It all began when I started in sales, where you need to master the art of communication, rapport and networking. However, the icky, and manipulative selling style we were all trained in, didn’t work for me.
I realized very early on that I was going to have to take ‘the road less travelled’ and cop some flack for that. What I learned way back then is that people matter. Not just in business but in life. They are a key determiner of our success, they enrich the journey, they provide support and comfort. If we spend time nurturing those relationships like seeds, they grow.
I learned to spend time with people even when it was not about a sale and that the rewards will come later. And that sometimes a relationship is about more than just dollars. Sometimes, the value comes in a beautiful connection; by being able to help someone, a lesson, learning, teaching for you or them. Every connection is a beautiful gift.
After leaving real estate and becoming a speaker, I transitioned those skills from connecting one on one, to connecting to many and I learned the power of connecting on a whole other level. The grandfather of motivational speaking, Zig Ziglar was a master at understanding the power of connection.
My final piece in my patchwork quilt came last year as I was becoming an interviewer for my new talk show which launches March 1st, 2013.
That is when I truly brought all of those patchwork pieces together. As I sat there in the audience about to watch Jay Leno, I thought to myself–How will I become a talk show host? I realized when he came on, that he was really just a motivational speaker on a stage and there just happened to be a camera in the room. Well, I had plenty of pieces in my quilt as a speaker to help me do that.
Becoming an interviewer taught me more about connecting than perhaps any of my other roles. After my first day shooting, where I interviewed a woman who had been abused in a domestic violence situation, I cried as it was the most incredible experience. The only way I can describe it is that I got to hold someones heart in my hand. It was the most incredible gift. Something happens in an interview; you have a level of permission to ask questions you wouldn’t normally ask and perhaps as they are sharing such a personal moment there is a deeper connection instantly, a vulnerability. People truly want to feel heard and I believe when we share our stories it heals us and it heals others.
This patch work journey of mine has been a 20 year journey.
Along the way I became a better sales person, networker, friend, sister… but what it really made me was a better person.