Speaker 0 00:00:00 From Romano Leadership, I'm Oscar Romano. This is Learn, reflect Lead
Speaker 1 00:00:05 Leadership
Speaker 0 00:00:06 And D E I A development for mission-driven individuals and organizations.
Speaker 1 00:00:11 This episode is titled, be Purposeful When Sharing a Personal Story. This episode is for you if you're looking for ways to expand your influence, if you want to learn strategies that can help you become a better storyteller, or if you want to create a personal story that you can leverage in a variety of situations. Today we're gonna focus on how you can be purposeful when sharing a personal story. Okay. I wanna want to frame this for you.
Speaker 2 00:00:45 You're
Speaker 1 00:00:46 In the audience and you're hearing me speak. My name is Oscar Romano. I was born and raised in Cliffside Park, New Jersey. I was valedictorian and I graduated from Harvard University. Can I count that as a personal story? Can I value my staff around that story? Are you motivated by that story? Probably not. The truth is that it's not much of a story. It could serve as part of my bio on a webpage, but it won't help as a personal story that I can share to help others get to know me. So what's the problem with that version of my personal story? Ah, it's biographical data. It's easy forgotten, and it's open to interpretation more than anything. I may lose control over the meaning people might take from that story. My audience might hear Harvard and assume I'm a genius, or that my parents are wealthy. My audience would miss out on so much of who I am because I failed to tell my story correctly. You see, I learned determination through my parents and their persistence through frequent seven day work weeks, and any intelligence I have is due to hard work, more than any innate ability that I was born with.
Speaker 1 00:02:19 I am doing myself a disservice if I'm not purposeful. When sharing a personal story,
Speaker 2 00:02:27 You
Speaker 1 00:02:28 Need to be purposeful with your personal story. As a leader, you need to be ready to share a personal story at a moment's notice. You can use stories to rally people around the cause or connect with a staff member. Among other examples. If you work at a school, you'll need stories for introductions to new staff, families, and students. If you work at a nonprofit, you also need to share stories to help donors feel connected to you. If you're not purposeful about the story you're telling, telling you, losing control, people will create their own meaning from your stories. Whether you meant it or not, your authentic voice has so much power, so don't let it go to waste. Now listen to my personal story with my voice. My name is Oscar Romano and I value hard work. My parents were immigrants from El Salve Road, and I grew up speaking Spanish as my first language. I entered ESL programs when I started pre-K and had to work hard to keep up with my classmates. I never stopped working hard and thought it would all pay off when I applied for college. Unfortunately, I was the first in my family to apply for college, so I didn't have much guidance around me. I didn't have a lot of resources available in my high school either.
Speaker 1 00:03:46 In the end, there was a childhood friend who saved me. We had similar backgrounds, but he attended private high school on a scholarship. When I didn't know what to do, he offered to guide me through the college application process. I wouldn't have gotten into Harvard University if it weren't for him. I soon realized that the challenges weren't over. As I struggled during my first two college years, it hit me that I wasn't as prepared as many of my peers most attended, some of the country's most prestigious private and public high schools. It wasn't that I couldn't do it, but that I didn't know how. It took a lot of extra work, but I was able to turn things around into my last two years. I'm practicing that. I became the first in my family to go to and graduate from college. You need to aim for an authentic story. I'm sure you got a much better sense of who I am as a person. In the second story. That's what happens when you don't stick to the biographical information. You can control your narrative of who you are in the eyes of others. It's essential to be authentic when talking by yourself.
Speaker 1 00:04:47 The idea is to give others the information they need to know who you are. Answer these questions When crafting your story, what moments in the past have been instrumental to your development? Who's the primary audience for your story? What values do you want others to hear through your story? Which stories reflect who you are as a person? What would you like others to know about you?
Speaker 2 00:05:17 What
Speaker 1 00:05:17 Accomplishments are you proud of? Next time you have an opportunity to sell somebody about you, don't forget the context. This allows others to get closer to getting to know the real you. Each story told. What a will add another piece to the puzzle about you. Now it's time to commit. Are you prepared with an authentic personal story? What changes do you need to make to craft your personal story and what impact can it have on others? If you tell them a polished personal story, let me know. Thanks.
Speaker 0 00:05:57 That's it for this episode of Learn, reflect Lead. Thank you for watching on YouTube or listening via podcast. If you're interested in more, you can find
[email protected] or connect with me on LinkedIn at Romano Leadership. If you like this episode, please share it with your friends. Subscribe and leave a review. I'm Oscar Ramo. Until next time.
