The Value of My Words

I recently spent a few hours over a couple of days working with my mentor on his magnum opus project. He had come to a sticking point about his presentations and about how he was attempting to educate his audience on the value of his product set. He was attempting to show everyone everything in its set of capabilities to convince potential investors of the breadth and depth of his offering and of its benefits to their organizations. We talked intensely about what he was saying to them.

We concluded that he was not putting enough “sexy” into his presentation. He was also not controlling his audience’s perception of his product. The product is his invention. And as I told him, it is what he says that it is. If he wants to say that his product will fly through the air like Superman, then it will. It is up to others to prove that it won’t; not that he is intending to mislead anyone. I was able to convince him to look at his product from a more creative and market-savvy perspective. It was not necessary to overwhelm them with the technical. Instead, he should focus on seeing what he is presenting from the viewpoint of a sales and marketing expert who is out to make a sale.

He thanked me for my input and told me that our conversation was valuable to him because it helped him to re-frame how he was doing things. It made me feel good to help him out, especially after he has helped me so much to go after a better perspective in dealing with my issues.

None of this is about me tooting my own horn or about helping others through crises of perspective. Instead, it is about the value of words, specifically mine.

I have spent the last few years feeling marginalized. My word has meant next to nothing in corporate settings. In my private life, I have felt disrespected and denigrated by how what I have said and suggested has been swept aside and ignored. Whether because of my circumstance, my finances, my mood, or just the people with whom I have dealt, I have felt like a second class citizen. I have gotten to the point in many instances where I felt that there was no point in me saying or suggesting anything. I figured that I was throwing pearls before swine or simply talking over people’s heads.

My conversations and input with my mentor have pulled me back from that backward train of thought. I now know that my words and thought do have value, whether they are acknowledged as such or not. I am not saying that everyone is entitled to my opinion; instead, I am entitled to express my opinion as I see fit. More importantly, I don’t need approval from authority or peers or anyone else to say what I think I need to express.

Many times, the value of things that I have expressed to people has gone unacknowledged. That impact often shows up later in how they modify their approaches or behaviors to situations. I think that I have been caught up in a need for acknowledgment or some sort of thanks for giving them something that helps them to expand their perspective. I am coming to understand that the value in that type of sharing for me is in how it fulfills my need to lend a philosophical helping hand to those around me. It also corresponds with how I treat doing physical things for people.

I have never been one to look for outward displays of appreciation. I do things because I want to do them or because I feel that they need to be done. Maybe this shift in perception draws me more into alignment with who I should be. Maybe it takes out the need for externalization and takes more of my motivation to the internal plane where I think that it belongs. Only time will tell.