Where has this guy been all my blogging life? He says so much that I think only with WAY more pizzazz.
Gary Vaynerchuck is an entrepreneur and a social media guru. If you’re like me, watching his videos will give you tons of ideas and renew your energy if you’re a little off. (Or he might just annoy you, which I’m sure he\’d agree is perfectly possible ;-)) I love listening to Gary because he so often says exactly what I\’m thinking.
And here’s the funny thing … I was thinking that while I was watching his videos (“wow, it would be great if I could be that way but I’m such an introvert blah blah”) and then I clicked on this video, which is Gary’s response to all those people who come up to him and say “I wish I could be like you but I’m such an introvert.” (See! Just as I was thinking it, he had a video about it. It’s freaky!)
But he goes on to say in his video that he is just being himself and that is the core of his success. Not that he’s loud and shouty, but that he’s authentic, and that it doesn’t matter whether you shout or whisper, as long as you are authentic about it. Which, as anyone who has been reading my blog for a while knows, is exactly what I think is the key to job search success. Not inflating your resume to impress people. not trying to be like the other guy. Just being authentically you.
One great example of this is Barack Obama. Whatever your politics, you probably agree that Obama was pretty unflappable during his 2-year long campaign. I follow politics closely and during the campaign, I read blogs about both campaigns every day. Each side was throwing advice at their candidate (He needs to be more/less or this or that. He needs to change this or that. He should stop this or that. He needs to start this or that). In Obama’s case, the advice was mostly to fight more – be more aggressive – get in McCain’s face. But he didn’t. Ever. Not once. And he won and when they did exit polls, they found that the lack of attacks was a key factor in his ability to win over swing voters. All those people saying ‘you need to be a different person than the one you really are’ were wrong.
He and Vaynerchuck couldn’t be more different if they tried – and yet in this way they are the same.
So if I were hiring, I’d like Vaynerchuck because of his passion and energy and smarts. But what if someone walked in for an interview who was just as knowledgeable, just as smart, had just as many good ideas, but had a different personality? Well that person would be cool too, because they’d bring a different set of strengths to the role.
In the end, it’s about what you do, not how you do it. So learn from others, admire others, pick up tips from others – but stick to being exactly who you are because that’s how you’ll fill the potential that only you have.
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