Every time someone asks you “who are you”, “what do you do”, “tell me about yourself” is an opportunity to introduce yourself the way YOU want.
Have you ever put real thought behind your response? Do you have a go-to answer? I’m almost certain you don’t have one and probably you improvise the answer every time.
That’s not a bad thing. But you do miss an opportunity to steer the other’s person perception of you towards where you want to. You miss the opportunity to own your own narrative.
Why is this important? Because people WILL create a perception of you whether you want it or not. So why not do something about it? Nudge it a bit to your favour.
So, where do I start to create my own narrative?
Thanks for asking. Here we go… (3’ min read)
Draw your path (literally)
Take a piece of paper.
Create an horizontal line (your x axis).
Now create a vertical line at the left side start of your horizontal line (your y axis).
Your x axis represents time - years of your life.
Your y axis represents your milestones in life - no matter what they represent for you. Personal or work. Good or bad.
Now draw a dot of each milestone on a timeline. The dot should be above the x axis if it was a positive or proud experience. Below the axis if it was a failure or challenging time.
Do it. No thinking. Instinctively. Put everything that comes to mind first down on paper.
Here’s what mine looks like for my adult work life (done back in 2023):
My adult work life (2023 version)
You can always start from earlier life. For example, if you were moving countries with your family and that shaped you, or suffered a loss which shaped your mindset, etc.
This map exercise is inspired by the TellYourStory Google workshop for personal branding. Giving credit where is due.
Build your story
Set your phone camera on selfie mode, put it against your laptop and press record.
Tell your story out loud as you look at your map.
Stop the recording.
How long did it take you? I bet quite a while.
First time I did this exercise it took me 7’. I was speaking for 7 minutes straight. I was shocked. As you can imagine no-one will want to sustain through this when they ask me “what do you do”. Even if they do sit through it, they’ll probably think I’m a self absorbed arrogant person lacking any listening skill. (See about the perceptions that cripple in outside of your control? I might be that person, but you don’t need to know yet!)
This is why you have to think of the below scenario:
You are stuck in an elevator with your boss’ boss going from ground floor to floor 8.
What do you say?
Retry the story. Get the phone recording out.
Aim for 2 minutes. Then, for one minute.
Adapt your story
To build a more effective story, you need to have a person to deliver it to in mind.
What do you want them to know about you when you first meet? What do you want them to feel?
Your manager - maybe your struggles in life that shaped your character and how you like to work
Your boss’ boss - your goals for the future and how your experience can set you up
An interviewer - your superpowers up front, position yourself strongly (you’ll get to the hard skills later on in your questions)
A Tinder date - how fun and successful you are
Sharing some of my own examples for inspiration:
Context: New job opportunity in consulting / leadership roles.
Audience: Hiring manager.
Doubling down on: my diverse skills gained from my pivots; from digital marketing, to go-to-market strategy, to sales, to facilitating Board level strategy sessions. My leadership skills and learnings from my 1st year failures of being a manager.
Context: Coaching field networking.
Audience: Other coaches and potential clients.
Doubling down on: how burnout shaped my mindset which I now see as a gift (not a negative experience), how it helped me discover coaching, what’s my experience so far and aspirations for the future. Ask for specifics to help me in this journey.
Retry the story from each angle you care about.
Practice with a partner
Share your elevator pitch with someone who knows you but not THAT well.
Reflect. Ask them the following questions:
What do you remember from my story?
How did it make you feel? Ie leaving a pessimistic or uplifting taste, admiring you for xyz, feeling surprised by xyz.
What did I do well / could do better next time?
Here’s my catchy 3R methodology applied for shaping your personal narrative:
Reflect: Draw your map and tell your story out loud.
Rethink: How can you incorporate your practice partner’s feedback? How can you adapt it for each audience?
Renew: Practice the new version for each audience. Master it at 1’. Own it.
Get in touch
I just played out all my SYON (aka Shape Your Own Narrative) workshop. Feel free to take it to your teams as a team exercise. You’re welcome.
Or feel free to hit reply and ask me to host this for your team.
Thank you for reading all the way through!
Stay curious. Stay adaptive.
Angeliki x