Reading This Email Made Me Cry

I don't expect you to read this in its entirety, but this was emotional.

Running a start-up like communications company, I am often juggling a long list of to-dos.

But a few weeks ago, I opened my inbox and reading this email hit me like a ton of bricks. I literally started crying!

I won't say who this is from for anonymity's sake, and I don't expect folks to read the whole thing. But, the daily grind of running and creating valuable communications content is to truly make this kind of impact.

For the outstanding Soulcast Media Membership member who wrote this, now you know my response. I appreciate you being a part of our Soulcast Media communications community!

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Good evening Jessica,

Now that I'm getting back into the swing of things from holiday vacations, I just wanted to share some feedback with you about your Soulcast membership and coaching sessions. I was thinking about this before I left the office in mid-December but now that I have time to sit down and think about it, I thought I'd share.

So during my end-of-year review with my manager, I heard something that I had never heard before in my career. My manager commented that one of my strengths that she found was my presentation and speaking abilities while leading meetings.

Let me rewrite this again since I'm having difficulty believing this myself.

She said my strong point is my presentation abilities during the meetings I've been leading with managers and executives. Needless to say, I was a bit surprised. In a good way. But I need to give credit where credit is due. I'm basically writing to say "Thank you". 

I have to think back and reflect on what was it that changed the way I was conducting meetings before I signed up for your membership. I think the greatest benefit I've taken from your coaching sessions is having someone that understands the struggles of an introvert and acknowledging that it's not always the easiest thing to overcome the teachings of your cultural background. I too grew up in a culture (Hispanic) that emphasized modesty, collaboration, and keeping your head down and working. But, as you've pointed out before, those are not necessarily the best tips when you're trying to succeed at the office. I've read books and taken courses about how to overcome these mental barriers. But I've never heard the acknowledgment and taken the advice from someone that I related with. I think that was the key.

So I think that after hearing this from your coaching sessions and courses, I took it to heart and simply applied some of those 'gold nugget' tips that I think were key and the ones that I could use for immediate effect. I remember seeing one of your videos that described how you need to prepare for meetings beforehand to anticipate any questions that you are not taken by surprise when they do come up in meetings. I also tried to integrate your tip on posing face gestures to make it appear you are thinking deeply about what the question you were asked was, but instead use it to buy time to collect yourself and build your response. Basically, I prepped before meetings to build the impression that I had control of everything that was discussed. Even though I may not have known all the answers. I think the impression that I gave though, was what the meeting participants were looking for. I believe my meetings now reflect preparation and control that many other meetings simply don't have. It's amazing how a little prep work ahead of time makes all the difference.

One other thing that has also helped is your recommendation that if you want to sound more authoritative and in control, answer questions directly and keep them short. This is something that I now see I have struggled with for a while. I tend to answer questions with long-winded answers or just add on details when I don't need to when I don't know the answer. Instead, now I present my content directly, to the point, and keep it as short as possible. In fact, that was something that my manager pointed out specifically. She likes that I keep my presentation direct and don't get derailed by long discussions that don't necessarily add business value to attendees. This was especially important during my presentation for requesting $5 million for funding on two technology projects. My manager commented that she particularly liked how I kept the request for funding direct, while highlighting the important high points of the request. Between you and me, it was simply that I took time to prepare for questions beforehand and portrayed that confidence in my request.

The more I think about it, the more I realize how much I've been integrating your teachings into my everyday work.

I think having these lessons coming from someone that has the credibility and can relate with has helped me embrace the advice. I've also enjoyed the change of tempo from one topic to another. For example, the session with Ward Sexton was pretty amazing and not something I would have expected from your coaching sessions. But again, this change of pace and different perspectives and aspects of communication keep them very engaging.

Anyway, I just wanted to write this to let you know how your membership has been helping me and perhaps ways that it could help others. I'm just going to keep on integrating the lessons I'm learning and see how far I can ride this!

Thank you so much Jessica.

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