Often times in life, our social behavior is transformed based on whom we are interacting with. For instance, if you are a guy and are talking to an attractive woman you generally feel nervous and are much more cautious about what you say. Similarly this applies to business. If you have a meeting or interview with the executive of the company it completely shifts the dynamic of the conversation because of social hierarchy. This inverse of this would be a boss having an interview with a potential employee and feeling more entitled than they are.
Almost a year ago I was fulfilling my RA responsibilities with my school by attending a welcoming dinner for international students. The dinner was meant to bring the new students closer to one another and to the RAs so that when the parents left it would be less of a shock to their regular routines. I had done the same dinner a year prior so I felt pretty confident in my ability to converse and welcome students that were nervous about a new school and country and also had broken english. I was well prepared to also engage in conversation with the parents of the boys that were at my table. There was one student in particular that didn't talk much, but his parents had lots of questions. Throughout the dinner I fielded questions from the mom and dad and informed them about residential life and the routine of the school. After the dinner we took them on a tour of the campus and I continued to hold a conversation with the same father. We talked about the future of his son and the need for strong study habits at a new and challenging school. The conversation went extremely well and I ended up receiving contact information from the father in case he needed to reach his son or if he wanted me to check in and report on how his son was doing.
I was able to freely converse and hold a strong conversation with the man because he was just a father of a student and it was my obligation to answer his questions and assure him that the school was a good fit for his child. It was only after he had left that I learned he was an executive at one of the most successful global automotive companies in the world (Name and position will remain anonymous).
Looking back on the dinner and the tour after I realized how differently I would have acted if I had known of his stature prior to the event. It was the unknown factor of his profession and social standing that allowed me to converse so freely and to establish a strong relationship with him. Being unaware gave me the opportunity to connect with a strong business individual that has helped guide me since we met.
It is important to realize that despite the anxiety and stress that can come along with meeting someone successful, by conversing and acting as you would with an old friend you often leave a stronger impression than you would otherwise. Furthermore, when you are of a higher social standing than someone else, making them feel comfortable and as if you are an equal will enable you to see their true talent instead of the personality that they try to show.
Almost a year ago I was fulfilling my RA responsibilities with my school by attending a welcoming dinner for international students. The dinner was meant to bring the new students closer to one another and to the RAs so that when the parents left it would be less of a shock to their regular routines. I had done the same dinner a year prior so I felt pretty confident in my ability to converse and welcome students that were nervous about a new school and country and also had broken english. I was well prepared to also engage in conversation with the parents of the boys that were at my table. There was one student in particular that didn't talk much, but his parents had lots of questions. Throughout the dinner I fielded questions from the mom and dad and informed them about residential life and the routine of the school. After the dinner we took them on a tour of the campus and I continued to hold a conversation with the same father. We talked about the future of his son and the need for strong study habits at a new and challenging school. The conversation went extremely well and I ended up receiving contact information from the father in case he needed to reach his son or if he wanted me to check in and report on how his son was doing.
I was able to freely converse and hold a strong conversation with the man because he was just a father of a student and it was my obligation to answer his questions and assure him that the school was a good fit for his child. It was only after he had left that I learned he was an executive at one of the most successful global automotive companies in the world (Name and position will remain anonymous).
Looking back on the dinner and the tour after I realized how differently I would have acted if I had known of his stature prior to the event. It was the unknown factor of his profession and social standing that allowed me to converse so freely and to establish a strong relationship with him. Being unaware gave me the opportunity to connect with a strong business individual that has helped guide me since we met.
It is important to realize that despite the anxiety and stress that can come along with meeting someone successful, by conversing and acting as you would with an old friend you often leave a stronger impression than you would otherwise. Furthermore, when you are of a higher social standing than someone else, making them feel comfortable and as if you are an equal will enable you to see their true talent instead of the personality that they try to show.
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