Making an Impactful Introduction
Mel Stanley
Speaker, part-time Coach and Author of “Success without Compromise. Empowering the next generation of female leaders to achieve success on their terms”
Hello,
You’re back, excellent!
Welcome to edition 3 of “No-one puts Baby in a Corner”?
The feature content for this month’s missive is “How to make an Impactful Introduction” aka an Elevator Pitch which might make the whole thing sound very salesy but make no mistake, when you introduce yourself you want to present your best self
It is a pitch. You are pitching yourself. You don’t want your audience to glaze over and leave the conversation thinking, "jeez that’s time I’ll never get back"
How could we forget the first time Baby meets Johnny face to face? "I carried a Watermelon" is a memorable quote and we laugh at it, but in one sentence Baby loses her credibility in front of Johnny. The exact thing she didn't want to happen
And we’ve all been there. How many of us fluff our intro when put on the spot or feel slightly intimidated? I know I have!
As a business professional being able to clearly articulate what it is you uniquely bring to the party makes for a far more interesting introduction but critically a memorable first impression for all the RIGHT reasons
That way you set yourself up for success from the get go and here's how
Emotional Intelligence anyone?
Eye roll of the month goes to Kenny Shiels the Northern Ireland Women’s football coach who claimed ‘……women are more emotional than men. So they take a goal going in, not very well”
Nothing to do with his coaching prowess (or lack of it) then?
He’s a women’s team coach for crying out loud. He should know better. And I mean KNOW better. This is an ignorant, sexist comment, which only serves to illustrate his low emotional intelligence…..oh the irony
Why do high-profile men make these comments only to have to issue a grovelling apology when the error of their words is made clear? Too late for an apology Kenny, offence has already been taken!
The underlying suggestion is that you have to be a robot to be a successful football. player….Kenny clearly wasn’t around when Gazza balled his eyes out on live TV. I’m not a follower but football is an emotive sport, it’s tribal, try telling those on the terraces to keep a lid on it!
In the broader context, this ‘too emotional’ label is incredibly damaging. It’s often followed up with ‘to lead’ and is one of the fallacies peddled by fuckwit men like Shiels to keep women from the top jobs. Emotions = Weakness.
Showing emotion, being vulnerable, having empathy, giving someone a hug deepens connections. It’s a leadership quality not a weakness. And it’s a world away from bursting into tears on the office floor…..though maybe some of you have done that too but it still isn’t an indication of your inability to lead, it’s what makes you human
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I am reminded of one here occasion where I walked out of a meeting at BT choking back the tears, having been publicly humiliated by a bullying boss (if you were in central Marketing in 2006 you'll know who I mean) I didn’t feel weak. I was embarrassed, yes, but they were angry tears, I wanted to kill the bastard not give in
New for June "Personal Brand MasterClass" Group course
I spent the last 2 weeks posting about the 10 things which prevent women getting promoted into leadership roles
The posts were so well received I created a document, so they are all in one place. You’ll find this as a?FREE?download in the Features section of my LinkedIn profile
OR you can join me in June, when I bring it all together in a Personal Brand Masterclass for emerging and new female leaders
The programme is designed to help those who want to reposition themselves for a leadership role. For example you might be considered ' a safe pair of hands' and 'brilliant at your job' as a Manager but that isn't going to get you promoted. If you want to get past the competency monikers then you have showcase your wider abilities, build your network, boost your confidence and communication skills and develop presence
The course will show you how to do just that.
You’ll find the full details at the website above but the summary overview looks like this
The Introductory sessions will start the first week of June with a view to the first Group Coaching session taking place Wednesday June 8th over lunchtime
But you want to know the cost, of course you do!
It’s ￡397 BUT there is a ￡50 discount for early registrants up until May 8th
Thats ￡347 for 6 hours of coaching before you throw in the coursework assignments and bonus content
Places are limited to the first 10 sign ups so if you are interested don’t hang around
You can sign up on the site to book your place or if you have any questions email me?[email protected]
Finally. I have a favour to ask
If you enjoy reading the newsletter please share it with other female colleagues and friends. I’m not sure how long the Dirty Dancing parallels can keep going but there are a few more yet to come and new subscribers have access to all the previous editions
Founder, TheThoughtfulGiraffe ~ Career and College Counselling | Partner, 240INC ~ Writing and Research
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