I spoke at a Home Depot event recently. A woman, Lori, had reached out to me in advance of the event hopeful that we could meet to discuss her career and her goals. We missed each other at the event, however, we did connect recently at my office. She was diligent and impressive in all her communication to me so I looked forward to meeting with her.
Needless to say, she embraced the meeting. A week in advance of our meeting she sent me a power point about ideas, questions, insights about her that she wanted to discuss in our 30 minute meeting. She based the format of the power point off my book. Some of the points were great, some weren't necessarily relevant, but the thinking was what impressed me. But, what impressed me even more was the stories she used to illustrate her work ethic, her perseverance, her diligence, her ability to build relationships and her background.
She told me stories about queens she met in other countries due to her perseverance married with class - respectful confidence - I like to call it. She told me stories about relationships she built with executives (high high level executives - like CEO's) at Home Depot in light of her awareness and appropriate eagerness to expand her reach.
For example, Lori drove by a plot of land and noticed a sign that started that Bernie Marcus, CEO/Founder of HD, was using the land to build a building for a charity he is involved with. She works in the IT department of HD and so she reached out to Mr. Marcus offering her services to help create a IT platform for the building in her off time time. "Mr. Marcus, hello, my name is Lori P. and I work at The Home Depot. I noticed a sign today about the building you are building for (xyz charity) and I wanted you to know I would be happy to volunteer my time in an effort to help from an IT perspective - and any other for that matter." Shortly after she received an appreciative reply from Mr. Marcus thanking her and taking her up on her offer. You are thinking - sure, clever - a kiss ass. But, her sincere style, follow up, delivery and approach brings clarity to the fact that her efforts were sincere and through that effort a relationship was built.
In our meeting, of just an hour at most, she told me this and other stories that helped bring to life her style, her trust, her relationships, and her sincerity. But, it all came to life via stories. So, my message to you tonight is use stories to illustrate yourself effectively. Go for it!
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