Authentic Leadership
Some people don't find networking easy. Talking about yourself, what you do and where you come from, often gets us so tongue-tied, we end up not saying anything at all - a frustrating experience. But last week at the Women's International Networking Conference in Geneva, I'm happy to say that there was magic at work. After my initial discomfiture, I find out quickly that so many other women there were first-timers like me.
In her opening speech, Kristin Engvig, founder and director of W.I.N., set down the networking ground rules : 1) tell people who you are, what you do, and where you live; 2) never let anyone stand alone; 3) open up yourself; 4) be generous and ready to help others; 5) be yourself; 6) be ready with your business cards, and 7) above all, enjoy the experience.
Over three and a half days, some sixty speakers did presentations and workshops for about five hundred participants - women as well as a handful of men - on the theme “Connecting for Results: Authentic Leadership in Action”. The key words here are connect, lead, act - and they're all verbs.
My first real activity was in JoAnne Freeman's working group on “Marketing the Brand Called Me”. She asked us to analyze ourselves: When you introduce yourself to a stranger, what do you want to be remembered for? It's not whom you know that counts, she said, but rather who know you!
This exercise was just a warm-up for the real thing: “Hello, my name is Maria-Fe Ortner, and I'm a writer. I'm writing an article about this year's W.I.N. conference. You can read my writings at http://salzburgviews/blogspot.com”.
And that's how I introduced myself for the next three days whenever I met someone new. At my hotel, during mealtimes, at the plenary session hall, in the workshop groups, during coffee breaks, in the queue at the ladies' room, in the hotel lobby, in the shuttle bus, during the open forum, at the gala dinner, et cetera et cetera. Practice makes perfect.
To be a leader, I must act, and whatever action I take must bring me results. To be an authentic leader, I should focus on what I do best. If writing is what I do best, I should stop hiding my light and just let my writing shine. Hence my marketing spiel.
Took me a long time to get comfortable saying that. And when I finally said it out loud, it only took a minute.
Hey, networking at W.I.N. really works!
In her opening speech, Kristin Engvig, founder and director of W.I.N., set down the networking ground rules : 1) tell people who you are, what you do, and where you live; 2) never let anyone stand alone; 3) open up yourself; 4) be generous and ready to help others; 5) be yourself; 6) be ready with your business cards, and 7) above all, enjoy the experience.
Over three and a half days, some sixty speakers did presentations and workshops for about five hundred participants - women as well as a handful of men - on the theme “Connecting for Results: Authentic Leadership in Action”. The key words here are connect, lead, act - and they're all verbs.
My first real activity was in JoAnne Freeman's working group on “Marketing the Brand Called Me”. She asked us to analyze ourselves: When you introduce yourself to a stranger, what do you want to be remembered for? It's not whom you know that counts, she said, but rather who know you!
This exercise was just a warm-up for the real thing: “Hello, my name is Maria-Fe Ortner, and I'm a writer. I'm writing an article about this year's W.I.N. conference. You can read my writings at http://salzburgviews/blogspot.com”.
And that's how I introduced myself for the next three days whenever I met someone new. At my hotel, during mealtimes, at the plenary session hall, in the workshop groups, during coffee breaks, in the queue at the ladies' room, in the hotel lobby, in the shuttle bus, during the open forum, at the gala dinner, et cetera et cetera. Practice makes perfect.
To be a leader, I must act, and whatever action I take must bring me results. To be an authentic leader, I should focus on what I do best. If writing is what I do best, I should stop hiding my light and just let my writing shine. Hence my marketing spiel.
Took me a long time to get comfortable saying that. And when I finally said it out loud, it only took a minute.
Hey, networking at W.I.N. really works!
posted by Maria-Fe Parco Ortner at 1:02 PM
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