It is inspiring to see the country come together and reflect on the challenges facing the black community and the pervasiveness of racial injustice.
We all have lives outside of work; however, as we are stuck working from home because of the pandemic, it is becoming increasingly difficult to separate life at work and life outside of work.
Now more than ever, it is crucial to speak up against injustices in our communities and our places of work even when our voice is trembling. Our collective voices can and does make a difference.
I’ve had a few colleagues at work reach out to ask how I am doing, which I’ve appreciated. My response continues to be: What are you going to do differently in light of all this?
We all know the extent of what we can do differently; I hope it’s not to remain silent and wish this all goes away so we can get back to business as usual.
I have been working from home since late February, which means I have had to adjust my way of selling while social distancing and observing the shelter in place order in Seattle. Below are three ideas that have worked for me as I adapt to the new normal of working from home and unable to visit clients face to face. If there are other methods or strategies you’re applying to generate positive results, please share them with me.
1/ Sell with empathy. We are in the midst of social distancing, not empathy distancing. Almost every salesperson, including me, likes to think they connect better with potential clients face to face instead of virtual. The reality is that how we show up is usually consistent regardless of the communication channel. Also, it is times like these where there is uncertainty and crisis that reveals our true self. Now more than ever, investing the time to master social and emotional skills will benefit our customers, employers, and most importantly, ourselves. According to a study by McKinsey Global Institute, one of the fastest-growing skills that employers will demand by 2030 is social and emotional skills. They define “social and emotional” skills as “soft skills,” which include: advanced communication and negotiation, empathy, the ability to learn continuously, to manage others, and to be adaptable.
So what does it mean to sell with empathy?
Selling with empathy for me means walking a mile in someone else’s shoes even if the shoes do not fit. Having empathy is not just the ability to understand the feelings of the other person; it also involves sharing the feelings. Selling with empathy is also about having compassion for these executives navigating these complex challenges. These executives are responding to this crisis with improvisations as there are no playbooks, so be patient and compassionate. Your goal should be to make a genuine connection not just a sale.
2/ Find opportunities to help your potential client execute ideas faster. If you’re in enterprise sales, you’re probably familiar with the concept of Time To Market (TTM). It means the length of time it takes from a product being conceived until it’s available for sale. The companies that can bring the best products to market the fastest often gain the lion share of the market segment. As executives and decision-makers meet internally to explore ideas of how to navigate the challenges that this pandemic is having on their businesses, they will seek partners to help them not just go from idea to revenue, but idea to survival in the shortest time possible. Once you have developed a deep understanding of your potential client’s challenges (because you’ve mastered selling with empathy :)), you will be able to provide a valid and refreshing point of view of why you’re the right partner to execute the ideas.
3/ Insert humor. We all know the saying that laughter is the best medicine. As our potential clients deal with the pressures of today and uncertainties of tomorrow, a good laugh could be the highlight of their day. You don’t have to be a stand up comedian with a special on Netflix to make people laugh. You do need some creativity though. For example, I wore a t-shirt with my client’s logo during a video conference meeting. During my introduction, I shared that although my employer pays me, the company I really work for is my client, hence the t-shirt I was wearing. They all had a good laugh. Mission accomplished.
“You don’t stop laughing because you grow old; you grow old because you stop laughing.”—Michael Pritchard
Bonus: When it comes to staying connected, meet your customers where they are. One of my customers said their preferred method of staying connected is through Telegram, so I downloaded the app. Another said text📱 messages, so we became texting buddies. Another said Slack, so I joined their channel. Another said phone calls☎ , the other said email📧 , and her colleague said fax machine📠. Just kidding about the last one, no one uses fax machines anymore; but if they did, I’ll get a fax machine.😁 This concept of meeting your customers where they are would hold true even after things get back to normal. My recommendation is to discover your customer or potential client’s preferred method of staying connected and adapt to it.
PSA: During this pandemic, let’s all follow the recommendations of medical professionals and do our part to flatten the curve. Also, keep doctors❤ , nurses❤ , and first responders❤ in your prayers.
Happy selling, and be safe.
Amazon Web Services is hiring sales professionals. If interested, find job postings here and send me a note. Happy to refer and coach you through the process.
According to Dr. Wendy Suzuki, professor of neuroscience and psychology at New York University, a game of “table tennis works parts of the brain that are responsible for movement, fine motor skills, and strategy – areas that could be growing stronger with each match.” It is no surprise it is easy to spot a table tennis corner in communal areas of some of the fastest-growing startups and technology companies. My passion for table tennis began many years ago in Nigeria when my parents bought us a table when I was about twelve years old. My game has continued to improve, and I feel fortunate to work in a field where taking a few minutes to play a game isn’t frowned upon but encouraged to build camaraderie and brainpower. There are four lessons the game of table tennis has taught me about selling.
1/ You can influence the outcome by focusing on what you can control– In a standard game of first to 21 points, each player gets to serve at least ten times. A serve is when the ball is tossed up at least 6 inches and struck, so the ball first bounces on the server’s side and then the opponent’s side. The level of creativity of your serve is one of the elements of the game you have full control over. As such, making it difficult for your opponent to return your serve is one of the fastest ways to score points and gain an advantage. However, mastering a difficult serve takes immense discipline and practice. Similar to sales, you can influence the outcome of an opportunity by maniacally focusing on the elements of the process you can control.
Pay attention to the serve which sets up the opportunity for the forehand smash.
2/ Mistakes are inevitable; learn from them. A player who dwells on the mistakes made, which may have caused him to lose a point, is often visibly timid and risk-averse. Since thoughts drive action, it’s essential to have a growth mindset. For instance, instead of thinking “how could I be so careless, dumb, [insert your choice of words] to lose that point?,” try thinking “how can I adjust my game to have an unfair advantage?” A player who learns from her mistakes and makes adjustments in real-time accelerates her potential to win the game and ultimately win in life and business.
3/ Persistence strengthens relationships. I needed to get in front of the CTO and Co-Founder of one of the fastest-growing startups in SoCal. I tried contacting him via email, telephone, and social media but couldn’t get through. After many months, I discovered an article published in the early 2000s of this executive and how he loved table tennis. Instinctively, I challenged him to a game. He accepted. Without going into details about who won (we both did 😃) the game established a foundation for a healthy relationship that continues to blossom. This executive has become a friend and continues to inspire me to improve my game in business and life. He even kindly donated to a table tennis charity tournament I helped organize to raise money for Hack-The-Hood, a non-profit organization in Oakland focused on increasing the representation of minorities in the tech industry.
4/ Do not underestimate your opponent. We all love the stories of underdogs that come from behind to claim victory over big dawgs despite the odds stacked against them. I’ve played many games where I fell behind only to come back to claim victory. I’ve also played many games where I was well ahead only to crumble and lose the game. In both scenarios, one person was underestimating the other person. Chinese philosopher and writer, Lao Tzu, teaches that “there is no greater danger than underestimating your opponent.” In Sales, you’re either representing the incumbent (big dawg) or challenger (underdog). It doesn’t matter who you represent, underestimating your opponent leaves you exposed and unprepared to execute a winning strategy.
As a bonus, check out this incredible 41 shot rally featuring Nigerian table tennis superstar – Segun Toriola. It is a masterclass in executing a defensive strategy.
Last week Monday, I exhausted every means possible to get a hold of a client involved in a deal I was spearheading. I emailed, called, texted, and left a voicemail, but he did not respond.
The next morning, he replied to my text apologizing for being unreachable since he was stuck in back to back meetings. He then suggested we set up a call for 5pm later that day. I asked for an earlier time in the day, but he was firm that he was only available at 5pm. This was a problem. I had a soccer game starting at 5:10pm, and knew our conversation would take at least 30 minutes. There was also a looming deadline, so it was critical we spoke soon. I had to decide whether to take the call at 5pm and risk missing the soccer game or reschedule the meeting to a different day and risk missing the deadline. Playing soccer brings me a lot of joy, and I also thrive on going above and beyond for my customers, so this was a difficult situation.
This dilemma reminded me of a conversation I had a few weeks back with my mentor. He encouraged me to prioritize self-care as part of my daily routine to live a more balanced life. He shared that more than exercising regularly, self-care is any activity that we deliberately do to take care of our mental, emotional, and physical health. According to Forbes, neglecting self-care means not knowing your worth. By making time for self-care, you “maintain a healthy relationship with yourself as it produces positive feelings and boosts your confidence and self-esteem.”
The common challenge with self-care is making adequate time for it. Tchiki Davis, Ph.D, author of Outsmart Your Smartphone, recommends twelve strategies to get started with self-care. To resolve my earlier dilemma, I relied on her “say no to others, and say yes to your self-care” strategy. Below is how she explains it:
Learning to say no is really hard; many of us feel obligated to say yes when someone asks for our time or energy. However, if you’re already stressed or overworked, saying yes to loved ones or coworkers can lead to burnout, anxiety, and irritability. It may take a little practice, but once you learn how to say no politely, you’ll start to feel more empowered, and you’ll have more time for your self-care.
I told the client that 5pm wouldn’t work since I had a soccer game starting at 5:10pm. I suggested we reschedule for the next day, and he accepted. In parallel, I worked to ensure we had enough runway so we could still meet the deadline.
The soccer game started promptly at 5:10pm, and by the end of the first half, my team was down 1 – 4. During the half time break, I encouraged the guys by reminding them we were better than our first-half performance. All we needed was to focus on getting one goal at a time. Within the first 5 minutes of the second half, I scored our second goal, getting us to 2 – 4. We made some technical changes, which allowed our team to score three more quick goals within ten minutes, putting us ahead at 5 – 4. I then added another goal with five minutes left in the game, putting the score at 6 – 4. Our opponents got a quick break and scored a goal with two minutes left, putting the score at 6 – 5. Knowing they would increase the pressure, I reminded the guys that offense is the best defense. Since our opponents committed more of their guys to attack, it left their defense vulnerable. We took advantage, and my teammate provided a perfect through pass. I then dribbled past two defenders before hitting the ball past the goalkeeper on his left side. The score was now 7 – 5, with twenty seconds left in the game. When the referee blew his whistle to signal the end of the game, we had managed to come back from three goals down to win the game 7 – 5. I thought to myself, had I taken the call and missed out on the game, I wouldn’t have been in a position to help my team and be a part of such a memorable comeback story.
The next day, the client asked about the soccer game, and I relived the drama all over again. Even better, we met the deadline, deepened our connection, and progressed our discussions. This experience was a reminder to prioritize self-care because it earns trust with clients and it is good for business.
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When asked what makes a great story, Beau Willimon, showrunner for House of Cards, gave a simple answer: “The most important element in a good story is conflict. It’s seeing two opposing forces collide with one another.”
As I have progressed in my sales career from selling T-Shirts as a college student to negotiating technology agreements as a Senior Enterprise Sales Executive, one thing remains consistent: a good story drives action. Trying to convince a broke college student to spend $25 for a T-Shirt required some artful storytelling. Displacing an incumbent and challenging the status quo means gaining executive consensus and painting a better future through stories.
Telling a good story requires knowing what makes a good story, and from the comment earlier, the most critical element in a good story is conflict. A known supporting cast in any good commercial story is data, which is also a catalyst for conflict and debate.
The key to using data in a story is that it needs to inspire action and accelerate decisions. In Nancy Duarte’s HBR article, she explains that for data to inspire action, they need to do more than make sense – they have to make meaning. If your audience can internalize the purpose of the data, it becomes more actionable, which leads to a faster decision.
Let’s assume you are trying to explain to your audience that your solution could save $2,000,000 over 12 months.
The HBR article shared three strategies you could use to have your data make meaning:
Connect data to relatable size – comparing length, width, height, thickness, or distance. Using our $2M in savings example, you could say to an audience in Seattle: two million dollars stacked up in one dollar bills is about the height of the Space Needle with some change to spare. Guess what happens when next they see the Space Needle from their downtown office? You guessed it, the two million dollars they could be saving with your solution.
Connect data to relatable time – we measure time in seconds, hours, minutes, days, months, and decades. Two million dollars comes out to $7,692 per working day, so each day we delay the decision costs the business $7,692 or $320 per hour or $5 per minute…a minute later in the meeting, you could interrupt yourself and say, wow, there goes five bucks, with a smile.
Connect data to relatable things – more digestible to relate to things people are familiar with. To an environmentally conscious decision maker in Silicon Valley, you could say: two million dollars could get you and your team of 20 engineers a brand new 2019, Tesla Model X. #SaveTheEnvironment (assuming they don’t already own one 🙂 )
When crafting a story, take advantage of opportunities to insert data into the storyline and use the strategies described above to master the art of having the data make meaning. If your audience understands the impact of your data, they would be inspired to use your meaning in internal discussions to navigate conflict, drive action and arrive at a decision in your favor.
A few days ago, I called my uncle who recently underwent knee surgery. Thankfully, he had good news to share. His pain had begun to subside and he was now able to move around. We prayed and laughed together, celebrating his progress.
During our conversation, my uncle shared an Igbo proverb:
Kedu ka i mere ga-agwo oria ma gi jiri obi oma juo ya.
Or in English – asking someone how they are doing can heal their sickness when you ask with a pure heart.
While sales was hardly the focus of our time together, the proverb struck a chord with me. The first half of the idiom is quite intuitive; it’s the second half that I found most poignant, so I’ll focus there.
“…when you ask with a pure heart.”
As sales executives, we are measured on the quantity and quality of our output. As such, we set our sights on delivering these outputs quarter after quarter – making more dials, qualifying more leads and closing more deals. The risk though of getting into this routine is that it’s all too easy to lose sight of the fundamental reason for all of this effort. At worse, our actions could become influenced by insincere motives, which inevitably leads to reduced customer trust and lost business.
With a pure heart, one can climb through layers of rejection and come out unscathed. Even when dealing with what may seem to be a difficult client, a pure heart takes a long term view and eventually earns the customer’s respect and signature. Essentially, a pure heart gets rewarded over and over. It’s also difficult to “act out” having a pure heart for an extended period. In due course, the movie comes to an abrupt end.
In my experience, asking with a pure heart means starting with the customer outcomes, not the product or the competition. If the customer doesn’t believe the intentions are genuine, then nothing else matters and your window of opportunity closes.
Earlier this year, I was invited to give a talk on Developing Executive Presence to a group of startup founders from Morocco, Tunisia, Ghana, and Nigeria. Below are excerpts from my talk with corresponding slides. I hope you get some value from it.
I strongly believe a mastery of executive presence (EP) can help you close more business.
Executive presence starts with you. It requires you to work on your whole self.
From my research, the best definition of executive presence (EP) comes from Sylvia Ann Hewlett in her book “Executive Presence: The Missing Link Between Merit and Success”. She argues that EP rests on 3 pillars: How you act (gravitas), how you speak (communication), and how you look (appearance). Each pillar is somewhat interactive. For example, if your communication skills ensure that you can command a room, your gravitas grows exponentially; conversely, if your presentation is rambling and your manner is timid, your gravitas suffers a blow.
The numbers in each circle means something as well. Of the 268 executives she interviewed, 67% ranked gravitas as the most important pillar. Which means, “you know your stuff cold” and can go “six questions deep” in your domain of knowledge. Next is communication which is at 28% and appearance 5%. The low percentage for appearance explains why executives in Silicon Valley can get away with wearing T-shirts, shorts, and slippers, because they know their stuff cold and can speak to it with confidence and conviction.
Gravitas is the very essence of executive presence. Without it, you simply won’t be perceived as a leader, no matter what your title or level of authority, no matter how well you dress or speak. According to Senior Leaders and Executives, the top aspects of Gravitas are listed in the slide. For this discussion, let us focus on three aspects.
Confidence & “grace under fire” – When you think of any successful executive you know, it’s almost a given that you associate them with being confident and handling “pressure” with ease. If gravitas is the building, then self-confidence is the foundation. Executives want to deal with people who are confident and can handle pressure well because that is their world. When they meet someone with confidence, they are automatically attracted to that individual because they see a similarity.
Decisiveness & “showing teeth” – making difficult decisions is what we look to leaders to do. Executives have to be decisive and are responsible for making the toughest decisions. To sell to executives, you need to develop the same level of decisiveness and showing teeth. According to Sylvia, “real leaders don’t issue edicts just to look and sound like they’re in charge. Real leaders listen, gather critical information, weigh the options carefully, look for a timely opening (typically when everyone else is wallowing in indecision), and then demand action.”
Right-sizing your reputation – your reputation precedes you. The best executives own their stories and you have to do the same. It’s common for someone to google you, check out your Facebook profile, read your tweets, or look at your LinkedIn profile before meeting with you. Are you owning your personal brand and reputation, offline and online?
The author of the book provides eight ways to deepen your gravitas. I want to focus on the three that has helped me win over executives.
Surround yourself with people who are better than you. Studies show you’re the average of the five people you spend the most time with so there shouldn’t be any shame in seeking out people who are better than you and finding opportunities to hang around them. When you seek these individuals, they motivate you to step up your game and raise your standards. This constant pursuit of getting better accelerates the mastery of your craft which will help you win over executives. Executives want to know what other executives are doing and are always looking for opportunities to learn something new or get inspired. Be that inspiration for them.
Be generous with credit – Have you ever had a boss or someone who always took the credit whether they deserved it or not? Well, that is a sign of shallow gravitas. As a leader, the more generous you are with your credit, the more your people will stay engaged and work harder because they know they will be recognized and appreciated. One simple thing I do after calls/meetings with an executive is to thank my team publicly for their insights and contribution in front of the executive. I even make it a point to thank the executive’s staff, whether they were involved directly or indirectly in the meeting. A good example of the impact of this was after a meeting with an executive I had been trying to tie down, I thanked him for his executive assistance (EA) and mentioned how pleasant it was to work with her. An hour or so later, I got an email from the EA, thanking me for going out of my way to say nice things to her boss. Guess what would happen when I ask her to schedule another meeting? Also, I’m sure the executive must be thinking, “this guy went out of his way to thank my EA, what a class act. I’ll definitely meet him again.” He did. This leads me to my next point, humility.
Show humility – Being humble, especially, in a world where everyone is trying to be famous on social media could be difficult. But it really doesn’t have to be. Being humble is always in style. Being humble could be as simple as admitting when you don’t know the answer to a question and committing to finding the answer. Executives can tell when you’re bluffing or making sh*t up. It’s not worth it. Be humble.
The second pillar of executive presence is Communication. I like the author’s definition of communication as it is not so much what you say, but rather how you say it. Essentially, your choice of words matter; your tone matters, your cadence, inflection, articulation, delivery, and eye contact, all play a key role in determining what and how much your listeners take in.
The author identified six communication traits but I want to focus on the first one superior speaking skills. A big component of speaking is your accent. In one of the first cold calls I made early in my sales career, the prospect thought I was calling him from another country because of how thick my accent sounded. I’ve since worked on flattening my accent with practice and coaching. However, when I get nervous, my accent tends to be dominant. Realizing this early in my career allowed me to work on it to ensure it didn’t impede my success.
The key to body language and posture is that to radiate presence, you have to radiate you are present. Have you ever watched someone say one thing in english with their words but their body language and posture was speaking a completely different language? Exactly. You words should match your body language.
Now that we know what communication is, how can we polish it to help with our EP. The author suggested 8 ways to polish our communication skills. The one that has served me well with executives is less can be more. A majority of executives like when you’re succinct and straight to the point. This apply to answers as well as questions. It works magic.
There is one principle that appearance underscores – your appearance should focus your audience on your professional competencies, not distract from them. One of the best advice I’ve received about appearance is to “dress to impress” this has served me well in my career. I’ve found that dressing like the executive or slightly better than the executive works well for me. I never want to dress down. The author describes it as it’s not how good you look, it’s how appropriate you look for your audience. Your appearance is part of your brand, so work on it to make the most of it.
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I often talk about success in sales, but the reality is I have failed much more than I have succeeded. It is a hard truth to admit but the truth nonetheless. Today was one of those days when I felt like I was trying to land a plane with a user manual on the one hand and an instructional YouTube video on the other hand. It did not help that anxious passengers were screaming out instructions in the background as well. I crash-landed. Luckily there were no casualties, just bruises. The bruises should heal quickly, but I am worried the scars might remain for a while.
An interesting fact in sales is that your most challenging clients are often the internal stakeholders you are trying to convince that you are in control of the deal. The best internal stakeholders bring ideas and thoughtful questions to help you move the sale forward rather than only ask questions to “check the box.” The best questions are meant to elicit a discussion that should lead to a refined and effective strategy.
Many times the right answer to these questions might be: I don’t know, but I will take it as an action item to find out.
A response like this requires humility. It’s also okay to admit when you’re stuck so that you can be specific in your ask for help. Today I appreciated working with internal stakeholders that care about my success, and more importantly, are invested in my development as a sales executive.
I asked the CEO of a fast-growing startup in Silicon Valley his approach to selling to other Executives.
His response was simple: “Executives are people.”
How so?
Executives are busy.
Executives are overwhelmed with requests for their time.
Executives are under pressure to deliver results.
Executives are responsible for setting the vision and making the toughest decisions.
Knowing these truths, he approaches each interaction with an Executive with deep empathy and extensive preparation.
What does this look like?
Executives are busy and overwhelmed, so he streamlines his agenda to give them back some time.
Executives are under pressure to deliver results, so he is precise with how his solution can provide the results the Executive cares about the most.
Executives are responsible for making the toughest decisions, so he does everything in his power to show how his solution reduces risk for the Executive.
To establish credibility with the Executive, he aligns with their vision and priorities.
Speaking of priorities, how do you know the priorities that matter most?
Research.
In KPMG’s interview of over 1300 CEOs, the company identified three key priorities for CEOs in 2019: 1) Make digital a personal crusade 2) Navigate through geopolitical headwinds 3) Find the right balance between data and intuition.
PwC’s global CEO survey identified approaches to Artificial Intelligence (AI) and navigating fissures in policy frameworks as the underlying trends shaping the US CEO agenda for 2019.
Research from Workday identified six priorities CEOs care most about which are: 1) Finding growth 2) Taking on risk 3) Managing regulatory changes 4) Leveraging technology 5) Pursuing innovation 6) People and culture
Gartner also recently published their survey of 473 CEO and senior business executives. The top 11 business priorities are 1) Growth 2) IT related 3) Corporate (structural development) 4) Financial performance 5) Workforce management 6) Customer 7) Product improvements 8) Cost management 9) Efficiency and productivity 10) Innovation and 11) Risk management
While these publications are informative and help inform an approach, nothing replaces asking the Executives directly to articulate their priorities in their own words.
Anything else?
Communication style.
Tell me more.
Having the right communication style comes with experience and repetition. It’s a skill that can be developed, but it requires practice, practice, and more practice. Your choice of words matter. Your self-confidence matters. Your tone matters. Your cadence matters. Your body language matters.
Communication at its core is the successful conveying or sharing of ideas and feelings. If your ideas and feelings are not getting across then you’re not communicating.
Also, authenticity matters.
Why?
Savvy, and somewhat cynical Executives can detect inauthentic communication in less than one millisecond.
So, be yourself.
Being yourself is the foundation for building trust. And trust is the anchor for all business relationships that last for generations.
In Dr. Praya Agarwal’s article on Forbes, she cites research that shows it takes less than 30 seconds to linguistically profile a speaker, and make quick decisions on their ethnic origin, socio-economic class, and background. Additionally, we assign values such as pleasantness and prestige but also intelligence based on accents. In Executive Presence: The Missing Link Between Merit and Success, by Sylvia Ann, she found that executive presence rests of three pillars: gravitas, communication, and appearance. In the communication pillar, some of the executives she interviewed cited off-putting accents as an example of a verbal tic that undermines an individual’s ability to have superior speaking skills and ultimately, executive presence. Essentially, accents are part of our identity, whether good or bad.
My family journeyed from a village in Nigeria (Avu) to the United States (Texas) when I was fifteen years old. I immediately enrolled in high school with big dreams and a thick accent. Almost instantaneously, I became the punchline of many name-calling jokes, including the very degrading “African booty scratcher.” Maybe it was bullying, or perhaps it was just high school kids having fun; either way, it made me feel uneasy, unwelcome, and isolated.
One day, I shifted my perspective and made the conscious decision to fully embrace my accent and turn what many labeled as a disadvantage into an advantage. Luckily, my English Teacher acted as a mentor and assured me that with practice I could become as eloquent as a young Sidney Poitier (she thought we resembled each other). Her coaching helped me master my pace, tone, and cadence. These coaching exercises helped me find my voice and ensured I was not only heard but understood.
In my first sales job after college, one of my prospects was convinced I was calling from an “offshore” country during a cold call. My accent was the culprit, again. Granted, he was partly right; the monotony of the job probably caused my mind to wander off to the bustling streets of Lagos with suya in both hands. However, physically, I was definitely in the United States trying to make the almighty dollar. Let’s just say the sale never happened with that prospect.
Over the years, I’ve noticed my accent thickens during big presentations which could be distracting for the audience. So at the start of a big presentation, I often let the audience know that it is okay to interrupt me if my accent hinders their ability to understand me. By saying this, it diffuses tension for me and the audience; they empathize and become invested in my success. I call this reverse accent profiling. Is that a thing? It should be. #LoveAllAccents
So how do you empathize with someone with a thick accent at work?
Resist the desire to make fun of the accent, in private or in public. A mentor once told me when someone makes fun of you with the intent to demoralize and belittle you, what they’re actually doing is projecting their insecurities. Secure people are usually looking for opportunities to uplift others rather than make them feel insignificant.
Reach out and offer to coach and mentor the person. If you’re someone with an accent who thinks it is inhibiting your success, don’t be shy to ask for help. Reach out to colleagues, leaders in your community, senior management, or seek out professional coaching.
For those in leadership, encourage those with thick accents to speak in front of the team or group and provide ongoing feedback, coaching, and mentoring.
Highlight the person when they contribute ideas to team meetings. A brilliant African pharmacist I spoke to described how she would make a suggestion in a meeting but get little acknowledgment. A few minutes later in the same meeting, someone else would suggest her exact idea and get all the admonition and praise. This act happened multiple times until one day she got frustrated and responded to the individual that kept repeating her ideas “I might have said it with an accent, but that’s exactly what I just said.” It stopped happening.
Make a genuine attempt to understand the person with a thick accent, and meet them where they are. It’s fair to say we all have beautiful accents; if they can understand you, why not make an effort to understand them.
Special thanks to Jennifer Obiyo, AG Ukwa, Beth Fatusin, Emilia Lusia Fomuso, Ale Esposito, Jacob Alao, Stephen Ozoigbo, Garrett Mihelich, David Chau, for their inspiration and contribution.
