Peggy Klaus (6 page)

I was what you’d call a late bloomer. I wasn’t a great student in high school, but fortunately what I lacked in grades I made up for in SAT scores. I went to Clemson University and got really interested in politics and public affairs. After I graduated, I spent two years working in urban development in upstate New York, and then I went to the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard …

How do you spend your time outside of work, including hobbies, interests, sports, family, and volunteer activities
? Holly, a sales manager for an insurance agency, listed her four children and their ability to get along with each other as one of her proudest achievements. Digging deep, I asked her what in that experience showcases her superior management skills on the job today. She stopped and thought. Suddenly her eyes lit up, and she said enthusiastically,

As I was raising my four kids, I never realized how important it was going to end up being that I helped them develop strong relationships with each other. It’s turned out that their closeness is one of the things they and I value most about their relationships with each other as young adults. I’m proud they can rely on each other without having to depend on me to initiate or tend to their interactions. It’s a lesson I’ve applied successfully to managing my group at work: I’ve found that the more I can help my team members foster strong connections with each other, the more independently they can function without micromanagement from me. Their autonomy frees my time up, permits them to resolve problems on their own, and ultimately leads to a more productive unit.

Bingo!

As you convert your “Take 12” responses into brag bites and bragologues, ask yourself: Am I expressing this in a way that’s interesting, colorful, and showcases my competence? Am I using a beginning that hooks my listeners and an ending that leaves them satisfied or wanting to know more? Am I describing succinctly and convincingly how I segued from one career or job to another and how my experiences have culminated to make me an expert at what I do today? If you think others might react to your bragging with a resounding “So what,” then start again. Remember, your bragologues are never set in stone; you will put the pieces in your brag bag together in different ways, depending on the audience and time frame.

A WEEK OF BRAGOLOGUES AND BRAG BITES

I just spent a full week, as most of us do, being exposed to endless self-promotion opportunities. I spent a total of twenty-five hours in transit in airports, airplanes, taxis, and hotel lobbies conversing mostly with strangers. I spent another thirty hours with clients on Wall Street. I spent five hours pitching new business. I spent an hour meeting with a producer from a national TV show interested in doing a communication coaching segment. I also made a forty-minute lunchtime speech to a group of lawyers. And finally, I finished up my week by attending a class reunion. Here are my brag bites and bragologues in action.

Situation:
I’m on a jet bound from San Francisco to New York, and the sixty-something stranger seated next to me is reading Jim Collins’s new book,
Built to Last
. Having just read and enjoyed it immensely, I lean over and engage him in a little chitchat, saying, “You are so lucky to be reading that book. I just finished it and I could read it again, it’s so good.”

Stranger: Oh, you must be either an executive or a consultant.

Me: Well, both, actually. I’m the executive of my own communication consulting firm. I guess that makes me a corporate mutt.

Stranger (laughing): “You ought to copyright that term. What does it mean to be a communication consultant?

Me: Well, I have nothing to do with satellites or space stations. My clients are on the ground, mostly in Fortune 500 companies around the country. They’re CEOs, CFOs, COOs, and all the other Os, throughout the company, who ask me to come in and coach them on everything from what I call podium skills—giving presentations to audiences of all sizes, including clients, shareholders, board members, industry and press conferences, even testifying in front of Congress—to interpersonal communication skills in areas like conflict management and leadership development. The groups I work with are as large as several hundred to a handful of people, and often just one on one. I also offer special programs about women and leadership, and teach at Wharton and at UC Berkeley’s Haas MBA programs.

Stranger: Sounds interesting. How did you get into all of that?

Me: I took a wrong turn out of Hollywood and ended up on Wall Street! It all started when I was still coaching actors for television and film, broadcast anchors and reporters. I began getting panicked calls from friends on Wall Street asking for help with their client and sales presentations. They, of course, were climbing the corporate ladder and socking it away in their 401 Ks. At the time I didn’t think I was doing anything of great artistic importance, so I figured why not see if the coaching I was doing with all these performers would translate to the world of Brooks Brothers suits. My years in the entertainment industry included time as an actor, classical singer, director, theater and music critic, producer, and arts administrator. So I really knew the art of performing. And fortunately my hunch was right—the same skills that make performances dynamic in Hollywood can be applied with equal success to business presentation and communication. My friends and their bosses were pleased with my work, and so I started getting calls from their friends and colleagues who had noticed dramatic improvements in them. I discovered that I really liked this new way of using my skills and experience, was good at it, and could actually make money. (What a concept!) And that’s how it all began.

Situation:
My first meeting with a television producer who has read the
Wall Street Journal
story about my bragging workshops. She asks me to tell her a bit more about my background. Knowing that she is extremely short on time, I jump in with this:

Actually, a friend of mine says I’ve reinvented myself more times than anyone she knows. And I’m never quite sure if it’s because I have the attention span of a gnat, or because I am really interested in so many things. I started off my career as an actor and classical singer and then became a director and producer. It may be hard to believe with my Philadelphia accent, but I actually have a licentiate in speech and drama from the Royal Academy of Music in London, signed by the Queen Mum. That all seems like a very long time ago, because for the last eight or so years I have taken all those skills I used in that performance arena and translated them into the business world, where I have been working with corporate professionals, from CEOs and CFOs and all those other Os, all the way down through the organization, in a wide cross section of industries from Wall Street to Silicon Valley, and points in between. I’ve coached my clients in everything from presentation skills—which most people consider getting up behind a lectern, although it’s really about getting them out in front of one—to interpersonal development and leadership skills.

Situation:
A lunchtime speech to a group of lawyers. I open with the following:

My father was a successful Philadelphia attorney and I was sure that I was going to follow suit—and would have, except that one summer after my freshman year in college, I was working in my dad’s law firm, and the managing partner caught me doing an impression of him in the supply room. It was a really good one, too, but he didn’t appreciate the nuances I brought to the performance. In fact, he rather bluntly suggested that I take my talents to the stage rather than the courtroom. So it was good-bye law school and hello to drama school in London. It’s funny, today I work with a lot of attorneys and half of them tell me they wanted to be actors, except they didn’t want to be the “starving actors”—definitely a smart choice! Anyway, most days my life in the entertainment business seems far away from my current incarnation as a communication consultant. And yet it was my graduate training and experience as a director and producer that give me the expertise to work with business leaders on developing executive presence, because the same skills that make performances dynamic in Hollywood can be applied with equal success to trial work and client relations.

Situation:
A coaching session with my client. She asks, “How’s the business?” and I reply:

You know that phrase, “Be careful what you wish for because you just might get it”? Well, I think that has happened for me. Work is fabulous. Your boss was complaining to me this morning that I don’t have enough time for him anymore. In fact, he told me that I was like the mold on his shower curtain: I keep spreading through his organization. And I told him it was his own fault, because he had done such a great job turning around his communication style. Now everyone wants to follow suit. I’ve been very lucky and blessed. I get to do everything I love to do
and
make a living. I perform, direct, teach, write, produce, and critique really smart people, who want to improve and with whom I share a genuine connection. What could be better than that? Someone should smack me if I ever complain!

Situation:
I’m courting a new client. The man I’m speaking with by phone, the CFO of a large health care organization, was referred by a friend of his, the president of a hospital in San Francisco. The first question he asks me is whether I’m a doctor. My response:

No, but I almost played one on TV! Actually, my background is in the arts, not the sciences. But because my expertise is communication, I’ve lectured on doctor-patient communication and personal diagnosis at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health, UC Davis, and UCSF. I have also worked with physicians to prepare them as expert witnesses for trial, press interviews, and, as I did with your friend, coached them on communication skills. For the last eight or so years, I’ve taken all the skills I formerly used in the performance arena and translated them into the business world, where I have been working with corporate professionals, from CEOs and CFOs and all those other Os, all the way down through the organization, in a wide cross section of industries from Wall Street to Silicon Valley, and all points in between. I’ve coached my clients in everything from presentation skills—which most people consider getting up behind a lectern, although it’s really about getting them out in front of one—to interpersonal development and leadership skills.

Situation:
My class reunion. An old friend, whom I hadn’t seen since the last reunion ten years before, asks me, “Are you still working with actors and comics?” I reply, “My goodness, we haven’t gotten together since I started my own firm in communication and executive coaching? I wasn’t a corporate mutt just yet? Oh dear, it really has been a while. How much time do you have? This could be an all-nighter.”

We chitchat some more, and then (because we really do have all night!) I proceed with:

So when we met last I was working in Hollywood. I began getting panicked calls from friends on Wall Street who were climbing the corporate ladder and actually making money. They were asking for help with their client and sales presentations. At the time I didn’t think I was doing anything of great artistic importance, so I figured why not see if the performance coaching I was doing would translate to the world of Brooks Brothers suits. My hunch was right: The same skills actors use to make their performances dynamic are exactly what business people need in their communication. My friends were happy. Their bosses were happy. And I was happy because I really liked it, was good at it, and I could actually make money doing it. (What a concept!) I began getting calls from their friends and colleagues who had seen the improvements in them. And when a dear friend of my husband’s was starting a management-consulting firm, I was asked to train her consultants in stand-up skills and marketing. I did a great job, so they referred me to their big corporate clients. I was hired to coach executives who had the Gerald Ford syndrome: They couldn’t walk and talk at the same time. At the beginning this was a natural fit because of my background, but it has eventually evolved from just helping professionals give presentations to also working with them on interpersonal communication skills in areas like conflict management and leadership development. I train groups as large as several hundred to just a few people, and often one on one. I also have special programs in women and leadership, and recently have been invited to academia to torture those poor souls at Wharton and UC Berkeley’s Haas MBA programs.>

As you have read through my week of bragologues and brag bites, I’m sure you noticed that many key pieces in my brag bag were recycled. The situations dictated which colors and flavors I pulled out of the bag and also determined how long I took to weave “The Peggy Klaus Story.” The more options you have in your brag bag, the easier it is to talk about yourself wherever you go and to make a lasting impression on whoever you encounter.

So Who Do You Want to Impress?

At a bragging workshop a woman raised her hand and said, “I’ve only been on the job six months, so there is no one that I really need to brag to other than my boss.” I asked, “But aren’t there some other people you would like to impress?” She was silent. “Look at it this way,” I said. “Think about your career goals for the next six months, the next year, and the next three years.” She responded that her goals included a promotion in the next nine months and eventually running the division. “So whose radar do you need to be on to ensure success?” I asked. She suddenly rattled off ten names of people within the firm and outside the firm, everyone from the CEO to professionals she had met in trade groups.

Great self-promoters are prepared to brag with anyone, anywhere, anytime. But it’s also important to focus on a few key contacts, people who can make a difference in your career, and then make it a point to get in front of them. Ask yourself: Who can help me meet my goals? Of course, if you’re working, you will naturally include your boss. But go beyond just him or her. Is there a colleague who has contacts? Is there an association with key members who might be important to your future? Is there a prospective customer who could become a real feather in your cap? Is there someone in your neighborhood who is highly influential in your field and worth getting to know better? Is there someone in human resources or a head-hunter who could be helpful?