Welcome to the Outrageous Workplace Stories series of the podcast. In these episodes, you’ll see ways to handle even the toughest of workplace situations with power and impact  while making humanity a priority.  These stories shaped how I went from receptionist to HR manager in four short years  without a degree, without the qualifications or experience that you would have thought I needed.  This series is designed  to help you turn everyday challenges into momentum for your next level,  no matter where you’re at right now. of staying grounded in your humanity and being true to who you are as a person is important to you. Yet, also want to get to your next level. You want to earn more money and you want to create a professional life you’re proud of. That is also at the top of your list. I’m here to tell you that you can do both. And this is where you start. Let’s days of outrageous work stories that you wouldn’t believe happened. I was hired at a place where They hadn’t really figured things out yet.  One of the people who was hired was a communications director. Instantly, I connected with this woman. She was knowledgeable. She knew what she was talking about. She had really good, fresh ideas that I loved and  what she said resonated with me.  And immediately, I decided I want her to be my mentor. I want to have a good relationship with her. I want to be able to go and ask her questions. She was very, very helpful. She really gave me some incredible advice and ideas and she let me run with them as my own. From early on, I appreciated her.  But when she communicated with the executive team,  they often didn’t take her ideas very well and they didn’t want to  implement what she was talking about.  And the reason why, because I talked to her quite a bit. after when she would go into a meeting and she would present ideas and she would come back out and she would be very frustrated by how the meeting had gone.  She would say things like, oh, they’re just not interested in change. They’re in the past. They’re not interested in making their company successful.  They are not wanting to  move on their points.  They’re just not open minded and they’re going to fail. Basically, they’re going to fail. This isn’t going to work unless they start listening to some new ideas. They were very resistant to her.  She had good ideas. She had done a lot in her career. That’s why she was hired She had a really good track record for doing a lot of things  and building up a lot of companies to a lot of success with her skills  And I thought I wonder why they’re not listening to her. They hired her. They obviously trusted her expertise  I didn’t really understand it either myself. That’s weird. I don’t know why they’re not right Anyway, she ended up getting let go from that company. Then she went on later to work for another company because she got hired again. She’s very successful and has a lot of skills and a lot of a great resume. Then she got fired from that company too. And when I connected with her, it was the same reason. It was they weren’t listening to me. They weren’t open minded enough. Basically, it was the same thing she said. This happened a couple more times. I started to realize after talking to her a little bit more. is it’s what’s called authority hubris. Authority hubris is where you go in, assume you know best,  and tell people what they should be doing. You’re like, we should be doing this, this, this, and this, and this. And if you’re not open to that, then you’re dumb. Not in those words exactly.  And this is where they’re totally losing the human component. They’re losing the fact that the humans on the other side need you to adjust how you’re making your point.  They need to see more. They need to get on your side in a different way.  This is the skill because even if you’re not using authority hubris. If you go into a conversation and your idea doesn’t get heard or it doesn’t get the attention it deserves, they don’t ask you questions about it or you don’t even get to put it across in the way that you want it to, they don’t pick up what you put down. It’s because one person in that team or on that executive team, they might really care  about how it’s going to impact the people in the company  and if you have an addressed how that’s going to impact people positively or in a way where we can make it positive for the people, then they’re not listening. That’s why I teach in my Mindset to Hired program something called the Target Method, which is what actually allows you to ask questions in a way that gets you the information you need to be able to talk to people in an interview. It doesn’t just apply in an interview. It applies where you’re presenting ideas to somebody  who isn’t open to your ideas yet. They’re not fully on board with what you’re saying yet. And these skills are way more important than  going to get another certification or going to get a degree because this woman that I’m telling you about, had a degree  and she had years of experience. She had everything and that’s why she was getting hired. But then she couldn’t keep the jobs because she wasn’t able to communicate her points across  and mitigate what everybody was thinking  and their fears and concerns. I believe we can be professional while being deeply human and compassionate  and hearing people out. And we don’t always have to do everything everybody wants us to do,  but we do need to create a dynamic so that we can be heard. And from there, there’s always a way to turn the uncomfortable situation into momentum, into a better experience, into a better relationship. There’s always a way to do that. It’s just that people end up shutting down or getting bitter or giving up or just getting grumpy. This is happening all the time and people are just thinking, oh, it’s because nobody’s open to it. It’s because they’re closed minded. And you know what? I like to say to myself, like when someone wasn’t into my idea, or they weren’t on board, I would be like, okay, I’m gonna win them over. This is gonna be fun. I’m gonna figure out how I’m gonna win them over. And I would think of all the different ways that I was gonna win them over. And then I would make it a game for myself. And very often, I would end up with a better relationship with the person. I would get them seeing more things that they hadn’t been open to. And it was a very detailed, fun experience. And so that is what I teach people who wanna be able to advance in their careers and are struggling right now to communicate your ideas. If you are feeling like you’re not seen and heard, if you’re feeling like no matter what you say, it’s not getting through,  this is gonna be a really great experience for you. I help people land great jobs first, and then I help them thrive in those jobs by being professionally human the whole way  without abandoning themselves in the process,  without having to  throw anybody under the bus  to get to the top. We do this in a professionally human manner. Be really enjoyable and fulfilling. I hope you’re following. Click the link below to subscribe and get all the videos sent to you  and I will see you in the next one. If you enjoyed that story and you gleaned something from it,  if you want to learn how to master your professional life  while being told impactful yet deeply human, join the waitlist for professionally human.  The link is in the show notes. I  can’t wait  for you to see what I have in store.