I hear the same opening line constantly, in pitches, in bios, in the first thirty seconds of a networking conversation: “I’ve been doing this for [x] years.”
Nobody’s ever leant in because of a number.
Most people, when they introduce themselves professionally, lead with the least interesting true thing about them instead of the one that explains why they’re good at what they do. The years in business. The company name. The list of clients you’re allowed to mention. All facts, none of them stories, and none of them the reason anyone in the room should care what you say next.
Every one of us has a moment buried somewhere, if we’re honest enough to go looking for it – the client conversation that changed how we work, the thing that went badly wrong and taught us more than anything that went right, the specific reason we do this rather than something considerably easier and better paid. That’s the story. The years in business are just the receipt for it.
The Mic Drop principle I teach speakers applies exactly the same way to a sixty-second introduction as it does to a full keynote: start with the moment, and let the credibility arrive on its own, once the story’s already made the room care – not a CV read out before anyone has a reason to. Nobody trusts a stranger because of their bio. They trust them because something they said made the room go quiet for a second.
Something to sit with this week:
What’s the true story you’re not telling because the safe, boring version feels more professional? What would happen if you led with that instead, the next time someone asks what you do?
Nobody remembers the years; they remember the moment.
#UnleashYourAwesome