time you experience rejection?