𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗲𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴.
𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗺𝘆 𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗮𝘀.

15 years ago, I was asked to join the GM & Leadership Team’s Business Planning session, and as a young Assistant Brand Manager that didn’t usually happen.

It wasn’t because I had great ideas. Or because they needed my input in the strategy. It was because my manager told them, “𝗠𝗮𝗹𝗮𝗸 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗹𝗶𝗱𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗻.”

And after that, I was in those meetings every year building the slides.

And honestly, a lot of the time, I didn’t love it.
I’d think: "𝘈𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘯’𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘴𝘭𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘴? 𝘐’𝘷𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘺. 𝘐’𝘮 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘟𝘠𝘡 𝘮𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨…”

My colleagues made fun of me:
"𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘬, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘢 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶: 𝘚𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘳 𝘚𝘭𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘴 𝘔𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘳.”
and I'd laugh. But it stung.
Because it made me wonder if that’s all I had to offer.

But one day, my manager told me:
“𝗣𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗹𝗶𝗱𝗲𝘀 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱. 𝗜𝘁’𝘀 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗶𝗴𝗵𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁, 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗹𝗮𝘆 𝗶𝘁 𝗼𝘂𝘁, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗸𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘆𝗼𝘂.”
It helped. But I didn’t fully get it until a decade later…

Today, CEOs and leadership teams across industries and geographies call on us to help them articulate their story. To bring clarity when it matters most. And to do the work I used to think was “just slides.”

Sometimes, the skill you overlook is the one that takes you the farthest. But only if you learn to see it that way.

If you believe in it, sharpen it, build on it, then keep believing in it, again and again...
𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗲𝗱𝗴𝗲,
𝗺𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗻 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲.