Tell Me About Yourself...
How to make it a conversation worth having.
I used to think that charisma is something you either have or you don't, and I was so happy when I learned that charisma can be learned!
And in interviews, it might matter more than your track record, especially for L7+ leaders.
The candidates who stand out aren't always the most polished.
They're the ones who walk in with a giver's mentality instead of a taker's.
Most candidates come in trying to extract something: an offer, validation, proof they're good enough.
Interviewers can feel that energy.
The ones who land multiple offers and up-level during the interviews have a different energy.
Not "how do I impress this person?" but "how do I make this a conversation worth having?"
That shift changes everything, even to "basic" questions like "Tell me about yourself."
Most people treat it like an oral resume with titles, companies.
But what actually creates connection in the first few minutes isn't your track record.
It's your purpose. What you care about. Why you do this work.
That's what makes someone lean in.
Charisma at the leadership level is 3 things: competency, character, and connection.
A recent client was able to skip the 2nd round and go straight to the 3rd round when they internalized this shift from over indexing on competency to also highlighting their character.
I walked through all of this in this video, including how to shift from taker to giver mentality in real time, and how to make "Tell me about yourself" actually land.