Clarity, Courage, Confidence & Power
I recently had the most amazing conversation with a young, talented woman. She had reached out to me for some help. To give you some background, she’s been in her role for not quite 6 months—which I’m guessing is likely her second job outside of university. She shared that she was preparing to attend a company-wide Sales Conference (that’s right, an in-person event!) and wanted to make the most of it in terms of her career development / advancement.
‘What’s your plan?’ I ask her.
‘Well, I have a Before, During and After plan,’ she said.
‘Wow,’ I said, which grossly understated what I was thinking in that moment. A half smile starting to form on my face, I leaned in. ‘Tell me about it.’
‘Before,’ she explained, ‘I plan on sending out an email to all the attendees, introducing myself and inviting all who are interested to join me for breakfast on the first full day—I’ll add my picture to the email so everyone will recognize me.’
Full smile at this point, I ask, ‘What about During?’
‘Well, the first thing I’m going to do During, is get to know those that took me up on my breakfast invitation.’
‘That makes sense, what else?’
‘There’s an evening event that will be attended by all. My plan is to take that opportunity to introduce myself to senior leadership so I can start to form relationships with them.’
She went on to share the finer points of her plan, ‘I’ve noticed in the past that most people tend to have a couple of drinks before they approach the ‘higher ups’—to get a little liquid courage. My plan is to approach them at the start of the evening, before I have to compete for their attention, and have a greater opportunity to make a lasting impression.’
Woah.
‘That’s where I could use your help Shawn…’
‘Yeah, yeah we’ll come back to that—what about After?’ I say. Not very ‘coach-like’ I admit, but at this point I was so impressed by her that I couldn’t help myself!
‘So After,’ she continued, ‘I’ll send a follow up email—and LinkedIn invitation—to all attendees letting them know how much I enjoyed meeting them and inviting them to collaborate moving forward.
I’ll also send similar personal notes to the senior leaders I met and capitalize on any open questions / topics we had as a way to continue a dialogue.’
At this point I’m blown away. What an impressive young woman. What a perfect example of having Clarity, Courage, Confidence and Power.
Clarity – on where she wanted to go next in her career
Courage – to take a step, regardless of her fear or insecurity
Confidence – that she would achieve her goal
Power – understanding that she has it first and foremost…and then using it!
‘That’s a pretty impressive plan,’ I say. ‘How do YOU feel about it?’
‘Solid,’ she said.
‘Solid,’ I echo as that half smile continued to tug at my lips. ‘Me too,’ I say.
‘Now, what was it that you needed my help with…?’
Author’s Note - thank you to this ‘strong, talented woman’ for inspiring me and giving me your permission to share our conversation!
