Hi everybody, Melissa Love here. Anybody that knows me at this point in my life knows that I work really hard to be my real self… to authentically just be me. For many years, I worked in the advertising marketing industry with big clients like Rolls Royce and Trump Entertainment Resorts, Rose-Hulman, The Venetian and The Sands, many huge companies. I always felt like I needed to change who I was based on who I was with. What do I need to do to adjust my personality so that I can make others feel comfortable, and it was extremely stressful. At the end of the day, I always felt extremely psychologically drained. Now I work every day, to be my authentic self, and to help others, show their own self and to be who they really are and remove the masks. As you as soon we could talk we had mom telling us, “we’re going to grandma’s house, you mind your manners” right? And now, your supervisor says, “Bob, you got a big presentation next week, you better not screw this up.” Well, does Bob screw it up every week at his desk and his office and other meetings? We’re constantly expected to be something different than who we are. Today I welcome you on your own and any workshop that I host, allow you to remove those masks and be who you are.
What if you could be exactly who you are and feel as comfortable at work as you do at home? Would that possibly increase your productivity? Of course, it would. If you feel comfortable then you could ask others for help. You can also offer assistance to others because you feel comfortable. This ‘being you’ stuff can also make you feel a bit vulnerable. How much do I let the real ‘me’ show? Will I be accepted? So there’s some vulnerability there. But when I can be the real me I can be more productive. I can be a better version of myself if I’m just absolutely me. Instead of trying to hide the skills and the passions that I have, I just let it all out, right? SoI’d love to hear what you all are doing in your own companies to build strong unified communities and what you’re doing to help that community take care of customers. Because we always take care of customers. But who is taking care of the employees that are taking care of your customers? Are we allowing them to share their feelings and their thoughts and their concerns? Or their ideas? We hire these different people because they have different skills.