Okay, let’s resume the series I started before we left for Mexico where I write about some of the major things that have impacted the person I am today.
The first four were my parents, my friends, books and travel (I won’t link to them here as I’ll probably do a master list at the end and link to them all.)
For the fifth one, I want to get a bit more abstract and interestingly, it was while we were sitting in the Regina airport, waiting for our flight to Mexico and bumping into various people I knew or striking up with people sitting nearby that I didn’t, when I thought of this characteristic that helps make me who I am.
Whether you call it “extroversion” or “sociability” or “emotional intelligence” or whatever, the reality is that I think I’ve always been someone who’s very outgoing and interested in and able to connect with other people – whether that’s the high level politician I’m talking to at a fundraising event or the waiter serving our table.
When I started this series talking about my parents influencing me in different ways, this is probably one characteristic that I inherited equally from both of them.
My dad is the kind of guy who will strike up conversations with complete strangers everywhere he goes. When my mom was on the board of directors of the Sask Union of Nurses, we used to joke that her hotel room was often the unofficial hospitality suite for the meetings as she would often play host to various after-hours gatherings.
So I come by it naturally and don’t remember ever having even a phase where I was shy or quiet (though I’m sure there were people who wish I had!)
This has served me well in various ways.
I was impressed when a former coworker casually mentioned that he’d never failed to be offered a job he’d applied for whether he took it or not.
I couldn’t say that but it got me thinking and I realised that I was similar, at least in the fact that I’ve never been in a situation where I *really* wanted/needed a job or an opportunity and not been able to end up with it offered to me – whether that was when I was looking for work when we first moved to Calgary and beat out some very well-known members of the local writing community as a complete unknown to become the WGA’s Southern Alberta Program Officer to being one of only five out of dozens of applicants picked for an exchange to England while I was an undergrad student to getting into a work-employment program when I was an underemployed recent grad soon after convocating.
That one was particularly memorable as the program coordinator, at a wrap-up party at Bonzinni’s brewpub, got talking to me (after a couple pints I suspect) and she said “You did really well in this program considering I wasn’t even going to pick you.”
What?
“Well, I don’t know if you remember but you were the last interview I had on a Friday afternoon. I was burned out from a week of interviewing people and had basically made up my mind I wasn’t going to pick you as I just wanted to get through the interview and head home for the weekend. But you came in and were like a breath of fresh air and so I had to pick you!”
Wow!
My social skills have served me well in a variety of ways – from being able to improvise an hour-long library program for registrants on very short notice when the actual presenter doesn’t show up to finding ways to help others feel welcomed and included in various social settings to being able to talk my way out of speeding tickets (I’ve ended up getting out of a lot more than I’ve paid over the years!)
I’ll have to dig it up but RPL used to (and perhaps they still do?) have a requirement that all librarians applying for a new role had to take the Gallup Clifton Strengths Personality test.
The idea is that there are no wrong answers but after answering a hundred questions or whatever, the quiz will reveal what the five biggest strengths of your personality are.
Again, I don’t remember what my other four were (though I think most of them were connected to being outgoing and interested in other people) but I’ll always remember my top strength (eat your heart out, Gwyneth Paltrow – I’m the king of Woo, not you!)
People exceptionally talented in the Woo theme love the challenge of meeting new people and winning them over. They derive satisfaction from breaking the ice and making a connection with someone.
