Introduce Yourself Like You Mean It

By Ronna Lichtenberg

      I first tried this next exercise in Phoenix, with a group of forty women at a workshop for the top women beauty salon executives in the country. I was there to help them learn how to be even more successful, and I wanted to start by having them practice selling themselves. Exceptionally well groomed, attractive, and well spoken, they made their livings being "out there" in some sense: educating salon owners, taking care of clients, representing product lines. My guess was, though, that they didn't see themselves in the same warm light I did.

So I asked each woman to stand up and introduce herself, using no more than four lines. It was clearly harder for some women than for others; some apologized for not being good at it, some had to refer to notes, some went on for sixteen lines instead of four. One mentioned a "husband who was her hero." Another told us the names of all three of her beloved cats.

Introduce Yourself - Continued >>