How to Powerfully Introduce Yourself with Authenticity & Purpose!
Blog: NASSCOM Official Blog
Think, when someone asks you to “introduce yourself” in a webinar, conference, story or a conversation, what do you say?
If you’re like most people, your brain flips the autopilot switch and you start uttering some mix of these “things:” name, job title or college major, certification, and maybe if you’re feeling extra comfortable, a hobby.
Over years, you must have spoken to and heard several of people and when asked “who” they are, their responses are eerily the same. Don’t most people define their thousands and thousands of days of living and working with a list of mundane statistics? Well, the problem is that if they remove their name from the list of facts they could be anyone.
People Are Compelled By Your Authentic Story of Purpose, Not Your Facts.
What you have acquired is not what you are. You are much more. You are what you believe in, your unique experiences, your struggles. You are your story and that story is your value, your one-of-a-kind contribution to the world around you.
How you see and tell your own life stories matters.
As you speak, the brains of the listeners start making key decisions: Is this person of value? Can this person be trusted? Is this story going to bring in new insights?
Damasio’s thesis over quarter of a century ago confirms, The engine of our decision-making is emotion. Storytelling is a powerful way to affect someone’s emotional influence on their decision-making processes – especially the decisions they make about you after the initial connect and your introduction is your first impression to build that connect to continue. People listen and connect to a well-told story – one that include emotion and a rich description of context. When we hear a story, our brains begin taking in sensory information visualises is as if we were in the story. This is one reason why metaphors are such a powerful tool of human storytelling for centuries. And all of this starts with a powerful, connecting introduction.
So when you introduce yourself, describe your stories and activate empathy in others’ brains. This empathy, in turn, taps into people’s emotions which is ultimately how they make decisions about you.
Your introduction is a powerful prelude to your narrative – it is the first instance to connect and leads to building a relationship of trust and mutuality. That’s is why instead of listing your facts when you introduce yourself, you should tell your story.
Here’s how: As part of The Outstanding Speakers’ Bureau #TOSBConversations series, I attended a webinar by Communication Coach & TEDx Ambassador Ajit Sharma on how we see and tell our own life stories and why it matters. Ajit’s powerful framework is simple to understand and embrace to create not just a powerful introduction but craft your authentic story & create your narrative for the future.
Here is a recap for #TOSBconversations Ajit Sharma. I am sure you will find it useful! https://outstandingspeakersbureau.in/Blogs/the-art-of-giving-introductions-or-how-to-tell-your-authentic-story/
My key takeaways:
- Don’t list “what,” describe “why”. Share how you came to do what you do or why you came to care about what you care about. Doing so you’ll activate empathy, the person can see themselves in your story.
- Tell people what you believe in, the problem you exist to solve. This will build that your contribution is your value.
- Do the reflective work. Know why you do what we do, what you want to do next, what inspires you, what makes you happy, satisfied and more… your story has to include past, present and future of YOU.
Then, go out introduce yourself powerfully and tell your unique story. You’ll stand out just for doing so- for living a life of authenticity and purpose
http://https://youtu.be/QqEt9R8gATA
Kriti Makhija
Credit: The Outstanding Speaker’ Bureau and Ajit Sharma
The post How to Powerfully Introduce Yourself with Authenticity & Purpose! appeared first on NASSCOM Community |The Official Community of Indian IT Industry.
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