Pratique du Shadowing: The 3 adjectives that determine how far you go at work | Carla Harris - Apprendre l'anglais à l'oral avec la vidéo

This was the most important thing that I learned during my career.

No question about it.

People will engage with you based on the perception that they have about who you are.

And that perception may be completely opposite to the reality of who you really are, and more importantly, how you see yourself.

I had a very senior managing director say to me about five years into my career, you know, you're smart, you work hard,

but I don't think you're tough enough for this business.

And as I clutch my pearls, I thought to myself, what is he thinking?

The last thing you can call Carla Harris is not tough.

But then I thought to myself, maybe he really doesn't think that I'm tough enough for this business.

Maybe the rest of the organization doesn't think that I'm tough enough of this business.

And as you might imagine, as a woman and a woman on Wall Street, the last thing that you want to be thought of is not tough.

And oh, by the way, that is how I saw myself.

So the fact that he was questioning whether

or not I was tough enough was a wake-up call to me

that the real Carla Harris was no longer walking into Morgan Stanley.

And it was now creating a competitive disadvantage for me.

So I decided that the way that I would correct that was that I would walk tough, talk tough, eat tough, drink tough, use tough in my language.

Because it's important that if you want to train people to think about you in a certain way, you must have that consistent behavior around those adjectives,

but you must use these adjectives, these words in your environment, particularly when you are talking about yourself.

Generally, when you're talking about someone and someone says, oh, do you know Samantha?

Oh, do you know Mike?

People tend to say, oh, she's A, B, C, or Mike is D, E, and F.

So I say pick the three adjectives that are consistent with who you really are, but pick the three adjectives that are also valued in your organization.

And to be even more specific, that are valued in your seat.

In every seat that you have, those adjectives are going to change.

For example, as an associate, people cared that I had outstanding analytical skills, quantitative skills, and exceptional attention to detail.

But as a managing director, nobody really cared whether or not I could do a model.

So those analytical and those quantitative skills were just assumed.

What's valued now as a managing director is, is that person relationship oriented?

Is that person commercial?

And maybe if you're managing a lot of people, is that person fair?

So understanding what those adjectives are in every single seat are important, but they must also be consistent with who you really are,

because I am not a fan of playing a role.

Any of us can do that, but at some point if you're just playing at a role, the real you will show up one day

and you do not want to worry about whether or not you are in an environment that will embrace the real you.

So pick the adjectives that are valued by the organization in the seat that you're in, but pick those adjectives that are also consistent with who you really are,

then it's really easy for you to execute.

You can train people to think about you in the way that you want them to think about you.

And when you become a senior leader, you want them to think about you as a strategic thinker.

You want them to think about you as a visionary.

You want them to think about you as that person that everybody wants to work for.

You want them to think about you as a great colleague.

You want them to think about you as somebody who's very respected in the industry.

Now, if you want to train people to think about you around those descriptors, your behavior needs to be consistent with those descriptors.

You want them to think about you as somebody who's very well respected in the industry, which means you need to go to industry events, which means you need to show up

and engage with some of the key people who are seen as icons in your industry.

It means that you might need to participate in a few panels so people hear you speak.

They know that you are focused on the industry.

They know that you are an expert per se in that particular industry.

If you want them to think about you as somebody who everybody wants to work for, then you need to make sure that your immediate team loves working for you.

And you need to understand what you need to do, how you need to show up for them to, quote, love working for you.

So it's consistent behavior around the adjectives is what will train

people to think about you in the way you want them to think about you.

And if you have been in an organization for a long period of time, it's important that you calibrate those perceptions as you're moving up the ladder.

To watch the full class, become a member at BigThing.com slash membership.

Thank you.

Qu'est-ce que la technique du Shadowing ?

Le Shadowing est une technique d'apprentissage des langues fondée sur la science, développée à l'origine pour la formation des interprètes professionnels. Le principe est simple mais puissant : vous écoutez de l'anglais natif et le répétez immédiatement à voix haute — comme une ombre suivant le locuteur avec un décalage de 1 à 2 secondes. Les recherches montrent une amélioration significative de la précision de la prononciation, de l'intonation, du rythme, des liaisons, de la compréhension orale et de la fluidité.

Pratique du Shadowing: The 3 adjectives that determine how far you go at work | Carla Harris - Apprendre l'anglais à l'oral avec la vidéo

About This Lesson

Key Vocabulary & Phrases

Practice Tips

Qu'est-ce que la technique du Shadowing ?