Episode 366 - Sylvie di Giusto

Episode 366: Sylvie di Giusto
“How to Discover Your Fair Advantage”

Conversation with Sylvie di Giusto, an international keynote speaker with 20 plus years of corporate experience in Europe and she is also the author of The Image of Leadership as well as Discover Your Fair Advantage:  Leverage Your Unique Selling Points for Work, Business, and Life.

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  • ****Please forgive any and all transcription errors as this was transcribed by Otter.ai.****

    Sylvie di Giusto 0:00

    Hi. Guten tag. Bonjour, Zhao. I'm Sylvie di Giusto and you are listening to A Shark's Perspective.

    (Music - shark theme)

    Kenneth Kinney 0:26

    Bonjour tout le monde y bienvenue a A Shark’s Perspective. Je m'appelle Kenneth Kinney mais mes amis m'appellent Requin. Wait, I’ve got to go back to English. I got too inspired by our guest today. I'm Kenneth Kinney, but friends call me Shark. I'm a keynote speaker, a strategist, a shark diver, host of this show, and your Chief Shark Officer.

    Kenneth Kinney 0:43

    You know, people often feel stuck and without deserving recognition. Many though just haven't discovered yet their own advantage. There are so many ways you can succeed while increasing your visibility and identifying your unique selling points as well as overcoming self sabotaging behaviors, then how should you go about finding that and employing it for work, business and life? How do you as a leader discover your own fair advantage?

    Kenneth Kinney 1:06

    Sylvie di Giusto is an international keynote speaker with 20 plus years of corporate experience in Europe and she is also the author of The Image of Leadership as well as Discover Your Fair Advantage: Leverage Your Unique Selling Points for Work, Business, and Life.

    Kenneth Kinney 1:21

    And on this episode, we will discuss seven seconds and how leaders package themselves to stand out for the right reasons. differentiators five cornerstones of modern emotional intelligence, a Spanish Italian French Austrian heritage, building a foundation for fair advantage and committing to that advantage. conscious and subconscious biases about 185 of them. What happens in eight seconds. Famous Austrians went to be out on a vote in the bay shared meditation methods, hard hitting questions at Fox News and CNN won't ask and a lot, lot more.

    Kenneth Kinney 1:51

    So let's tune into an international speaker who meditates on a boat with an internationally speaking shark who meditates in the water on this episode of A Shark's Perspective.

    [music]

    Kenneth Kinney 2:05

    Sylvie, welcome to A Shark's Perspective. If you will tell us a little bit about your background in your career to date.

    Sylvie di Giusto 2:11

    Thank you very much for having me. It's the first time ever I'm on a podcast with a shark. So I'm very excited that the first time a good

    Kenneth Kinney 2:20

    How about making a good seven second impression?

    Sylvie di Giusto 2:22

    A good seven second impression, right. Um, other than the seven seconds, which are a topic in my business I spent now around 12 years in the speaking circus. I help organizations and individuals find out what the first impression says about them. And how they can use five modern tools have emotional intelligence to control their first and hence that lasting impression. Before then I spent around 20 years in corporate Europe always have been involved if somebody got hired or fired, and everything in between. So in human resources, and live a beautiful life here in South Florida in the Tampa Bay area, after 10 years being in New York City, Manhattan. That was a short run.

    Kenneth Kinney 3:13

    That's perfect. So let's talk a little bit about your first book. And then I want to talk about your new book. So the image of leadership, how leaders leaders package themselves to send out for the right reasons, what was the impetus for the book.

    Sylvie di Giusto 3:27

    So the image of leadership is based on my 20 years of corporate career, especially the last 10 years, where I built up and management academy for the biggest Tourism and retail company in Europe, I was responsible for the top 100 leaders in that organization who had around 100,000 employees. And what almost fascinated and frustrated me a like was that when we hired people for those top positions in the organization's most often we looked outside. And then I was involved in those interviews. And you know, the people walked into the room, they said all the right things, they looked exactly the way we wanted them to say they behaved exactly the way we wanted them to behave. And years later, I had to fire them because of a total lack of performance. So I thought, What is the difference between first how we perceive people and why are we often wrong? And second, why do not some of our very ambitious young people in the own organization stand out to us as potential leaders and obviously don't have that image of leadership, making us believe that they would be the way better fit for that position? And so it was my first dive into the world of image and positioning and branding and I developed a small model called the ABCDE model during that time, and I remember since you also such a successful speaker was at a book lab at the very beginning of my speaking journey. And Mark Sanborn, one of the biggest leadership is because in the United States said to me after I had 1000s of excuses not to publish that book, he said, nobody cares about your first book. But everybody cares that you have a first book. Good point. And then it was a very wise recommendation. So I went down and published it. But unfortunately, he grabbed my shoulder and pulled me back and said, but you need a really good second book. And here I am now.

    Kenneth Kinney 5:48

    Yeah, with a really big and good second book called Discover Your fair advantage. Leverage your unique selling points and human potential for work, business and life. So let's pivot a little bit towards that. Talk about the setup for the book and where that comes from, as well. Well,

    Sylvie di Giusto 6:05

    you are all the listeners, including you, you are all marketing experts and sales experts. So I don't have to tell you what a unique selling point or unique selling proposition is. And we are all great in applying the unique selling proposition idea on products and services. But have you ever applied it on yourself as an individual? What is unique about you so unique that nobody else can offer what you offer? And so in my sessions, where we often if I ask professionals, what is unique about you, they come up with very average and mediocre responses, like you know, I'm just better or faster, or I sell better products, or I offer better customer service. But if you use those meaningless phrases, you get into a comparison trip, because if I walk over to your biggest competitor, i My bet is if I asked them, What about you, they also say, Well, my my customers experience on service that I have is way better than yours. And I'm faster, and I'm better. And so I spent three years of research and writing to figure out how we can use the concept of unique selling proposition on individuals. And in this book, I help you to identify 15 of your unique selling points that make you the one of a kind human being and professional that you are so that at the very end, you really can say I'm a category of one. There is nobody else out there. Who offers those 15 unique selling points.

    Kenneth Kinney 7:51

    That's fantastic. So before we jump into this massive book, what do you think your unique selling point is for you?

    Sylvie di Giusto 7:58

    Well, I could tell you now 15 of them, because obviously I applied the concept on myself, but I tell you one that is most of the most surprising one. So one of the chapters cover covers one of the unique selling points, competition and dominance. What do you do different? And not just better than your competitor? Do you have an answer for yourself? Shark? What do you Yeah?

    Kenneth Kinney 8:28

    What do I do? What brands I work with? Different?

    Sylvie di Giusto 8:31

    Yeah, what do you do different than your biggest competitor?

    Kenneth Kinney 8:36

    Well, so from a speaking standpoint, I don't know anybody else that swims with sharks on an active basis. And people keep telling me to lean in. That's why I'm asking you this question. I often try to push myself away. Because my own corporate background experience, I want to kind of live in talks about that. But then I get people who nonstop want me to lean into more of the unique standpoint of I'm the only person they know that actively swims with sharks, we mountain speaker demo reel as a warning. Don't try this without a professional. It's me diving with sharks. And so that is probably mine.

    Sylvie di Giusto 9:14

    So which is a wonderful response, but chances are Hein and I find another speaker who dives with sharks, right? So and this is a good example of what we very often do is we respond instantly. But the first question to ask would actually be who is my competitor? And we forget that we have direct competitors, indirect competitors, current and future competitors. So for example, one of our future competitors, clearly artificial intelligence, right. And so very often we don't even think about the fact who is our competitor, and who is coming down the line that I can answer that question accordingly. So For myself, I just give you an example. And I don't walk you through all the steps. But what I found is years ago, when I lived in New York City, one evening, a TV producer reached out to me on a team of a TV show reached out to me and said, Can you come in this evening? And comment about the public persona of Chris Christie? A politician of New Jersey? And I said, Sure, right. At the very beginning, I didn't question it. It was Fox News. I didn't question who is chris Christie, I just jumped into a taxi or Uber or Lyft, and went to the studio. On the way I Googled who is chris Christie, because honestly, I had no idea on didn't know much about him, so that I could give answers to whatever questions occur to him. So it wasn't the show. And for whatever it was a set up where I was with political experts, and they follow politicians throughout the day. And like TMC in the evening, they come together and report about their days. And the evening, I've watched it, and I didn't like myself on camera. And then they invited me again and again and again and again, and that become a regular part of this show. But it was horrible, horrible for me to watch that show myself in the evening. Because there were all those vowels, spoken politicians, the head picture perfect English, they had so sophisticated, yummy words that I didn't even know what they meant. But it just sounded so impressive to me. Long story short, at the holiday party of Fox News, I was invited, I sit down with the producer have a glass of wine, I approached him and said, I have no idea why you invite me again and again. And I share my insecurities with him and point to my mouth and say this, this just sounds horrible. And then he said something to me, that forever changed my life. He said, That's the reason why we invite you. Because first, you sound like an international expert. And second, you say things so easily that everybody in the audience understands you. While they don't understand the political experts. And that is my unique selling point, compared to my competitors. Nobody can fake that. Nobody can come and say I'm gonna, from now on, I'm gonna have a strong accent, right? Because I want to sound like somebody who has a Spanish grandma and Italian grandfather, a French father and an Austrian mother. And I realized that I would say 90% of my speaking audiences are from companies with a global perspective. And that is something that only I can offer, and none of my competitors. And so even if I started to weakness, it's actually a unique selling point. And throughout my pocket take you on a very intense journey of self discovery, to find 15 of these unique selling points that only you can offer.

    Kenneth Kinney 13:30

    There was so much better than my swimming with sharks comment. I have no excuse. But I also do your credit. And even Fox News is that when you don't know who that person is, you can look at it without a lot of the bias that exists, you don't become kind of in that prison of two ideas where you're locked in politically, wondering, how do you look at somebody with a whether you have a red jersey or a blue jersey on then then you don't you just inject too much bias. But this book is outstanding. It's roughly what 500 pages and it's in three parts. And I'd like to at least from a very high level go into each section, but from a higher level, how do we go about building the foundation for our fair advantage?

    Sylvie di Giusto 14:13

    Do you find these foundation requires a few steps. First of all, you need to commit to fully stand out. You can't leverage your fear advantage by blending in. And so there are two ways to stand out for the right reasons and for the wrong reasons. So I covered a little bit how to stand out for the right reasons and not for the wrong reasons. And why it is important to commit to standing out and what visibility has to do with it. Because we very often think that opportunities will just walk by and see us but unfortunately, that's not how it works. Decision makers who are empowered to make decisions about your career, no matter if you are employed in a company or if you're self employed than the decision makers, your customer, right? They have a variety of options out there. And you need to commit to stand out from the sea of sameness. And so I'll take you through a few visibility types and visibility levels in the first part of the book, to help you identify where you actually are and what you have to change to what I call to become a visibility strategist, which is to show up and stand out at the right time, at the right moment with the right people. Because in the best case, visibility happens without you involved. We always think that visibility is something where we have to raise our hand, say something smart stand out. But the highest level of visibility is when people talk about you in a room where you are not present. Where somebody knows so much about you that when an opportunity arises, they say, do you know about charge, he has exactly what we need, and opportunities for you I created without you being involved on knowing about it, then that is the part that the first part, the first part of the book covers all of this?

    Kenneth Kinney 16:26

    Well, again, from a high level with part two, how do you go about discovering what that advantage is?

    Sylvie di Giusto 16:33

    Well, we dive into 15 different chapters, and every chapter gives you tools, and a lot of questions, you will be tired of my questions that are asking you to identify those 15 unique selling points and they go from what are your values and beliefs? How do you show up to work? My values are very different from yours might what are your three core values and beliefs? What is your origin and story? Everybody comes with a unique story with a past that has influenced the way we now go to work, you might have grown up with a single mother or as a sibling of 18 children, or you might have traveled the world with your parents. So everybody brings a story. And very often we think, Wow, that is personal. But that has crafted the human being that you are we go into your natural talents and gifts, has nothing to do with your skills and experiences. But each of us is born with a set of natural talents, something that just comes easily to you, where you get angry, if others don't apply it because it comes so easily to you. And not realizing well, that is just your natural gift and others have a different set of natural gifts, then yes, we talked about your skills and competencies, the skills that you have learned over the time of your career paths and education. Then we dive into expertise and thought leadership. What exactly is your expertise to position yourself as a marketing expert is not enough? Because there are millions out there who say that they are a marketing expert. So we dive really deep into what in your expertise makes you unique something in marketing that only you can offer? accomplishments and achievements is another one of my favorite chapters because rarely do we sit down and write out what we have accomplished so far. But some of us are lucky and have awards and media coverage. But on a day to day basis. If you ever sit down and really think about what have I truly accomplished so far, you will be surprised how many achievements and accomplishment judgments are related to you might be increase of revenue, or might be saving of costs and many more things. Then we talk about your clients and praise. You know, very often we struggle with bragging about ourselves. So it's much easier you let others brag about you. Who are your top clients, what do they consistently say about you? And how can you use that for your own positioning? We talked about problems and solutions. What problem do you solve? Very often people instantly think of their job title and say well, I'm a marketing expert. I solve every problem around marketing. But again, this is what all others see us now. So I go with you on the underlying problem that you solve emotional pain points, strategic pain points, financial pain points, diversity pain points. There are so many pain points clients have that they can't formulate and I help you too. formulate how you actually help them. Who is your audience and your buyer, we almost all think about the buyer that buys us in our service. But we also have an audience and they influence the buyer to make that buying decision. Then what I just mentioned competition and dominance, your location and reach is also a unique selling point. And very often we underestimate the fact that our location has a story to tell, also has a reputation. And what is your exact reach? How do you define that? Then passions, and obsessions, each of us is passionate about something and we get goose bumps and rarely do we bring that to our daily work. So how can you position your passion for diving for example, not just by saying that you dive, but what? What benefit does that have for the, for the decision makers? So for example, you could say something like, I'm a passionate diver, I don't have fear, I'd like to take risks, and that from there we go into positioning that for companies who are risk averse, and how you can help them mind. What do you volunteer for? And where are you an advocate? What topics are important to you? And last, but not least fun fact, what is something that nobody knows about you? But that is just amazing, and even your workplace should know about it? Thank you very much for coming to my talk. It was a very last one a lot here.

    Kenneth Kinney 21:41

    No, that was I mean, that alone is the perfect reason to go purchase the book. I am curious, though, as people discover this. And as you've seen this over your career, as they're looking for their advantage or their unique selling point, do you find that people are surprised that their impression because you were talking about this a lot with your you know, with the seven seconds? And how they make that first impression? Are you finding that more people are surprised that they contradict what people's first impression of them is? Or are they more often write about what they think their first impression is? Because I think this sort of plays into how they go about discovering what that advantage is. Sometimes it's a wake up call, and sometimes it's not.

    Sylvie di Giusto 22:27

    You know, that is a very good question, I'm gonna respond to you what I always say to my speaking clients, I tell them, I can't fix all your problems, right. But when I come and speak to your audience, usually in the audience, I find three different groups. One group, they are just okay, they are good, they already have figured it out, they might walk out with one or two or three tools that I can give them to do something that they are already doing good, just better. And I'm excited to meet them. One group will have a ah ha moment, right? Realizing I had no idea that, first of all, this matters so much second, that there is so much brain performance happening, that I had no idea that I'm fighting against, so that I can also use to my advantage, and just our real lift that they finally found the reason why nobody perceives them this way, and nobody perceives them that way. And then I'm also honest, there is one group I will never be able to change because they are so convinced that what they are doing is right and what you are doing is wrong. And the actual problem from a corporate perspective is that I tell my clients usually they are in the wrong positions anyway. It their first impression really is not as much as important as the actual problem that they created that they are the wrong people for the wrong chumps.

    Kenneth Kinney 24:16

    Great point. So part three, you talk about not sabotaging your fair advantage. But I'm curious as we create this footprint go forward even with it, whether you're in the workplace because I know you've talked about dealing with executives as well. For a lot of people, they've already passed the first impression. PN start over with a first impression so that someday they can be CEO, you know what I mean?

    Sylvie di Giusto 24:40

    So there are two types of sabotage. One is it's an outside job, and one is an inside job. Let's start with the outside job. When you make a first impression on somebody, even if I market myself everywhere with those seven seconds, it's just a number that I have from one study. It can be shorter or longer. pitted, and so on. But what happens afterwards is that very powerful sources are working against you. Conscious biases. Our subconscious mind is very strong, we know that there are around 185 unconscious biases out there. One of them is confirmation by us. People just wants to be right. They look for proof. So even if you made a mistake, and don't make that mistake, again, they're still looking for proof that you make it again and again and again. And again. Because our brains want to be right. anchoring bias anchors that information in their brain, and they just cannot let go of it, it will pop up every single time when you have context to them or even not. The bandwagon effect, if somebody else confirms what they thought about you, they instantly jump on the bandwagon. Because if others think the same, we all must be right. So the actual problem is not the first impression, the actual challenge are those unconscious biases afterwards, that you have to redirect. And so this takes time. And this takes effort. And this takes notice of factors like each of them comes with a different set of cultural beliefs, generational background. So there is no one size fits all formula. But I always say if there is a country of second chances, it's the United States, and you always have a second chance, then what I just encourage you to do is if you control that first impression at the very beginning, those unconscious biases can also work in your favor, you do something outstanding in those first seven seconds, and their brain is instantly looking for proof, they will anchor it. And they also jump on the bandwagon effect if somebody else mentions that right. So just use them to your advantage. The bigger problem very often is the inside job, how we sabotage our self. That is self discipline, self care, self promotion, all of those things, for example, lack of self protection leg, then it is an inside job. As a professional in the workplace. For example, we very often underestimate how important self care is for our self. And then in the hustle of the day we forget about it and sabotage all the hard work that we have put into leveraging our fair advantage. And so especially if you ever aspire, some sort of leadership position in your organization, even if it's just a small department in your marketing agency, there is a very simple concept. The moment you take care of yourself, others think that you have the capability to take care of others too. But if you don't take care of yourself, they don't perceive you instantly as somebody who could take care of them too. So that was the third part of that book where we first dive into all those filters. And when you see the book cover in front of you then you also see the lenses and filters that people perceive you and how biases influence the decision making. But the bigger part is about the inner self sabotage the inside chop, how we like discipline, how we like motivation, how we like self care and how we like self protection.

    Kenneth Kinney 29:04

    Such great thoughts and I hope everybody takes advantage of reading this book. Discover Your fair advantage leverage your unique selling points and human 10 potential for work business and life. So Sylvie This is an obvious follow up question as this of everybody appears on the show since she live in the Tampa Bay area makes even more sense what is your favorite kind of shark and why?

    Sylvie di Giusto 29:27

    My favorite kind of shark all the sharks that my brother catches and

    Kenneth Kinney 29:34

    release. Okay, okay.

    Sylvie di Giusto 29:38

    Because I am, I'm a devoted builder and I go out on my boat where we often and I have the pleasure that my best friend in life is my brother. He lives here with us in Florida. And while I'm just relaxing on the boat, he is very often with me and I make fun of him that all he catches, unfortunately sharks, but we release all of them again

    Kenneth Kinney 30:00

    Good. Well, Sylvie it's that special time in the show. Are you ready for the five most interesting and important questions that you're going to be asked today?

    Sylvie di Giusto 30:07

    I'm not ready. I'm scared. Okay. Well,

    Kenneth Kinney 30:11

    we we talked about seven seconds earlier. But let's talk about eight seconds. That was a movie. I know that seven seconds came from an NYU. But eight seconds refers to the length of time, a bull rider is required to stay on for a ride to be scored. So the obvious question for you is, if you had to be in a rodeo, you're gonna laugh later at these you'll, you'll get it? Would you rather ride a bucking bull or a bucking bronco? That's one you haven't been asked. FoxNews won't ask you that one. Yeah.

    Sylvie di Giusto 30:42

    So a bull? Is that somehow related

    Kenneth Kinney 30:46

    to horse horses at riding a horse or riding a bull?

    Sylvie di Giusto 30:49

    Oh, horses. Thank you very much. I'm not sure if you've noticed, but English is not my first language. I have an accent. I would rather I would rather ride a horse Of course. Okay. more elegant, more beautiful, more strong.

    Kenneth Kinney 31:08

    Question, too. In the 20th century, with your Austrian heritage, oh, you'll appreciate this. Which of these Austrians had a bigger impact on the world? Sigmund Freud. Or Arnold Schwarzenegger?

    Unknown Speaker 31:26

    Well, um,

    Kenneth Kinney 31:27

    I had to think I had to think about this. I mean, there's one who's the father of psychology, and then there's the one who's had, you know, the father of all the action movies.

    Sylvie di Giusto 31:36

    Yes. But see, this is how we perceive different people differently. I my mind didn't instantly go there. My mind went to all the horrible things that secret Freud supposedly did beyond his studies. And even with Arnold Schwarzenegger, my mind went to him as a politician. And the fact how impressive his track record is in changing a career. And nowadays be in Volker about topics he wouldn't have to be vocal. So I'm gonna go with Arnold. Okay,

    Kenneth Kinney 32:21

    hit Well, his name keeps. Well the idea of his name keeps coming up to me because I as I hear more about chat, GPT and AI all the time, I'm reminded of Terminator movies and Skynet and all that kind of stuff. Alright, question three, we'll get to the less ridiculous because you spent a lot of time out on the boat, sunrises or sunsets.

    Sylvie di Giusto 32:43

    Most first of all, both, obviously, but if I would have to pick it's the sunrise. Why it is so quiet out there at 530 or six in the morning. I feel so alone and grounded. I don't meditate, but I think that is my meditation. And then the only noise that usually gets me out of that. Quietness is when the dolphins come into the bay and say hello at the boat. And that is a good problem to have.

    Kenneth Kinney 33:22

    I agree. I don't meditate either. But my time underwater is my meditation. A lot of people don't understand. So Alright, number four. Conscious footprint or unconscious footprint?

    Sylvie di Giusto 33:35

    conscious. Weiser. Yes, intention is the key. You know, what people think about you is not what they tell you to your face. And is what they think and say about you behind your back. So you don't have a lot of influence anyways, so at least control what is controllable for you with intention and leave a conscious footprint in the areas where you can.

    Kenneth Kinney 34:06

    Great point. Alright, number five. And the most important question that you're going to be asked today is biscuits or cornbread.

    Unknown Speaker 34:14

    Oh my God, those are difficult questions.

    Kenneth Kinney 34:22

    Again, CNN Fox News. They want to ask you these hard hitting questions.

    Sylvie di Giusto 34:25

    Yes, yes, yes. But it's kind of deciding between CNN and Fox when you decide between biscuits and cornbread, and I

    Kenneth Kinney 34:34

    would ask did a Democrat cook those biscuits or did a Republican cook that cornbread? You know? Question.

    Unknown Speaker 34:41

    That is a tough question.

    Kenneth Kinney 34:42

    A lot of your speaking friends fans Oh, just go to all of them have done this

    Sylvie di Giusto 34:49

    out of biscuits kind of like with butter and Italian verbs and American biscuits could be biscuits. Okay, I think I'm gonna go with biscuits. Bye Can I No, but I mean, we have a tradition. We only eat cornbread once a year and that is to Thanksgiving and one of my best friends spring stem. So it's tough. It's tough to decide against her because she's lovely. The cookware is lovely. And a really good biscuit. Oh, yeah.

    Kenneth Kinney 35:18

    Okay. All right, so Sylvie, where can people find out more about you get a copy of the book, see what you're doing in the speaking world, keep up all your thought leadership and more.

    Sylvie di Giusto 35:27

    Oh, thank you very much. Well, I'll just type in my not so easy names Sylvie di Giusto. Just go to Google and you will find a lot. First of all my website, on my website, by the way, particularly, I invite you to take a free perception audit, it is a 10 Minute audit. And the result is a personalized report how people perceive you, that doesn't mean that you are this way, keep that in mind. It's just tells you how people might perceive you. And then I'm very, very engaged on social media on Instagram on LinkedIn, you have a you have to haul out to find me on Facebook and on Twitter, but just stop by and connect with me. And last but not least, stop by Amazon and get a copy of my newest book, Discover Your Fair Advantage to go with me on a journey of self discovery. You can get it as paperback as ebook and even as audiobook. Because this time, I have decided to narrate it myself, even if I have that strong accent because I thought, what would that be a story if I tell that one of my USPS is my accent? And then I hire somebody else? And then they gotta leave a review? Yeah, exactly. That will be fantastic. If you leave a review for me. Thank you very much,

    Kenneth Kinney 36:48

    Sylvie, it's been an honor and thank you very much for being with us today on A Shark's Perspective.

    Sylvie di Giusto 36:53

    Thank you very much for having me. That was the least fear I ever had from sharks. The other one might not change in the future. But it was such a pleasure. And I saw appreciate everything that you do for your audience in the marketing space and sales space, and what you do as a speaker for organizations, and yeah, I cannot wait to see you somewhere on stage.

    Kenneth Kinney 37:17

    Thank you so much.

    [music]

    Kenneth Kinney 37:24

    So there was my conversation with Sylvie di Giusto, an international keynote speaker with 20 plus years of corporate experience in Europe and she is also the author of The Image of Leadership as well as Discover Your Fair Advantage: Leverage Your Unique Selling Points for Work, Business, and Life. Let's take a look at three key takeaways from a conversation with her

    Kenneth Kinney 37:42

    First, well, I get lazy in my own answer about my own differentiator. And so shame on me. But she made several great points, though, and it's well worth reading the book just to think about those 15 different points she briefly covered in the discussion. But also just don't think about your competitors today and what your differentiator is, think about what your competitors are dreaming up to differentiate themselves from you in the future, in fact, but if you are as fanatical as I am about swimming with sharks and their conservation, with my own corporate background, and work primarily as a speaker, well, I want to meet you and call you friend, as long as you call me Shark.

    Kenneth Kinney 38:16

    Second, commit to your advantage, lean into whatever it is your customer, whoever that is, has a variety of choices. So stand out in that sea of sameness. Love it when Sylvie says become the visibility strategist, which is to show up and stand out at the right time at the right moment with the right people. Boom, hammer, she nailed it.

    Kenneth Kinney 38:38

    Third, we spoke about her first book and the seven second rule of first impressions. Just remember that you should think about at least a little about what is seen and what is unseen, especially with biases about you. Think about your professional imprint from a brand perspective. I'm not encouraging anyone to worry about what others think. Because I don't do that about you. And that's a whole different conversation. But even that still plays in how others perceive your personal brand. The good news is though a good chunk of that you can help control.

    Kenneth Kinney 39:10

    Got a question? Send me an email to Kenneth at a shark's perspective.com.

    Kenneth Kinney 39:14

    Thank you again for the privilege of your time, and I am so thankful to everyone who listens.

    Kenneth Kinney 39:19

    It's time to figure out what your unfair advantages. One of mine is that you're here with me and I appreciate you. So join us on the next episode of A Shark's Perspective.

    (Music - shark theme)


Picture of the coastal waters of Villefranche-sur-Mer in the French Riviera.

Shark Trivia

Did You Know that Many Shark Species call France Home….

.….including 47 species that have been confirmed in French waters? While most of the sightings occurred in the Mediterranean Sea, there have also been sightings in the North Atlantic Sea and the English Channel.

Attacks in France are very rare with only thirteen registered incidents, three of which were fatalities.

The most common shark seen in French waters is the Blue Shark, but there are several others frequently seen including the Angelshark, Basking Shark, Blacktip Reef Shark, Common Thresher Shark, Great Hammerhead Shark, Great White Shark, Kitefin Shark, Longfin Mako Shark, Porbeagle Shark, Sandbar Shark, Scalloped Hammerhead Shark, Shortfin Mako Shark, Shortnose Spurdog Shark, Smooth Hammerhead Shark, Spiny Dogfish Shark, Tope Shark, and Whale Shark.

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