by Pamela Slim
Will set the stage for people to comfortably trust that the advice you will give them in your presentation is sound and tested.
Your audience will think, “OK, phew, she has successfully started a company, raised venture capital, sold the company, and started and sold four others. I can trust what she tells me.”
I was taught by my parents and grandparents to be humble, to be in service of others, and to always put others’ needs above my own. This is a fantastic heritage, and I am so thankful for the teaching, since I think it helps me be a respectful and decent human being.
However, in business situations, sometimes in order to gain the trust of the audience so you can be of service, you must tell a compelling story that establishes credibility and showcases your body of work.
Finding the thread that ties your story together
In this chapter, we have examined:
the two stories you must have in alignment to influence your audience—the story you tell yourself and the story you tell others.
the craft of storytelling, and the Persuasive Story Pattern that Nancy Duarte recommends for maximum impact and results.
how to create a content map to guide the information and projects you share that addresses the specific needs of your audience so that when people search for you online, they find rich examples of your body of work.
the importance of clear and compelling language in all of your communication.
how to establish credibility by highlighting the ingredients that are relevant and impressive to each audience you speak to.
The final step in creating a clear and compelling story about your body of work is to find a thread of connection with your audience as you craft specific messages for different situations.
1. The high-level story
Your high-level story is the summary of your body of work that you most often find in “Bios” and “About” pages on websites. A story at this level is crafted around:
What are the themes that weave through your work? Look at all the work you have done in your life and see if you notice overarching themes. You might find “pursuit of excellence,” “scientific experimentation,” or “fascination with other cultures.” When I did this exercise, I found that most of the work I have done falls into the categories of “freedom,” “transformation,” and “learning.”
What are your roots, and how do you want them reflected in your story?
What are the ingredients you want to highlight in your story? In some cases, you may choose to only list your professional skills and experience, while in others, you may include personal information like hobbies, interests, and family status
What is the right amount of credibility to sprinkle in your story? In this kind of story, you might want to mention a few of your educational accomplishments, accolades, or awards. Use enough to let people know that you are competent but not so much that they get distracted from the bigger message of your body of work.
2. The interview or client story
When you are applying for a job or speaking to a perspective client, you want to craft your story according to specific parameters. For this story, review:
What are the specific needs of your audience (review your content map)?
Which of your roots, ingredients, and experience will make them feel confident and comfortable about your ability to meet their needs?
Which stories will best illustrate your roots, ingredients, and experience?
What specific answers do you have for any perceived gaps or weak areas?
3. The networking story
When you bump into a new person at the gym, or attend a business networking event for the first time, you don’t want to launch into a lengthy list of your ingredients. Choose a short phrase that will help them understand what you do, while helping spark a good discussion:
“I am a lawyer who is obsessed with lean business principles.”
“I work with people who feel stuck in their business or career.”
“I am a nurse with a passion for Italian cooking.”
“I am a former Olympic athlete, and my new interests are philanthropy and fashion.”
The most important thing to remember about the skill of storytelling in the new world of work is that you must customize your message to the audience you are speaking to. Because you will have an ever-expanding set of work modes, ingredients, and experiences, you don’t need to overwhelm your audience with a laundry list of everything you have ever done.
Your ability to tell compelling, truthful, engaging stories will decide the lasting impact your body of work has on the world.
Tell them well.
CONCLUSION
When I first set out to write this book, I was excited to share a new framework that I had seen emerge from the coaching work I had done with hundreds of clients over more than two decades.
My goal was to find a set of “new” skills for the world of work in the twenty-first century that would provide options, flexibility, and freedom to workers across every work mode, in every industry.
When I initially thought of including some of my dad’s story in the first chapter, I was excited to hear his perspective on the two decades he had spent restoring the Port Costa School. It seemed like the perfect metaphor.
During our interview about the school, my dad told me that when he was living in San Anselmo in 1967, someone wrote a letter to the editor of the local paper, complaining about the decaying downtown storefronts.
“This really bothered me,” he said. “I wanted to do something about it.”
Since he was a photographer, he took pictures of every storefront along the main downtown strip on San Anselmo Avenue. Then he called seven of his friends who were skilled architects and designers. He passed out a couple of photographs to each of them and asked if they would be willing to draw a picture of what they would do to improve the storefronts, as well as what they could do to an ugly concrete parking lot that backed up to a creek that ran parallel to the downtown. All of them agreed and set to work with the new designs.
When the drawings were all done, he took pictures of each of them. Then he created a slide slow that included pictures of the decaying storefronts, along with the “new, improved” drawings. He set up community meetings in a couple of different locations in town and invited the residents of San Anselmo to attend. Many of them did.
“When they saw the new drawings, they started applauding!” my dad said. “They got really excited about the possibilities.”
He did the show for the downtown merchants, and they were amazed by what they saw. The merchants and city government mobilized, and over the course of a decade, the downtown was slowly upgraded. A beautiful new park was designed to replace the ugly concrete parking lot by the creek based on the drawing by my dad’s friend Dan Goltz. It was renamed Creek Park.
In this small project in San Anselmo, in 1967, my dad utilized every one of the skills I include in the Body of Work Success Framework.
He connected to his roots. He had a deeply instilled sense of community pride and service, reaching back to the way his father raised him on the farm in Yuba City. “Our farm was immaculate,” he said. “From the time I can remember, my dad had us pick up trash along the road and clean every spot of the farm.”
He relied on his ingredients. He depended on his photography skills and experience from his role at Pacific Gas and Electric, where he used to run community meetings up and down the state of California.
He chose the work mode of volunteer. Instead of waiting to get in a position of influence or authority, he chose to do this project as a concerned member of the community, since he thought that from that perspective, he could garner more trust (in later years, he did join the city council and eventually become mayor).
He overcame his fear and hesitatio
n. Since he was neither an elected official nor local merchant, he had to face his fears head on in order to do something about the decaying downtown.
He created a project to address the problem. He designed community meetings where he could show people concrete examples of the area’s potential.
He gathered a team of collaborators. He reached out to talented peer mentors who had the exact skills he needed to complete his project.
He defined a big part of personal success as having a positive impact on the community. Even though he didn’t earn a dime with the project, he felt tremendous satisfaction when he saw the results.
He told a compelling story. He moved through Nancy Duarte’s presentation framework from “what is” (the decaying storefronts) to what “could be” (the drawings of the reimagined storefronts), and he inspired his audience to action.
I got chills as I heard my dad tell this story. I suddenly realized that I had watched him use these skills in his life and career for years, but it wasn’t until I wrote this book that I truly understood the underlying framework, since I was used to looking at his career, volunteer work, and personal life through separate lenses.
The one thing I knew all along? That he was a very fulfilled and happy person who navigated a life of challenge and uncertainty with grit and success.
I hope that the stories I shared in this book of the creative and brave people like Amanda Wang, David Batstone, Mike Carson, Rafe Eric Biggs, Kyle Durand, John Legend, and Desiree Adaway will inspire you to take some risks of your own, with the purpose of feeling more alive, engaged, connected, and excited in your work.
Viewing your career as a body of work will give you more choice, financial security, and creative freedom. The world is not going to serve up neat career tracks anymore. You cannot guarantee that your business or nonprofit will survive in a constantly changing economic landscape. But you can choose the kinds of projects that are worth completing and the type of life that is worth living.
This book is part of my own body of work, and it is just beginning. Join me at pamelaslim.com/bodyofwork to learn more about the people profiled in the book, to access additional tools and resources, and to share questions, thoughts, images, and videos of your body of work.
My wish for you is that you create a full-color, full-contact life that brings great value to the world and great joy and success to you and your family.
Let the creating begin.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This book, like my first, was a true team effort. Sheila Sanders, thank you for being an amazing partner. Your patience, care, and professionalism allowed me the space to write when I needed to write. To Steve, Cheyn, Mathias, and Kavin, thank you for being generous enough to share your wife and mom with me. To my dear friend and marketing partner Tim Grahl, I appreciate both the person that you are and the care with which you do your work. To your team at Out:think, Joseph Hinton and Lauren Baker, thanks for keeping my business running and making us all look good. To Kyle Durand and Cynthia Durand, your love for business systems is only outmatched by your kindness. Thank you for your expert guidance and fierce friendship.
To Jill Murphy, Andre Blackman, Abe Cajudo, Willie Jackson, Ericka Hines, and Mike Ambassador Bruny, thank you for our wonderful e-mail chains and shared laments and celebrations. I am proud and honored to be your friend.
To my collaborative partners and peer mentors Jonathan Fields, Ramit Sethi, Michele Woodward, and Chris Guillebeau, thank you for always challenging my thinking and pushing me to excel in life and business. To Charlie Gilkey and Angela Wheeler, thank you for your powerful friendship and amazing coaching. I am so proud of the body of work we created together in our Lift Off community. To my partner in prose, Betsy Rapoport, your mastery of the craft of writing is inspirational. To my favorite Canadian, Michael Bungay-Stanier, thank you for stepping in to support me and this book right when I needed it. I will never forget your personal care and expert coaching. This book would not have gotten written without you.
To Dan Pink and Nancy Duarte, thank you for giving feedback on the early ideas for this book and providing support and encouragement. You are both my heroes, and I can only hope that my body of work has the impact and reach that yours has had in the world.
To Seth Godin, Guy Kawasaki and Martha Beck, thank you for being my steady council of wise advice, support, and encouragement.
To the 350 members of the Body of Work Advisory Board, I appreciate your willingness to receive random e-mails from me about a whole range of unrelated topics. You input and insight were so valuable!
To my clients, you are the soul and heartbeat of this book. Our intense, inspiring, sometimes tough and emotional conversations pushed me to want to create something that will allow you to continually grow and develop, through your businesses and beyond them. Thank you for trusting me with your confidence, and for investing in me and my family.
To my agent, Joelle Delbourgo, thank you for not only believing in me but for being passionate about this book. You inspired me to make it happen. To my kind, talented, and patient editor, Emily Angell, thank you for providing just the right blend of encouragement and firm nudges. To Adrian Zackheim, Will Weiser, Margot Stamas, and the entire Portfolio team, thank you for believing in this book. To Emily Rapoport, who edited my first book, thank you for taking this book proposal to heart. I will never forget that you were the one who found me among a sea of business bloggers and started my professional writing career.
To my best friend, Desiree Adaway, thank you for always being there for everything.
To Master Fiori, thank you for your expert instruction, guidance, and friendship. I am so proud to be your black belt student. To my martial arts family, thank you for pushing me to grow mentally, physically, and spiritually.
To my family, thank you for your never-ending support and encouragement. I am so proud to be related to you!
To the Singers and the Dardens, thank you for your kinship and prayers. Our family is strong because your families are strong. Ahéhee’.
To my neighbors, who always look out for my family and make our community a beautiful and safe place to live. I love you all.
Finally, I want to say a special extra thank you to Abe Cajudo for reminding me on a daily basis of my deepest root—that everyone on earth has gifts and talents that are meant to be heard, no matter how long it may take the world to hear them. I believe in your mission, your heart, and your work. Keep fighting.
NOTES AND SELECTED FURTHER READING
Throughout this book, several resources are cited. Below is a collection of references and recommended resources for further reading. All resources listed below can also be found at www.pamelaslim.com/bodyofwork.
Chapter 1
The secret to high performance: Pink, Daniel H. Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us. (New York: Riverhead Books, 2011), 207–8.
Chapter 2
It was seven thirty: Additional information on Amanda Wang and her personal mission can be found at http://thefightwithinus .com.
Victor Frankl, in his stark and powerful new book: Frankl, Viktor E. Man’s Search for Meaning. (Boston: Beacon Press, 2006), 109.
Chapter 3
As David recounted in hs book: Additional information on Not For Sale can be found at http://www.notforsalecampaign.org.
Canadian entrepreneur Dan Martell: See Dan Martell’s website: clarity.fm.
Brené Brown is a shame and vulnerability researcher: Brown, Brené. Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead. (New York: Gotham, 2012), 61.
Charlie Gilkey is a writer: Additional information on Charlie Gilkey and his website can be found at www.productiveflourishing .com.
Chapter 4
In a study conducted: A link to the study conducted by Intuit and cited by the NextSpace CEO can be found at http://qz.com/65279 /40-of-americas-w
orkforce-will-be-freelancers-by-2020.
The rise of advertising: The quote about Jenna Marbles’ online business is from the New York Times: www.nytimes.com/2013/04/ 14/fashion/jenna-marbles.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0.
Thanks to Emilie Wapnick: Emilie Wapnick’s website is located at http://puttylike.com.
Chapter 5
Now their hip-hop blog: Mike B. and Mike C.’s hip-hop blog, Illroots, can be found at http://illroots.com.
As Scott Belsky, the author: Learn more about Scott Belsky’s Behance and 99U at http://99u.com.
Few people are as enthusiastic: Ramit Sethi’s blog post can be found at: www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/blog/wednesday-workout -testing-your-assumptions.
Brian Clark of Copyblogger: Brian Clark of Copyblogger has built a thriving business. Learn more about him at www.copyblogger .com/author/Brian.
the Business Model Generation handbook: Business Model Generation is a handbook for visionaries, game changers, and challengers striving to defy outmoded business models and design tomorrow’s enterprises.
in order to keep America great: Watch Piers Morgan interview LL Cool J on CNN at www.cnn.com/video/?/video/bestoftv/2012
/02/10/pmt-ll-cool-j.cnn&iref=videosearch and at www.cnn.com/video/?/video/bestoftv/2012/02/10/pmt-ll-cool-j.cnn&iref=video
search.
Chapter 6
I was integrating the work: Learn more about Rafe Eric Biggs and his personal journey at www.somaevolution.org.
There are many ways to run: For more of Richard Branson’s insight into how to build a business: Branson, Richard. Business Stripped Bare: Adventures of a Global Entrepreneur. (New York: Portfolio/Penguin, 2011), 6.
One of the deepest layers: Beck, Martha. Steering by Starlight: The Science and Magic of Finding Your Destiny. (New York: Rodale Books, 2009, Kindle Edition), 655–63.