It’s SEPTEMBER!
For us in 🇨🇦Canada, that means summer is essentially over. To me, September always feels a little bit like a new year, a new beginning.
I’m very excited about what’s to come over the next 12 months, particularly with the publication of my first book, Let Me Introduce Myself: Confidently Communicate Your Personal Brand at Work and Beyond.
With this in mind, I’m doing something a little different here with this week’s newsletter. I’m going to take you behind-the-scenes and share some insights and questions I have for you regarding my book.
Let’s do this!
Three things to talk about this week:
- When in doubt, write it out
- Talent Stacking to ID your superpowers
- 3 Qs: Your input to help me with the book
1️⃣ When in doubt, write it out
I first heard this idea in a conversation I had years ago with Professor Jerry (Gerald) Zaltman at Harvard Business School when I was his student. If his name doesn’t ring a bell, he is one of the smartest, most humble, and generous people I’ve met. You can learn more about how he thinks and how he encourages us all to think by listening to our conversation in Talk About Talk podcast ep.213.
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Jerry’s advice to me on how to sharpen my thinking? It’s simple:
Write.
Why write? Well, writing itself doesn’t need to be the goal, (Although it’s a good goal!) But writing forces you to clarify what you think.
Honestly, that’s one of the reasons I love writing this email newsletter. It makes me think! I’ve also experienced the power of writing firsthand while writing my book.
For the book, I started with ideas I’ve been coaching and talking about for years. But when I put those ideas on paper in a logical sequence, I noticed things I hadn’t seen before.
- some processes were redundant
- some ideas could be simplified
- some new ideas emerged
Writing forced me to sharpen my thinking.
I’ve also seen this happen with my executive coaching clients. When someone tells me they are struggling to articulate their unique brand value, we’ll work together to articulate their brand in writing.
This epiphany reminded me of a completely different experience with a similar lesson – the power of putting it in writing.
Back in 2018, when I was applying to join Seth Godin’s inaugural Podcasting Fellowship, I needed to fill out a written application form. One of the questions asked, “What’s the topic of your forthcoming podcast?”
I wrote something like, “My podcast will be all about communication… Essentially I will be talking about talking. It will be talk about talk.”
Wait! That’s it! “Talk About Talk”!
I checked the URL domain. www.talkabouttalk.com
It was available. I immediately secured it, and eventually secured the trademark too.
So if you’re trying to make a decision, identify the best strategy, outline a process, solve a problem, or start a podcast, my advice is simple. One word:
Write.
2️⃣ Talent Stacking to ID your superpowers
One of the chapters in my book is about how to identify your superpowers. You know, those unique skills that come easy for you. Those things that distinguish you relative to other people who do what you do.
As I was thinking, researching, and writing this chapter, I came across this idea of Talent Stacking or Skill Stacking. Are you familiar with talent stacking?
The concept is often associated with Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert (You can watch his explanation HERE). The basic idea is that you don’t necessarily need to be world-class or exceptional (like 95th percentile) at one particular skill. Instead, you can become highly distinctive by combining a few skills where you’re “very good” (like 75th percentile).
For Scott Adams, his unique skills might be drawing, his sense of humor, and his business insights. Mine are branding, communication and teaching.
None of those is particularly unusual on its own. But the combination is much more distinctive. It’s the intersection of branding, communication and teaching that has shaped my work as an executive communication coach.
I see this with my clients, too:
- A finance leader who combines financial expertise with AI experience and an unusually collaborative leadership style has a much more powerful personal brand from someone who simply says, “I’m a finance executive.”
- An HR leader who combines people expertise, an entrepreneurial mindset and a passion for data has a distinctive combination too.
- You get the idea. What about you?
So as I’ve been writing the book, I’ve started asking a different question:
What are the three things you’re really good at, and what happens when combine them?
That intersection might be your superpower!
I explore this idea along with two other new ways to discover your unique superpowers, in the latest Talk About Talk podcast ep.220.
3️⃣ 3 Qs: Your input to help me with my book
I just submitted the 1st full revision of my book manuscript to the publisher. While I await the editors’ feedback, I’d love to hear your input and ideas.
- When someone says, “Tell me about yourself,” what’s your biggest challenge?
- Which would make the biggest difference to your career?
- How much effort have you put toward developing your personal brand?
Reach out to me on LinkedIn with your answers!
I will share the final results with you in the next newsletter.
I can’t wait to share my book with you! Thank you so much for coming along for the ride.
Have a great week!
“TALK” soon,
Dr. Andrea Wojnicki Executive Communication Coach – Talk About Talk
