Storytelling

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Opinions expressed in this episode are personal. They do not necessarily reflect the views of this streaming platform. [00:00:08] Speaker B: Good day, everyone, and welcome to another edition of let's be diverse. I am your host, Andrew Stout. This episode is dedicated to all my loved ones who have supported me through this journey. I talk a lot, or I have been talking a lot lately about podcasting, about marketing. And one of the things that I was been talking about a lot lately, which I feel is super important to, whether you're an individual, whether you own your own business, or whether you work for a company, is storytelling. Talk about yourself, talk about the company, talk about the values, the missions division. It's all super important. And a great way to do that is storytelling. So today we're going to talk about storytelling, and I'm super excited to have as my guest today Tessa Rosam. Now, Tessa, after nearly ten years of producing TEDx events in Europe and in US, Tessa Rosam founded Renaissance, a public speaking consultancy, because she genuinely believes that everyone can be a powerful public speaker. She coaches leaders from across industries and across geographies. Everyone from nonprofit founders to companies, corporate executives and educators and artists. The art of speaking and to be more confident, more impactful as well. Tessa is just one of those individuals that you just have to meet, and I'm super happy to have her on today, so you guys will all get to meet her. Welcome to the show, Tessa. It's super awesome to have you on today. [00:01:47] Speaker C: Hi, Andrew. Thank you so much for having me. It's pleasure to be here. [00:01:51] Speaker B: It is pleasure to have you. How are things going in your world? I know you were saying to me before we started taping that you had a little bit of a story. You guys were on an adventure. So tell us a little bit about it. [00:02:03] Speaker C: Yeah. So about seven months ago now, we had a big. My husband and I, and we have three kids. We had a big kind of life shift and decided to sell our house in the beautiful mountains of Vermont. And we bought a sailboat. And so for the last seven months, we've been living on a sailboat and sailing up the Caribbean, working. I always said, I can work from anywhere. And we kind of had one of those moments where you go, well, why not? Why don't we move work from anywhere? So we're traveling. It's kind of open ended, and we're just seeing where the adventure takes us. [00:02:37] Speaker B: Wow, that is really life changing. Everything changes. Your way of life changes. It's different from the. Every day. Okay. Work, come home, supper, you know, take care of the kids, schoolwork change dramatically. So it's pretty much almost fun every day, I would imagine. [00:02:59] Speaker C: I mean, it has its moments. Like, it's kind of hard to explain. It's the wonderful we live in and visit the most beautiful places. But I always try to say as well, like, it's. It's just life. It just happens to be a floating one. You know, it's like a lot of the other stuff still happens. There's still school, still chores still work to do. We just get to wake up and. And maybe choose a different place to wake up tomorrow, which is pretty special. [00:03:22] Speaker B: That is pretty special, for sure. Well, I'm glad that you guys were able to make that decision. Not many people would be able to do it. I don't know if I would. But, yeah, down the road, maybe, you know, maybe if I tried it, maybe I would enjoy it. But kudos to you for. For taking the reins with you and your family to just making that decision. I. I think that's super cool. So, before we begin, I mentioned before we start taping, I always have a fun, thought provoking question to ask my guests to get things going. Are you ready for yours today, Tessa? [00:03:56] Speaker C: I'm ready. [00:03:59] Speaker B: Your question today is, if you could make one rule that everybody had to follow for one day, what would the rule be and why? [00:04:09] Speaker C: Oh, that's a good question. I don't know if I like that being a surprise question. I would have wanted to put a little more thought into it. But one rule that everyone has to follow for the day, I'm just trying to think. It's probably something really simple. It's like, comes down to think of something else. I might. The first thing comes to my head is something so silly. But I'm like, in Vermont, we have this amazing day once a year where the whole state goes out and picks up litter one day a year. And I'm like, how amazing if everybody in the world for one day went out and picked up every piece of trash that they could find, right? All of the grossness that surrounds us in our lives, all of the kind of trash and the gross parts of town overnight, they would look so much better. And it's amazing. There's been so much research that shows the correlation between clean living spaces and, you know, and, like, lack of graffiti and things like that to people. Like, better outcomes for health, education, social projects. It's incredible. It's a really interesting correlation. Anyway, that's just what comes to me off top of my head. But I'll get back to you. Let's do this again in six months and I'll think of something else. [00:05:22] Speaker B: Well, I tell you what, that was a pretty great answer for somebody who just think off the top of your head that. I love that answer. I think that is. There's never any right answer or wrong answer. You're absolutely right. If everybody picked up a little bit of trash and made sure the streets were clean and every. Was everywhere was clean, then yes, you would. It would be more enjoyable for everybody. So I definitely agree with. With that answer. [00:05:50] Speaker C: Am I allowed to throw it back to you? Can I ask you the same question? [00:05:54] Speaker B: You sure? You most certainly can. My rule would be that everybody had to smile. [00:05:59] Speaker C: I love that there are people. [00:06:01] Speaker B: There's lots of people that smile, but there's a lot of people out there that don't. And I just feel like when you smile, you just project. You just feel so much better, and yet you feel good about the day, and you feel good about your surroundings, and you just feel good about everything. [00:06:19] Speaker C: So I love it. That's awesome. [00:06:21] Speaker B: I feel like if we just smile, if I. If everybody smiled for a day, I feel like it would be. Would be amazing. Well, thanks for having fun with me, Tessa. I really appreciate you joining in and getting that answer. Was a great answer. It was super awesome. I loved it. So thank you so much for doing that. Why don't we start off with you telling us a little bit about you, your story, and your why. [00:06:51] Speaker C: Yes. So I am a public speaking coach, and I've been in the world of organizing TEDx events for about ten years. I first organized a small community TEDx event, and TEDxs are organized under license from TED. So everyone knows those big red letters. And as an. As an independent organizer, you can get a license from TEd and host a small event yourself. And so that's what I did about ten years ago with a friend, and it was incredibly successful. We were completely blown away by how many people were just desperate to share and sharing ideas and sharing stories, but also we were blown away by how many incredible people lived literally down the street. I was living in Basel, Switzerland, at the time, and our event was called TEDx Gundeldingen. And Gundel Dingen is just a small community. It's just a neighborhood of town. And it was unbelievable how many amazing people lived down the street. World leaders, thinkers, you know, in all sorts of areas, whether they were scientists or entrepreneurs or artists. And I think that completely blew my mind as to, you never know who you're living next to. And we have these incredible people who were surrounded by. And we don't know what they're doing right, and we don't hear their stories enough. And so we got completely inspired by this small community event, and so decided to host a bigger one, which was TEDx Basel, which is still going today. It's one of the biggest annual TEDx events in Europe. And then when I moved back to Vermont in the. In 2016, or, yeah, about 2016, I was like, you know what? Maybe I'll do another TEDx. Wouldn't it be cool to find out how many amazing people are in Vermont? You know, as an organizer, I have the best job. I get to call people up and say, hey, you want to come talk about yourself? I think you're awesome. And that was really special. And so that kind of. That snowballed. And I loved doing the events, but then when Covid happened and we didn't have any events going on, I was actually approached to run a public speaking workshop. And I was like, oh, sure, yeah, I coach speakers to be on the stage. I could do that. But my entrance to the TEDx world had been from the organizing logistics side, not from the coaching side. But I did a couple of these workshops, and I was like, actually, this is the bit that I really love. I really enjoy helping people figure out what they want to say and also help them find the ways that they can get the confidence to be on stage. I always say public speaking isn't just standing on the stage. It's not just TEDx, particularly if you're an entrepreneur or you're in business and you have to run meetings every week, if you go to networking events, if you're pitching for investment, if you're talking to clients, that's all public speaking. And the more confidence you have, the more skills you have in being able to engage an audience, in being able to get your point across in a really succinct, impactful way, the more impact you can have in your business, whatever it may be. And so that's now what I help people do. So, yes, I help people get on the stage, whether it's for TEDx or they have a keynote to prepare. But I also work with people who find the idea of public speaking terrifying. [00:09:59] Speaker D: Right? [00:09:59] Speaker C: Maybe they're first time managers and they now have to run their weekly meeting, or they're entrepreneurs. And for the first time, they're the one that has to be the face of the company. And they, even though they have this wonderful idea, or all this experience, or a lifetime of intellectual property, it can be really scary to go out there and suddenly everything depends on the words that you say. And so I have a wonderful job of helping people get it out there. And I always say anyone can be a wonderful public speaker. You have the skills. It's just a case of transferring what we're doing right now, speaking one on one to making it one to many. [00:10:33] Speaker B: I love everything you just said there. Like, there's so many golden nuggets. But one of the things that I love, and it's a perfect segue into our conversation today, is you're sharing ideas. And I really feel like our topic today, storytelling, is a great opportunity to share our ideas and talk about the things that we like or are into or feel or enjoy or believe in. So I truly feel like it's a perfect segue for that. And public speaking, I do believe, as well that pretty much anybody can do it. A lot of it is confidence. I believe, as well, some people just don't have the confidence. They get nervous when there's a lot of people in front of them. But I think anybody. I agree that everybody can do it for sure. So I just loved your story and everything. So. [00:11:31] Speaker C: Thanks. Yeah. And I really do. It's like that, that feeling that everyone can. We. We put so many hurdles in our way to stop ourselves excelling. [00:11:40] Speaker D: Right. [00:11:41] Speaker C: And actually, sometimes it just takes someone else to help you break them down and realize that you can do it and that you do have something to say and that your story is worth sharing. [00:11:50] Speaker B: So now that we've kind of talked about what you do, and like I said, a perfect segue, what is storytelling and why is it so important for us, especially in a. For our personal development? [00:12:06] Speaker C: I mean, at the end of the day, stories is just. I mean, they're just a form of social bonding. It's one of the most ancient forms of social bonding that we have as humans. We tell stories that transcend generations and transcend borders. You know, if I say I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house down, you know what I'm talking about, right? It's like we all know the three little pigs. And, and the thing that about stories is that they become an intricate part of ourselves. Like, we're hardwired to tell and to listen to stories. But when we get into a business environment, we're often coached out of it. Right? We're taught to be professional, and professional means being about the facts. It means about being about the work. It means not being yourself. It means removing yourself from the situation. And what storytelling for business doesn't. And what I mean by storytelling is, is taking everything that we know about stories and basically just using them as another tool for communication, right? It's a way to communicate with an audience. It's a way to share a vision. It's a way to help your audience buy into ideas. Because we don't sell things with facts, right? We sell things with stories. We know the old adage. And I think that people who have been very successful in business are very good at communicating to their audience, whether they're potential clients or potential investors or just the audience at large, by telling us a story, either about themselves or about ourselves, right? If you think of someone like Steve Jobs, when he was CEO of Pixar, he said, the most powerful person in the world is the storyteller. The storyteller sets the vision, values, and agenda of an entire generation. And he was the CEO of a movie making company, an animation company, at the time. But what's really interesting is he took that understanding with him to Apple, right? And Apple were at the forefront of making us buy a product because of emotional connection, right? He understood that we didn't buy a computer out of a rational or a logical decision. They all the same from us who don't, aren't techie, right? They all have some electronics in the background that do stuff. The one that we buy, we have an emotional connection to. And he knew if you put in a pretty package, we were going to buy it. And I think that's kind of what storytelling is. It's finding ways to convey lessons and build relationships and instill your values and your credibility by making it personal, right? By telling your story, by showing where you've come from and why we should care about it. And so that, for me, is why storytelling is so important in whatever stage of your business or your life is. If you're not telling stories, you're not maximizing the opportunity that you have to communicate with people. [00:14:59] Speaker B: I love when you say that. Social bonding. I was talking to somebody the other day, and I was saying that one of the big things from, you know, for myself is that I want to be the same person when I'm talking to them on the phone, when I'm talking to them in person, when I'm talking to them on video, I want to be the same person. I want to be genuine. So when somebody talks about me, they're gonna say, oh, andrew is, you know, he's the same guy. You get. You. You get what you get from Andrew. You always get the same thing. And that's the type of thing that I feel when you're talking about social bonding is super important because people remember that. People, you know, people say, oh, well, you know, he was so different on the phone compared to in front of us. You know, that's, that's a little bit different. But when someone says, wow, like, I've met him three times, three different scenarios, and he was the exact same way, right, that is super important. And it's so memorable to people, and I think that's super important, right? [00:16:12] Speaker C: And we can smell a fraud a mile off. Like we're, you know, our natural instinct is to, you know, to connect with people. And when we feel like people are being different or showing a different side of themselves or telling a different story, we can tell straight away. We're very intuitive. You know, it's like we try to get too technical about this stuff, but, you know, an audience can, can smell a fraud a mile away, right? If you're standing on stage and trying to be someone that you're not, we can tell, and it feels awkward. And that story that you have the chance of saying is not going to. Not going to land. [00:16:49] Speaker B: How can we use storytelling as a skill? [00:16:52] Speaker C: Oh, my gosh. So there are so many ways that we talk about using storytelling. You know, when I try to teach the idea of storytelling, we often talk about this. You know, you're using it to build credibility, but you're also using it to build loyalty, trust, right? And so there's different ways of doing it. There's different stories that you're going to want to tell in different environments. [00:17:22] Speaker D: Right? [00:17:22] Speaker C: And so it's figuring out what story to tell from a personal perspective that helps you want to build that connection, trust and credibility. And then the second is how to make it, how to make that information accessible and engaging. How do you use the, how do you use the stories that you tell to get somewhere? And so I think the way to develop that as a skill is to know what type of story, what do you want to achieve, right? Where, what's the purpose of the interaction that you're having and how is storytelling going to help you? Is it because you're trying to make a personal connection? If you are, then you probably want to tell a personal story, right? It's how do you, how do you show that you've been through a similar experience, right? You have experienced something that the audience can understand. You show how you feel. You showed something that you overcame in the moment. If you're trying to explain a professional situation, you're trying to show your credibility. You want to maybe explain hard decisions that you've made, problems that you've sold, challenges that you've overcome, because you're not just trying to tell people what to do, you're trying to show them that you understand what you're talking about, that you have a credibility, right. And then you're also sometimes just trying to make a connection. You know, when we get into a business environment, there's a skill in being able to. It's to be able to share a little bit about yourself, not because you're trying to achieve anything, but you're trying to create that personal connection which is going to allow you to then use narrative in the future to explain something, right. To explain a pain point, instead of just saying, hey, you know what? This is the situation. This is what we're trying to do to fix it. Now off you go, team. These are your four positions, right? These are the four things that you're going to have to do by using a story to explain the problem, right. And discuss the issues, and then go about talking about the solutions that you came about. Why now? What issues are we trying to overcome? How do we develop the product so that then when you show the team what the solution is, they're going to be so much more invested in what you have to say. And so I think that's where the skill is, knowing what you're trying to achieve, figuring out how you're best going to connect to the audience so that they're going to understand that same goal and then lead them down the path so that by the time you get to the end of the interaction, whether it's a meeting, a speech, or just a one to one conversation, everyone's on the same page, right? And I think it's so much easier to do that with a story, with a personal connection that it's ever going to be with a, you know, a list of stats and a PowerPoint. [00:19:58] Speaker B: I love what you said. Now, what, what you said makes me think of, like, for example, in an interview process, when people and your. The interviewer is asking you a question and you're trying to tell them how to. How you feel you'd be a great fit for the company storytelling, you know, telling a story of how you fix something or how you got along with a. A co worker that you weren't getting along with or how you. How did you solve a problem selling product to a customer or. So all these stories mean a lot in that interview process, and it's something that we all use to explain to the company why we feel that. Why we feel we would be a good fit for that organization and for that job. [00:20:49] Speaker C: Right, exactly. And the stories that we, if we practice telling the stories about ourselves, then particularly job interviews, become a lot easier. Right. We're all so used to those horrible stock questions, but actually, the best way to communicate who we are, why we care, why would be good at something is to tell the stories that show that. Right. And so that takes practice. And knowing and feeling confident in being able to articulate your story can make things like job interviews so much easier. [00:21:18] Speaker B: So why do you think people, or even leaders or some of them, are so great at storytelling? [00:21:28] Speaker C: I think, like public speaking, it's something that everyone can be good at. I think it takes practice, though. Some people are very. Are naturally inclined to it. You get your natural storytellers. Someone like Steve Jobs, like I mentioned earlier, intrinsically understood the power of telling a story. And I think that some leaders, the really good ones, they are good because they know how to connect. They tell. They naturally tell a good story. And when you tell a story, people want to go along with it, right? They want to come in. They want to be part of it. A great leader or a great storyteller makes you feel like you're part of their story. That's the real value in it, right? It's the skill comes in being able to make the audience feel like they're not just sitting there listening, but they're actively partaking in what's going on. It's a conversation. And so I think it's a skill that you can build. You can practice like public speaking. You might be more naturally inclined to it, but everyone can do it, and you're only going to get better at it if you practice, right? If you come into every meeting and start by opening the PowerPoint, your audience automatically switches off. But if you just start with 30 seconds or a quick 1 minute anecdote, everyone relaxes, everyone takes a breath, and then the next time you come in, you're like, okay, that worked quite well. You know, maybe I'll try and introduce this change that we're having with a short story as to, you know, a quick challenge that we had that we overcame to get there. And the more that you do it and the more that you realize that every time you bring in a storytelling or a narrative technique, you build connection with your audience rather than dilute the content, which I think is what people see it as. They're like, well, there's storytelling and then there's content. [00:23:13] Speaker D: Right. [00:23:13] Speaker C: But the two things are intrinsically linked. We remember so much more that's told to us in a story than that's told to us just through facts alone. And so I think that leaders who are great storytellers know and have that power, but you can build it. You can learn to do that as a leader. And as particularly new leaders stepping into management for the first time, they're gonna feel so much more confident in the role, and they're gonna build their relationships and build their own credibility so much faster when they use storytelling techniques. [00:23:45] Speaker B: I think you're bang on when you said practice. So I feel like when you, when you see, like you said, when you're a new leader or if you, depending on the situation, storytelling, knowing what to tell, how to tell it, enunciating certain things as well, and just showing a little bit of vulnerability and passion, I think. So, like, for example, if you're giving a, you know, telling somebody about anything, like if you're in an organization or if you're telling a speech or talking about something in front of, in front of, in a meeting, I think people want to know why. So, you know, I think the, you know, by, I agree with you by starting off with little bit story to kind of explain a little bit, you know, this is what we're thinking of doing, but here's why not a lot of people don't. They want to know why. They don't want to just hear, this is what we're doing, and that's it. We want to know why you decided to do that. What was your thoughts? What was your process? What was your thinking on this, and how did you come to terms of deciding to make this decision is pretty much what, I think, what people want to hear, right? [00:25:01] Speaker C: Absolutely. And I think also, there's a great skill in storytelling of knowing and knowing who your audience is and tailoring your stories to that audience. Right. Kind of, like I said, it links back to that idea of picking up on a fraud or picking up on someone who's not being genuine. You can't just tell that wheel out the same stories over and over again. [00:25:21] Speaker D: Right? [00:25:21] Speaker C: Or to the same audience. You have to know your audience. You have to figure, you have to remember, why are they there? What do they want to get out of it? And if you're in business and you're trying to explain, let's say, a big change that has to be rolled out across the company, you could have one story, but you're probably going to need lots of different versions of the story, because each individual and each team, they have different concerns, they have different motivations. This big change or this direction in the business or this role is going to have a different impact. And the stories that you tell, you need to bring in all those different things. You know, it's the design team compared to the HR team, compared to trainees, new hires, senior management. We. Everyone listens and needs different things from the story. And I think the real skill in the storyteller is being authentic, not just to what you're trying to represent for yourself, but understanding that each audience has a different goal as well, and has a different. A different purpose for being there and for that story, you know? So knowing who you're communicating with and what you're trying to say to them and changing how you tell your stories and how to interact so that you're generally trying, genuinely trying to connect with each person, that's going to make a huge difference. [00:26:32] Speaker B: Do you think there is a future for storytelling? Like, do you think there's a future for more of it? Like, do you think more and more people are going to be doing it? [00:26:40] Speaker C: I hope so. I mean, that's. I mean, hey, that's what I. That's what I do. So I hope the more people that find me and people that do similar work to. To me, that the better, because I genuinely believe that it's critical to who we are and to success in business, but also happiness and contentedness. Certainly when I first started in the corporate world, I think if you started any time before 2010 who you were as a person and your business was so separate, it's like you come to work and you have to business all the time, and particularly as a woman, to be. To be taken seriously. [00:27:20] Speaker D: Right. [00:27:20] Speaker C: It was meant this like business all the time, but the skill of leadership, storytelling, and I think this is often, sometimes where people misunderstand what it is. It's not just spinning a yarn. [00:27:32] Speaker D: Right. [00:27:32] Speaker C: It's not spending five minutes at the beginning of every meeting to talk about your weekend. [00:27:36] Speaker D: Right. [00:27:37] Speaker C: It's using a narrative structure to make difficult concepts really relatable. [00:27:44] Speaker D: Right. [00:27:44] Speaker C: Or to make a. Maybe something boring more palatable, or it's to make your great idea accessible and exciting to everybody. And so that's where the joy and the future of storytelling is. Right. It's allowing people this opportunity to come into a, particularly, a business environment and say that professional and storytelling can be the same thing. [00:28:09] Speaker D: Right. [00:28:10] Speaker C: It doesn't have to be one or the other. Personal doesn't mean making it about you. It's about showing why you care, and that's the skill in storytelling. And as I say, again, using someone like Steve Jobs as, you know, kind of the pinnacle of what makes storytelling successful as a leader, that's all the evidence you need right there. You know, it's, it's people who understand the stories that we tell are important. [00:28:33] Speaker B: You mentioned earlier about mission visions and values. So I love to hear I, people talking about, especially business owners and leaders talking about their, their missions, their visions and their values and how they came about it. And I want to, I love to hear why they decided to, you know, choose those values and why, you know, why do they believe in those values so much? It's so important to me, and I'm sure it's very important to a lot of people to know, how did you become up with those values? Why are they so important to you? And, you know, did you just put them on your website to say that we have them, or do you actually have a story around how you made the decision to put those on your website and for people to see and read and learn about you and your company? [00:29:33] Speaker C: Well, I mean, I believe very strongly in what I say there about people being, everyone having the power to be a great storyteller. We're natural, instinctive storytellers and communicators. And I think, unfortunately, the modern world kicks it out of us, particularly kids today growing up attached to screens, losing some of those natural ability to, to feel comfortable in conversation, to read social cues. And it takes practice, but I, and I think everyone can get there. And I, it, when I hear people saying, like, oh, I could never speak on stage, I'm terrified of standing up in front of a crowd. I hear it and I believe it. I mean, I know where it comes from. It comes from, you know, there's this kind of instinctual fear that we have of being in front of a crowd. It's very, can be very predatory, but it's also kind of hardwired into us since elementary school, you know, when you had to come and do show and tell and you've forgotten you trying to pull something out of your backpack to, you know, here's my ruler that I'm showing you, and I love it, you know, or stand like, you know, andrew, tell me about, you know, Macbeth. What do you remember? And you're like, oh, my gosh, I don't remember anything. You know, it's that the feeling of people's fear of standing on stage is linked to the fear of being put on the spot. But the wonderful thing about public speaking most of the time is you very rarely put on the spot. You have time to practice, you have time to prepare. You have time to, you know, whether it's work with someone like me or give yourself the time and the grace to say, you know what? I'm going to spend two weeks writing this Presentation, not 2 hours. And I'm not going to open up PowerPoint first. I'm going to think about who my audience is, what gift I want to give them, right? What do I want to tell them, and what story can I share of myself that's going to help them get there? We all have stories to tell, and I think that for me, the public speaking and storytelling are so connected because if more of us told our stories and had a stage to tell them and an audience to hear them, then we would be more empathetic, we would be more generous, we would have more time for each other. When we hear more people who are going through the same things, things that we think are unique. But then when you hear someone else tell their story and you're like, oh, my gosh, that's what I feel. That's where the power of storytelling is on a personal level, you know? And so I really do believe it. It's a really wonderful gift to be able to. To tell a story and to connect with someone and make them feel that they. That you're understood and they are understood in return. [00:32:11] Speaker B: I love when you said that, because everybody's experiences are different. So my experiences are different to yours. Your experience. Your experiences are different to somebody else's. So you might have a similar experience, but it might be different. But if you're talking about it and you're telling a story about your experiences, absolutely. I definitely want to hear people that have gone through similar things with me. I know it's not going to be exactly the same, but I want to know how it was for them and the different things that they gone through and how did they deal with those situations, for sure. So I am definitely with you on that. I could listen to stuff like that till the cows come home, for sure. [00:32:54] Speaker C: That's good, because I talk about it all day. So. [00:32:59] Speaker B: Any final thoughts today on our topic or what we've talked about? [00:33:06] Speaker C: Yeah, well, I mean, it was really lovely to talk to you about this and say, I care really deeply about it. And I think my kind of, my one message is to people who are scared of public speaking or who are worried that anytime that they're standing up and in front of an audience that they don't have the skills to do it. I want to tell them that they do have it and to be brave and to use those stories. And a great place to start is just jot them down. [00:33:30] Speaker D: Right? [00:33:31] Speaker C: Jot down your own. Why? Why do you care about what you do? Because most of the time when we meet people, I don't want to know the ins and outs of what you do. I want to know why you do it. I want to know why you care about it, why you keep going to work every day, or why you stop going to work every day to do something else. That's the really interesting bit. You know, whether you're an entrepreneur in a tech company or whether you make jewelry, right, there's a reason that you do that. And I love it when I meet someone new at a networking event or just a coffee chat from someone I've met on LinkedIn, and I hear this amazing story as to why you do what you do, and I'm like, you told me this amazing story, but yet your bio, or this time that I heard you introduce yourself at a business event, you gave me your resume. I don't want to hear a resume. I assume you're. You're incredibly smart, otherwise you wouldn't be here. [00:34:20] Speaker D: Right. [00:34:20] Speaker C: I want to hear your story. [00:34:23] Speaker B: I love. I love that. I agree with you 100%. I want to. I want to get to know, as a rapport builder myself, I want to get to know people, people as well. You know, not just what they do, but, you know, who they are, what they believe in. These are things that I want to hear from people. Absolutely. If you read a resume, for sure, someone, you could say, oh, yeah, that person is great, 100%. But, yeah, I like to meet as much, you know, or get to know as much of people as I can, for sure. Right. I wanted to take the time to thank you for coming on. I know we. When we first met, it was such a great conversation. I almost didn't want to hang up the phone from that. When that conversation happened way back when, I just felt like it was just such a great conversation was very smooth, very easy going, and it was very enjoyable. So it was so great to have you on today. You were a remarkable individual. I admire you for not just for all the things that you do professionally, but the person that you are. I admire you for that. And I look up to you in many aspects, and I'm super lucky to have you as a. Not just as a guest, but as a connection, as well, great. [00:35:48] Speaker C: Well, thank you so much, Andrew. It's very much the feelings meet, but it was so lovely to chat. I always enjoy our conversations and I look forward to doing it again soon. [00:35:56] Speaker B: Wonderful. Well, on behalf of myself and my guest, Tessa, I'd like to thank you all for taking the time to listen to us today. And until next time, be safe and remember that if we all work together, everyone, we can accomplish anything. [00:36:14] Speaker A: You have been listening to. Let's be diverse with Andrew Stout. To stay up to date with future content, hit subscribe vibe.