This is the ‘Win with Stories’ newsletter. It’s focused on helping founders, entrepreneurs and business owners. Every week I send an email with a business or life message wrapped in a short story. I also share one actionable tip to help you enhance your business storytelling skills.
Want to read this email in browser or share this with someone? Click here.
‘Sir, you cannot board this flight…’
‘Sir, you cannot board this flight. You will be deported from Paris if you do.’
My jaw dropped to my feet at the Mumbai airport.
It was my first international flight, and it was all the way to Brazil.
I had bought a ticket through a travel agent.
This was 2008, much before everything went digital, and I had a connecting flight from Paris to Rio.
I hadn’t got a transit visa for Paris, as the travel agent had told me it wasn’t required.
I somehow managed to mumble, “I will be back tomorrow night with the visa.”
The airline rep mockingly replied, “In my twenty years, I have not seen anyone get the visa so fast. Give it a week or two.”
I have to confess I cried while walking away from the check-in counter.
This was a dream trip, a dear friend was waiting for me in Rio since many days, and the start was nothing but a disaster.
But it was also the first time that I felt the sheer intensity of focus.
From that moment on, all that mattered was to get on the same flight next night.
Next morning, something interesting started happening.
Mr. Nadir Godrej had been awarded the honorary citizenship of France, and I was the PR representative for the Godrej group.
My client colleague, Usha Iyer, at Godrej knew folks at the French embassy well.
She volunteered to help.
She asked me to station myself outside the French consulate. I obediently did that through the day.
Thanks to she pulling in her connections, in the evening I was waiting to get my passport stamped.
I got my Schengen visa at 5pm, and the flight was scheduled for midnight.
I managed to get on the flight, even as the counter reps cheered me on.
On crossing immigration, I bumped into the airline rep from the previous night.
It was his jaw that dropped this time.
“Are you a minister’s son or something?”, he asked.
I replied, “It’s not destiny but desire that precedes victory.”
And I boarded the flight with a smile.
One communication tip for today:
Personal stories are powerful.
Every time I have narrated this story, I’ve seen eyes lighting up. A friend said, “This should be a movie!” While others exclain, ”Wow! We didn’t know this about you.”
But personal stories go beyond vanity.
I am a firm believer that people work for people and not organisations. And a lot of time, the responsibility of building a connection with colleagues and team-members lies with the leader or team manager.
So how do you build a connection?
By narrating interesting stories from your life that are interesting, inspiring or revealing. That is how people get to know you better, and trust is formed.
Trust is one of the reasons why people invest time, effort or even money with each other.
Find some time to spot, structure and narrate stories from your life. And watch how they make your relationships at work stronger.
Have any questions about this? Feel free to drop a question as a reply to this mail.
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.
If you received this email from someone, and like what you read, then you need to hit this link
