Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Success Stories: GMA & Diane Sawyer


This past week Diane Sawyer left ABC’s Good Morning America to take over the World News anchor seat. You could say that Ms. Sawyer is in transition. I point this out because of what the Diane Sawyer and staff put together for the last show on GMA. They developed a montage titled: “My Time on ‘GMA’” which included interviews with heads of state, US Presidents, celebrities and just regular folk. It displayed major stories she covered as well as cute and clever incidents that happened to her while on the show.
 
In essence, it was five minutes of video success stories. While she already has her next job and doesn’t need to use her success stories to help sell herself to a new boss, it is clear there is a great deal she has to feel proud about.
 
One of the positive things about being in transition that my clients have point out to me is realizing that they were really good at what they did on the job. If you haven’t done so, take an hour or so and write a history of your work experience. Highlight events that you are most proud of. Get a hold of co-workers, bosses and employees and ask for stories they remember. Also refer back to past performance evaluations and draw out different accomplishment, successes and lessons learned from your career.
 
All this will serve you well in your job search and especially as you prepare for your interviews. You will realize that you are the star of your show and just like Diane Sawyer, co-workers that you have left behind do miss you. Plus, the people you’ll work with in the future cannot wait to hear your stories about how you’re going to be successful with them.
 
We’ll talk more later about the psychology behind success stories and how to use the success story in an interview. 

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