How do you feel when you are meeting someone in authority for the first time? How about that new KOL who means a great deal to you (and to your manager!). Anxious? Anticipating? Excited? Fearful? Nervous? However you feel, the wise MSL will take note of the feeling, accept it for now, and put it on the back burner. Ignoring the feeling will bring it to the front burner!
Our feelings when meeting a KOL for the first time are good indicators of how we view this person, view ourselves, and more importantly, how we view the setup. Anticipating the context and potential obstacles will help you control your emotions and more importantly will give the KOL a solid, substantial memory of you. Expect to be delayed, expect a time constraint, expect a less than friendly receptionist, and also expect to be your very best self regardless.
In many of our worlds, we are set up to see the world vertically: someone is on the top and someone is on the bottom (often us!). It is an old European model from the Middle Ages (perhaps dating back even further) that some people have authority and others don’t. The one on top is perceived as better than, superior to, in charge of, and somehow dominating over those below – if not in power, then perhaps in admiration, excellence, experience, etc. Some marriages are arranged this way, many businesses are, and even children dealing with the playground bully follow this model.
If you see the world this way, you will enter your first meeting with an authority figure (i.e. KOL) as you being the one on the bottom, which…doesn’t usually feel so good, even if you are excited to meet them. Like greeting royalty of old, you enter on bended knee, ready to kiss the ring. If you have ever met a celebrity, singer, or politician, you may encounter this even though you have no clue of what this person is really like off-screen, off-stage, or off the platform.
So how is this first moment of meeting for you? Are you ever on bended knee?