Who Do You Think You Are, Anyway?

-by Matt Leedham

Imagine me as a reporter with a microphone in my hand. Next to me stands a cameraman.

As soon as you step out of the house today, imagine me running up to you on the street and saying: “I’m under deadline and need to record this. I’ll give you $10K to answer this and it will be shown on national TV tonight: Who are you, what do you stand for, and what do you want out of this life?”

Could you do it? What would you say?

I often ask people if they have well-defined, written down, personal core values. I get the same response every time. Blank stares or a shake of the head. It’s time to change that!

Many of you are either in sales, have once been in sales, or have had to sell or represent your company at some point. And by represent your company, it could be as simple as one of your friends or family asking you what your company does. So, what’s your elevator pitch? If you’re in a formal sales role, you no doubt have a recording in your head that you can hit play on (anytime, anywhere) and spit out the 30 second synopsis of the great things your company does and why you’re the best. It’s critical to have this response nailed down for use at any moment because you never know when the opportunity may present itself.

It’s not good enough to have some vague thoughts or feelings about who you are and what you stand for. This is too important.

Here’s mine:
My values are family first, optimism, compassion and service, education, purpose and meaning, and creativity (I can elaborate on any of those, if you would like). My purpose in life is, first and foremost, to give my family everything I have to give. Then, it is to guide others, through alignment of core beliefs and personal visions, along a path of authenticity and optimism to discover fulfillment and happiness in all aspects of their lives.

Is this perfect? No. Will it change? I’m sure it will. That’s perfectly fine. All I know is, if I’m living that life – the one described above – I will be a happy man.

Don’t worry about making your elevator pitch perfect. Just put a stake in the ground and be confident in who you are and what you want out of this life. If you do this, you will notice that you will become the person you describe. And others will help you.