Our stories are the currency of our relationships. Storytelling is a great skill that can transform ordinary encounters into ones that stand out in memory. When it comes to careers, we have infinite opportunities to talk about our work, but most of the time, we don’t put a whole lot of thought into this, so we end up glossing over, playing small, or skipping any attempt to share what we’re up to. However, when we consider how much weight is given to a confident and succinct sharing of our projects and ideas, let alone our purpose, we can see the value in preparing for this.
You are the author describing what has gotten you here, where you are planning to go, and why. CareerTruth provides the tools and exercises to reveal, discover, and document your most important elements and continuously adapt, evolve, and develop to fulfill your purpose.
It is critical that you can tell your story well in various circumstances. Every interaction with people is an opportunity to share your story and enable them to share theirs with you. This is how we build connections and relationships. This is how we network internally and externally. This is how we influence with greater impact. This is how we lead to greater outcomes. The ability for you to share yourself in the right doses opens others up to change, learn, be inspired, and create results.
Within the context of your career, being able to tell the story of you has many applications and mediums to consider. These are the specific features of your account you must have to start.
- Your Purpose Statement
- Your Values
- What is important to you personally – Your Personal Prioritized Goals, like how you want to spend your time, where you want to live, and the importance of financial reward.
- What is important to you professionally – Your Professional Prioritized Goals, like what you feel is most important in this season of your career that ties to your purpose
- The areas of development you are working on right now should align with your Prioritized Goals. For example, I have a goal to get a promotion, so I am learning how to communicate as an executive.
- What are your learnings from the biggest accomplishment and failures of your work? All of us have our biggest successes to call upon. You will need these stories to be ready for all important moments. Make sure you can tell these successes and even some failure stories well. In CareerTruth’s Professional Inventory, we help you think through and document the wins and learn from losses by having you use the STAR method for each moment of importance. CareerTruth uses this to enable you to properly tell the story of you well in any circumstance in detail. Roses and Thorns catalog your smaller-yet-still-significant moments.
- Your Big Idea – what you are working on that excites you today. There is a milestone exercise within CareerTruth to help you with this Big Idea concept, but it is the breakthrough or novel work you are doing to create a big win. This may be part of your day job or beyond the scope, but it shows your enthusiasm and critical thinking about something that still needs to be done.
- What you are doing for others. This may be directly tied to your Purpose Statement or your job, but always have on the top of your mind what specifically you are doing for other people right now.
By knowing yourself well, having confidence in who you are, and yet being humble to the fact that every interaction you have is an opportunity to gain great feedback, you can engage successfully with anyone and likely even help them.
Let’s think about a few circumstances:
- The CEO gets on the elevator with you.
- You are meeting a client for a coffee to discuss business.
- You are at a seminar with people you don’t know.
- You are presenting in a room of work peers.
- You are asked your opinion about a business issue.
- A person who has just failed badly asks you for advice.
- You have been asked to apply for a big promotion.
- You need a job and are going for an interview.
How you use your story or what features of your story you highlight may be different each time. But, always being prepared with the fullness of the Story of You is critical to your success. Imagine you walk into a room and start talking. To have credibility, everyone needs to know where you are coming from and why they should listen or engage with you. Your credibility or reason for interaction comes from your story.
The right story for the moment:
- A chance to share your purpose – which will most likely sound like a more informal “walk around” version of your Purpose Statement. For example, when grabbing coffee with someone new, you could say, “So that you know – a peek into my mind and heart – I consider my purpose in life is to serve people in their business and career. Which is why I’m glad for the time and enjoy connecting like this.”
- You ask for a meeting with someone on your Board of Advisors to discuss your Big Idea. You may begin with who you are and ask if they would be willing to give feedback on the working concept because it ties to your bigger purpose and values.
- The simple question everyone gets in almost every casual engagement in the elevator, at a cocktail party, or in passing at the coffee maker – “How are you? What have you been up to?” You should tell them. People actually do want to connect and know each other. Share your current work in a “Walk Around Number.”
By preparing to share your story well, you never get caught replying with the bland and conversation-ending “Fine!” when asked, “How are you? What are you up to?”
Always consider your audience, respect the other person’s time and place, be clear and concise, and be aware of your delivery. You may or may not have a specific goal for the interaction, but if you do have a goal for a meeting, ensure you apply the right portions of your story to display who you are properly.
Our goal is to give you the tools to be ready. Not only should you be prepared to discuss the essential features of the Story of You, but the Story of You should be consistent in the different applications that display who you are. Your LinkedIn profile. Your Social Media accounts. Your resume. Your work product. While there are many facets of who you are, there is only one you. There should be common themes from your values and purpose in whatever medium you share yourself. Imagine that you are the author describing what has gotten you here, where you plan to go, and why. Being able to communicate your life and hopes means you’re able to explain your mastery, freedom, and legacy well.
Storytelling is a transformative capability in your career and will improve as you practice. Leverage CareerTruth to capture the moments and chapters of your evergreen career to ensure you take advantage of every personal interaction. Our stories are the currency of our relationships. You will be amazed at how people enjoy your story and what you can learn about them from theirs.