Humans connect with storytelling. The stories in this episode will help you connect with:
Rachel K Cross https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachelkcross/
Caption Video:
Transcript:
Welcome to the Connection Requested podcast. I'm Mark Tweddle co-founder of You Tell Yours, where we create online events to help your team show up fully. Now, I don't know about you, but I rarely know the people who request to connect with me on LinkedIn. And a LinkedIn connection should be more than just a permission to send me marketing content.
I'd like my LinkedIn connections to be more meaningful and more like the connections that I make in person. The best way I know to create that connection, that understanding, is through the storytelling exercises that we developed for our team events. As ever, I don't want to talk too much because in these episodes, I want you to focus on listening to the guest.
So let's jump right in with our guest's name story. Two minutes to tell the story of your name with no preparation. No one else can tell that story better than you. You are the subject matter expert after all.
My name is Rachel. And if you see me in real life, you'll know that I'm Indian and a lot of people right off the bat are asking me, is what's your real name? Or, you know, is Rachel you're kind of Americanized Western name. And it's not. Actually, I was born in India , my family, was Christian and is Christian. And so 2% of India is Christian, which, you know, is still 2 million people. It's like a billion people there. So, I was named after Rachel in the, in the Bible of Judeo-Christian faith. So Rachel was the, younger daughter of someone named Laban and was a wife of Jacob who is you know, the father of the 12 tribes of Israel. So that's where my first name comes from. And again, it's very disappointing to people as soon as they realize that is my legal name, they then proceed to ask me what my mom or dad's name is. And their names are Annie and John. So quite boring. My middle name now is Kumar, which is my original maiden name.
I did not have a middle name at birth. It's not necessarily tradition in India. So Rachel Kumar was my birth name and then I was married and took on my ex-husband's last name, Cross. We've since divorced, but I kept Kumar. I made Kumar my middle name.
Cause I thought, gosh, I really feel left out in this, not having a middle name thing. And then I kept my name mainly for professional reasons cause I had built up kind of a reputation and career under Rachel Cross. So now I mainly say Rachel K. Cross. And in some ways it's interesting because it's a little bit more ethnically ambiguous. Cross. But then again, when they meet me realize that I, I'm not a Southern California girl, like my accent, my suggest.
Thanks, Rachel. There was a lot of information packed into Rachel's story; religion, ethnicity, the expectations of others, the derivation of her name. It's quite a journey. What I noticed most was her honesty, her curiosity, and her ability to accept other people. That's what I heard. And it's not easy to get that across in a LinkedIn profile. Though, Rachel does do a great job with that on her profile. At the moment she even includes snow chaser and French fry lover. The next story exercise I gave Rachel is to fill two minutes with a story starting with the three words " On Sunday I".
On Sunday, I had a very unusual pandemic weekend. So I don't know about you Mark, but my pandemic weekends have been quite free and clear of activity, which my normal pre COVID social life involved, you know, going from one social activity to the other, that's just my personality.
And on Sunday I had one of those, what felt like a pre COVID Sunday. So I had a friend, come over who's an interior designer, look at my office. She's going to help me rearrange some things. And then I went to a socially distanced outdoor picnic with some friends. Then I went over to another friend's house who I've been kind of quaranpodding with, so she and I have seen each other and she wanted some help. We call it Marie Kondo'ing in her closet. So actually, uh, using Marie Kondo's, technique of the art of tidying up to, to get rid of some of the things that are no longer giving her joy. And then I came back and actually, uh, we had dinner with our neighbors who we've also been quaranpodding with.
We've become really good friends with our neighbors downstairs. So it was a strange Sunday in that I had so much activity. I, was quite exhausted at the end. That's one thing I realized. Pre COVID again, I could do, you know, go from one thing to the other, and that would actually energize me a lot.
And now I'm finding the more activity I have actually growing tired, which is a new thing for someone that's an extreme extrovert like me. So it's teaching me to slow down. And what Sunday reminded me is maybe don't plan five activities on the same day because I can't handle it anymore. It's a big shift in the way that I would probably organize my weekends at least.
Thanks. Rachel, do you now feel that you're getting to know Rachel, like if you looked at her LinkedIn profile right now and you needed her services or advice, would you be more comfortable having a call with her? I really hope so. And if nothing else, I hope that you've learned that Rachel K. Cross is awesome.
Please share this podcast, preferably on LinkedIn and keep on having fun, making the base of connections.
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