This is the ‘Win with Stories’ newsletter. It’s focused on helping founders and executives navigate leadership, sales, PR and fund-raising. Every week I send an email with a career or communication message wrapped in a short story. I also share one or a few actionable tips to help you achieve your career and business goals.
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More Of Us Should Use This Open Secret To Progress
Anirvachan and I are known to each other through a close friend. His company Spardha School of Music does super interesting work.
They use music as a method to create engagement amongst employees, build teams and also prepare them to achieve extraordinary results.
As most of you know, my company works with similar set of clients by coaching and training corporate employees and executives on using the power of stories in sales, fund-raising, leadership and PR.
Anir’s Spardha School of Music and my Story Co are natural partners. We can always work together, pass client leads to each other and pitch each other’s services to our direct client connects.
But was this happening?
NO.
Despite having known each other for a year, we never even got on a call to discuss possible collaborations.
Things changed when Anir visited BNI(Business Networking International) Mysore’s annual members day. Though I didn’t meet him even then, one of my fellow members and friend happened to.
BNI recommends you conduct meetings with other members who target similar clients. In fact, BNI also scores you on this habit among other things. So I felt it was finally time for Anir and me to talk.
Last week we spent close to 75 minutes talking to each other. The meeting was fun. I started admiring Anir and team’s work in an instant. He, too, spotted value in The Story Co’s work.
By the end of the meeting, we committed to connect each other with five relevant contacts. Both of us know this is the beginning, we will keep building this partnership as weeks and months pass by.
You might be wondering, what is the point of this story. And you are right in doing so.
The point is a structured community helped us achieve, where friendship could not.
And that to me is the open secret to progress.
Whether it’s business, communication, sports or self-help; community is a faster way of achieving your goals.
But do enough of us make use of these platforms? Well, not really.
So don’t be that guy. If you’ve been wanting to make progress on some aspect of your life, find a good community focused on it and get started.
One communication tip for today:
I can tell you how to look for the right community, and how they help. But that’s not the point of this newsletter.
What I’d rather help you with is how to network within communities, and that too how to conduct the first interaction.
One of BNI’s core values is called ‘Giver’s Gain’. I apply the same to networking interactions:
- Be interested in the other person: rather than focusing on introducing yourself and what you do, you should want to know what the other person does and how they add value
- Ask questions: try to genuinely understand their work, career and/or business
- Offer to help: Always think of how you can help the other person by helping them connect with relevant people or by sharing tips or suggestions on a topic they are seeking help with.
This is something I have tried at every conference in the last two years, and the results are always good. When you listen with intent and ask questions, the other person is bound to want to know more about you and your work.
This is simply the ‘reciprocal effect’ in play. So the next time you are out to network, don’t think about what you want.
Focus on what you can give instead(and let me know how it goes).
Hope this helps.
A quick reminder on how I can help you:
- If you are a business leader or a founder of a mature startup wanting to sharpen your story, storytelling and leadership skills or even a speech or presentation, then I can help. My coaching programs like ‘Story-flection’, ‘Ace Linkedin with Stories’ and ‘Inspiring Leader’ have helped CXOs and senior executives power their growth. The first 30-minute call is on me, write to me if you’d like to book my time
- If you are a corporate, MSME or late-stage startup looking to enhance leadership, communication, marketing and sales skills in your organisation, then I can help. My signature programs like ‘Lead with Stories’, ‘Movie-like Data Presentations’ and ‘Story punch for marketing and sales’ have helped many corporates and agencies multiply their success
- I am also available for keynotes, webinars and team-building sessions that incorporate storytelling.
That’s it from me today. Hope you found this newsletter useful 🙂
Tell me one thing that will make you share this newsletter with friends and colleagues 🙂
If it’s already share-worthy, then please forward this to your network right away. Let’s all win with stories.
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