So you think you’ve got the next best thing coming? Do you believe that you’re the best at what you do? Are you the one to get the job done? Should people be listening more to what you have to say? And you’re sure that with your leadership you’ll make the best return on investment for the company?
Sure you do. And a million other people believe they are the chosen ones as well. Yes, and they are just as charming as you too. Yup, they also watch those documentaries and read those books. They too won awards, were nominated, and recognized. What’s that you say? Marathon? Probably twice a year…(gulp).
I know that you believe in you, but that doesn’t mean others will. A lot of us need to get out of our heads, get out of our egos, and quite frankly, get out and get real.
In order to play to win, you first need to know the rules.
If you want the odds stacked in your favor, read on, and if you’d like to rely on your wicked DNA that mama gave you, that’s okay too!
Sell the content of your story by first selling yourself as the cover.
“But Ramy these people already know me!” Sweet! You need this most then.
I recently read a quote at my local bookstore (yes local bookstores still exist) that said if you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, then why do books need covers?
Same thing here applies to you. Despite what anyone else says, you need a cover…and a good cover.
This unique cover of yours needs to be personable, logical and reasonable to your audience. Don’t expect people to just “get you” and understand where you’re coming from. Break things down into simplistic and effective statements despite thinking that it may not be necessary to do so. On the contrary, it provides structure and gives context to your value proposition–whatever that may be.
Okay so you’ve climbed the mountain but to get to what destination exactly?
Learn how to connect the dots of your career and life for others to make sense of it all. And if you’ve done some major career transitions in your life (you most certainly are not alone here) that’s totally okay so long as you can use that to your current competitive advantage.
For example, if you switched from IT to Food & Beverage…why? how? Why are you now selling yourself as a Real Estate Broker? Believe it or not, there is a cover story there that does makes sense, all it needs is refinement, tweaking, and selling.
Ask yourself how did you arrive to this point, theory, conclusion, or association? Not the math or stats behind it, not the algorithm or the business plan, but you as in YOU.
As your peers, we need to follow your thought process and as a result make a decision about how receptive we are going to be with regards to what you say next…you know, the important stuff you wanted to get to?
The quality of your cover is really what opens the door to the receptiveness of your value proposition.
As humans, we love association. It’s easier to keep our thoughts at a surface level when describing how this person is going to fit into the picture and how they are going to make us feel. People easily question the message by looking at the messenger. If I said, Mother Teresa stated “All love is beautiful and all that is beautiful is blind…” I bet we’d all try to make sense of that statement even if it didn’t make any sense. Ah but of course it makes sense, it’s from Mother Teresa! (I made that up by the way)
But Mother Teresa had such an amazing cover story, that we’ll automatically feel warmly receptive to most statements she may have made.
Does that makes sense? I sure hope it does.
Just like the cover of a new book, it’s associations that draw us to purchase, not the content itself.
If the title of a book with the picture above was “How to win big on Wall Street,” I bet you wouldn’t think twice about passing it up for something else. The same can be said about how you present yourself as the cover of the message you want to convey.
So when you’re about to pitch a project or going to interview for a new position or even raise new capital, remember, it’s how well you sell your personal cover that will ever so slightly yet ever so significantly tip the balance of warm receptiveness to your favor.
And for those who early on said “but these people I work with already know me…” I hear you loud and clear. Focus then on asking whether that cover story of yours is aligned with the values at your workplace and is helping your vision for the company’s performance get the results you want.
Alright fantastic stuff. Check! Now what?
Ever heard the phrase: Don’t judge a book by it’s cover? Kidding 😉
Get your cover right first and then make sure the content matches to story.
Good luck and keep me posted!
Ramy Ballout