I liked your story better when I thought it was almost over ...

A number of years ago, I had the privilege of leading an extraordinary group of people … in addition to working incredibly hard and delivering amazing results, the group had an amazing sense of humour—they were fun! The group was full of smart/funny folks and we had a tradition of memorializing clever sayings that came up during our travels—some were authored by the group, some were shamelessly copied, all were appreciated. 

When I left the group, they presented me with a bound hardcover book that captured everyone’s favourites and one of them was, “I liked your story better when I thought it was almost over … “. This was a particular favourite of the team and while there is a risk that that particular line could be delivered in a ‘cutting’ way, it never was … instead it was always delivered with a smile and as a gentle admonishment & warning. The admonishment that we needed to relentlessly work hard to crisp up our story/message and ensure that we crafted a goldilocks message (not too little, not too much, just enough). 

Working through my career transition, I’m enjoying spending time thinking about where I intend to grow my career and how best to share my story with others. As I develop my message/story, I continue to benefit from my former colleagues’ wise counsel to run it through the ‘goldilocks’ filter, after all, I want to ensure that they continue to ‘like my story better …’.