I’m a big proponent of lifelong learning. I am the first to admit that I don’t know everything and am eager to soak up new information, insight and advice.
But name-dropping does not impress me.
I don’t care how big a name is at your next event, I won’t be there for that reason. In fact, the best motivating factor to get me to an event is the promise of new meaningful relationships with people I will be honored to know.
I know people who are impressed with big names and big bucks. I know others who are down-to-earth, real and doing work that they love. Sometimes the two intersect, but not often.
I cling to the idea that slow and steady wins the race. And it’s important to identify what we’re racing toward – what is at the finish line.
Sure, I’d love to be pulling in millions. But honestly, that would be icing on the cake of a great life if it were to happen. What I really want is a good, honest, steady living doing work that I love and which benefits others. I want relationships with good people who excite me every time we are in touch. I want meaning in the mundane, something I’ve said for years and truly mean.
That’s where true happiness lies. Not in being able to say, “I shared the stage with X Celebrity Everybody Knows.” I don’t care about that one iota – if you aren’t able to connect on a heart-to-heart level, it doesn’t matter who has graced your presence or why.
When I first began in this business of public relations, I thought certain people and companies were the end-all-be-all and others were nothing to sniff at. After a few years, I realized that everything I had thought was up, was actually down – and vice versa.
What an awakening. What a realization.
I still am not the savviest at detecting authenticity beneath the surface. I try to listen well, try to read between the lines, but sometimes superficial sneaks in unannounced.
Life is a journey, right? We’re on the road to somewhere and hopefully it’s somewhere good, if we steer the craft right.
I’m old enough and seasoned enough to know that boasting does not impress me – and usually is a representation of smoke and mirrors and nothing more.
Bright lights, big brand? Nah. It’s who you are at the core that impresses me. Nothing more. And nothing less.