Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Lorraine K. Lee.
A LinkedIn Top Voice and author of Unforgettable Presence: Get Seen, Gain Influence, and Catapult Your Career. Hosted by Rushion McDonald, the conversation dives deep into the power of presence, personal branding, and workplace advancement in a digital-first world. Lorraine shares tactical strategies and career-transforming insights from her own corporate journey and bestselling book.
📘 About Lorraine K. Lee
• Career: Former founding editor at LinkedIn and Prezi
• Author: Unforgettable Presence, a practical guide for professional visibility
• Focus: Empowering ambitious professionals to go from overlooked to unforgettable
• Audience: Corporate professionals, team leaders, speakers, and solopreneurs
💡 Key Themes & Insights
• Modern Presence: From Zoom calls to LinkedIn profiles, visibility in the virtual workplace is key
• Personal Brand = Career Brand: Your reputation is your brand—intentionally shape it
• Advocacy: Success comes from promoting your work and knowing how to communicate value
• Layoff Recovery: How Lorraine turned a 2022 tech layoff into the launchpad for her book and speaking career
• Executive Presence: Reimagined with the “3 C’s”—Communication, Career Brand, and Credibility
• Promotion Strategy: Be proactive, not reactive—speak your career goals early and often
• Representation Matters: As an Asian-American woman, Lorraine emphasizes visibility and authenticity for underrepresented professionals
📚 Unforgettable Presence Book Takeaways
• 4 Key Sections:
- Set a Strong Foundation
- Build Essential Modern Skills
- Advance Your Career with Intention
- Lead and Expand Team Presence
Real stories, data-driven advice, and step-by-step frameworks to elevate your visibility
🔁 Personal Journey
• Left corporate life after a layoff and built a thriving brand as a speaker, author, and executive coach
• Overcame corporate stagnation by advocating for herself, creating a content strategy, and building her confidence through consistency
📣 Call to Action
Lorraine invites professionals to treat themselves like a brand and take control of their visibility. Follow her on LinkedIn, subscribe to her Career Bites newsletter, or enroll in one of her LinkedIn Learning courses to begin your journey toward becoming unforgettable.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, I'm Rashan McDonald host this weekly Money Making Conversation
Masterclass show. The interviews and information that this show provides
offer everyone It's time to stop reading other people's success
stories and start living your own now. If you want
to be a guest on my show, Money Making Conversation Masterclass,
please visit our website, Moneymakingconversations dot com and click to
(00:21):
be a guest. Butudon. If your entrepreneur, small business owner,
got a product, motivational speaker, influencer, I want you on
my chop. Let's get your show started. My next guest
has over three hundred thousand LinkedIn followers, only got ten thousand,
so you know she's a baller. She's a bawler. She's
recognized as a LinkedIn top voice in workplace communication and presence.
(00:42):
She is passionate about helping ambitious professionals go from invisible
to unforgettable in the modern workplace, and we know that
changed during the COVID area. Lorraine is on the show
to discuss her best selling book, Unforgetable Presence, Get Seen,
gain influence and catapult your career. Please welcome to the
Money Making Conversation Master Class. Lorraine K how you doing,
(01:05):
Lorraine wonderfully? Well, first of all, thank you for coming
into town Atlanta, be in my town. Why are you
in town?
Speaker 2 (01:12):
I am speaking at an event later today and then
you reached out and I was like, oh, you're in Atlanta.
I got to come in person.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Oh great, Great. So you speak a lot, So you
tell us about the whole motivation part of speaking before
we getting into your book, which I've read, by the way,
And there's a great book by the way, which is
Unforgettable Presence, Get seen, gain influence, and cat catapult your career.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Yeah, so I speak for a living. I will not
have anticipated that this was going to be what I
do because I used to be in corporate but really
passionate about helping professionals go from overlook to unforgettable. So
this book achieves that goal. And then I go to
companies to speak on various topics that are really important
to excelling at works or things like executive presence, virtual presence,
(01:55):
video presence. LinkedIn presents all those really important topics.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
I'm gonna teasing when I've got the book. Shift the book.
I really didn't understand when I saw Unforgettable Presence, I
didn't understand that. When I read the book, it would wow,
totally get what she's talking about. So why did you
say Unforgettable Presence as your primary title and then you
had get seen and influence and catapult your career underneath?
(02:19):
Because that threw me off a little bit.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
It was it was quite an ordeal coming up with
a good title. And so I think, you know with
this title, I knew I wanted to include the word
presence because the whole concept of the book is that
presence is a really important thing for your career. And
presence has also changed a lot over the years. You
mentioned COVID, right, So presence, I think traditionally people think
executive presence, how I'm showing up in person, and then
(02:45):
COVID happened and I realized, oh, presence is all these
other things as well, including where you are seen. So
it's not just about in person. It's on video, it's
on LinkedIn, it's in chat channels, it's in all these places.
And then the Unforgettable piece was okay, it's so it
is really hard to stand out, it's hard to make
an impact. That we're now all distributed, we're all over
the place where there's communication and information coming at us
(03:07):
at all times, and so in order to stand out,
you really do have to become unforgettable. And that's you know,
you're all going to have your own definitions unforgettable, but
really finding that special way to stand out amongst all
the noise, well.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
You know, there's very true. Like I said, my career
in the corporate space started IBEAM many years ago, and
so a lot of these buzzwords like branding and motivation
and we're not even there. I was just naturally going
through the process. And so when you talk about unforgettable
presences of finding your moment, mine was always being in front.
(03:39):
And I always tell people this, and I always tell
people making the decision looking straight ahead, they never make
a decision looking left or right, and they never turn
around making the decision trying to find out who's behind them.
And so that to me was my definition of presence,
being in front of the decision makers and also going
(04:00):
above and beyond in the decision maker because that was
the platform. There was no internet, there was no cell phones.
That was just the basic way of life that you
have to deal with. Now fast forward, like you said,
it's a different era we're living in today, but still
the same principles, correct.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
I would say, same principles, and there's even more on
top of that. So, like I said, like, we have
to think about our video presence and how we're showing
up and does it align with our in person presence
because a lot of times people will meet us and
or will form an impression of us and quote unquote
meet us virtually before in person. And so I've had
people say to me, oh, Lorene, you have such a
(04:38):
strong LinkedIn presence once we finally meet, so they've already
been having an impression of me and thinking a certain
thing about me. You know, ideally you wanted to be
a positive thing, So you're going to try to make
a really strong presence that way. But that's such a
powerful tooled our disposal that we have to be aware of.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
Now, Okay, this is important because we're talking about careers.
We're not talking about putting paths on Instagram or vacation
trips on Instagram. We're talking about LinkedIn. Okay, tell us
more about LinkedIn and the value in establishing your presence.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
Oh, LinkedIn my favorite platform. So and I'm not just
saying that because I work there. So LinkedIn has really
become our virtual landing page, our virtual water cooler, and
what I like to call our ultimate virtual office. And
so I think previously people used to think, oh, LinkedIn is,
I'll just go there if I'm looking for a job,
and now LinkedIn is, oh, my gosh, like you can
do so much on there. It's a place to stay
(05:29):
top of mind, to build thought leadership, you know, to
expand your network and meet really interesting people. And so
if you are not being seen in the virtual office is,
it's going to be like did you even exist? And
I'm sure you've had this experience too, where you meet
someone or someone sends you a message on LinkedIn, and
if you don't know who they are, you're going to
go to the LinkedIn to assess like is this person credible?
(05:49):
Are they legitimate? Like what are they about? And so LinkedIn,
you know, I call the profile the foundation. And then
creating content, commenting, engaging with other people. That's where the
real magic happens because you're creating community and you're learning
new things and also getting to share your expertise as well.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
So because at LinkedIn, at least when somebody in the
social media world, they call it dming o. Send you
your message. If somebody messaged you in the LinkedIn world,
like you said, you click their profile you can find
out exactly who they are. You do that on LinkedIn,
you gonna get more pictures, I'm excuse me. On Instagram
or Facebook or x you're gonna get more pictures. And
(06:27):
so you really don't have a background of that person.
And so that's a career starter right there. And I
think it's important people understand and value that. I know
one of my clients, huge celebrity, big on Instagram, big
on eggs, huge on Facebook, and I told him LinkedIn
and he went, huh, and so now his LinkedIn account
(06:50):
is huge because he's now into productions and pitching. I said,
see now you see so the people you're trying to reach.
Now I can see your brand and understand what you're
doing outside of being a talent, which really the social
media world that you created over there pushes what this
pushes your business platform? Is that correct?
Speaker 2 (07:10):
One hundred percent? And I would also say if you
are in corporate and you're not working for yourself and
you're not a talent like it still benefits you. There
are a lot of things I wasn't expecting when I
started posting more on LinkedIn, that helped me in my
corporate role. So, for example, the more you post, the
more you find your voice and gain confidence, and that
translates into the workplace. The more you figure out what
(07:31):
you're passionate about speaking on that also translates into the workplace.
And I had the situation once where I was posting
on LinkedIn and my team saw me putting myself out there,
and they saw that I was doing public speaking. And
I had a coworker who I think he was sick
or on vacation, and he was supposed to be part
of the media round table, but he wasn't available for
whatever reason. They saw me on LinkedIn, they saw that
(07:53):
I was willing to kind of be the face of
or put myself out there, and they invited me into
the media round table. And since then those keep will
have actually become, you know, when I later started my
own business, became clients and friends, and so it's just
it's just a very wonderful place to establish that credibility
and then also have it connect to corporate Still.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Lorraine kay Lee, what's the case for my middle name?
Her book is unforgettable presence, get seen, gain influence, and
catapult your career. Let's talk about something here. When I
was reading a book, it was it was something in
the beginning right here that I wanted to I wanted
to read out loud, you're saying. Drawing on her decades
(08:34):
long career as the founding editor editor at companies like
LinkedIn and pressy right, Lee combines personal stories and actionable
tactics that are tailored for today's digital first workplace, such
as explain this to me, advocating for yourself and your
team with confidence? What does that mean?
Speaker 2 (08:54):
One of the things that I wish I had learned
earlier in my career is that if I want to
get ahead, if I want to be known, it's not
enough to put my head down and do hard work.
I have to really talk about my work and be
willing to share and let others know that I even exist. Right,
And so I think, especially in the way that we
(09:14):
work now, it's even more critical. Again because I mentioned earlier,
you know everyone's all over, we're communicating through different channels,
and so advocating for yourself is such an important piece
to making yourself stand out. And then if you're a manager,
same thing applies. You need to advocate for your team
and make sure that their work is known. And so
I talk in the book this concept of becoming the
(09:35):
CEO of your own career, and part of that is
being really proactive, being intentional, taking charge and knowing that
you have some control, some influence over the outcome of
your career and advocating for yourself is one of those
key ways we all have a brain. Yes, when we
hear brand, I think for ourselves as corporate workers or
(09:57):
even a solopreneur entrepreneur, I think sometimes there's a disconnect
because we hear personal brand and we think, oh, brand
isn't that for companies, it's not for individuals, And then
we hear personal brand. I feel like personal brand has
sort of sometimes for some people become like kind of
a slimy word, like, oh, I don't want to be
promoting myself all the time or bragging about myself. But
what a personal brand really is is what I call
(10:19):
in the book your career brand, and your career brand
is essentially your reputation. So the whole thing about a
brand is that you already have one, and that we
have to be intentional about it, in forming it. Otherwise,
if we're not intentional, someone else is going to form
it for us. So I start. I mentioned it early
on in the book because I feel like it's such
a foundational piece.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
Yeah. I remember when I was managing Steve Hardy and
it was a about two thousand and I show it
for IBM. So I had that corporate culture culture in
my mind, and then I went to him, I said,
why can't we teach you like a corporation, have the
same standards, the same rules, the same expectations. You know,
because you go, you perform, and so people they don't
(10:59):
like you, they ask for their money back, they make
the decisions your product in a sense, and so and
so I didn't realize at the time, like there was
like two thousand and one and that I was really
using the word branding and tying it to a personal
an individual, which kind of shifted the narrative because, like
(11:20):
you said earlier, a brand, usually IBM, a brand is Ford,
the brand is Burger King. Well, my mindset was a
brand could be an individual. And in your book, you
are telling everybody you are a brand, and you need
to deliver that and understand how you how your presence
ties to that brand makes you successful. Miss Lee my
(11:42):
next one off of it, because like I said, this
is I got started early with these questions. Okay, navigating
under representation in the workplace.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
Okay, I am an Asian American woman.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
And people who don't see it. She needed to.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
Say that, And so I wanted to make sure that
I talked about the experiences in the book. It's not
all you know, The book is not all about it,
but I wanted to make sure I included voices and
insights that talk about this because sometimes it feels like
corporate America is not built for people who look like us,
or who have our certain values or background or whatnot.
And so I have the chance to introdew three dozen
(12:20):
leaders in the book, and some of them gave some
wonderful insights on how to stand out as an upper
underrepresented professional and then also still stay true to your
values and who you are at the same time.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
You know, because I'm a minority African American and I
remember my early years that IBM. I worked three two
and a half years part time basically in turning and
two and a half years professional and what I learned
was you know there is going to be racism. There
is going to beople going to judge you part of
color your skin. But what I did learn is that
your presence matters. That's why this book was important to me,
(12:53):
and I thought it was really championing a lot of
my thought process and it's a good read. If you
read it, you understand exactly what miss Lee is talking about.
Because when you participate with who you are and you
allow the negative energy of that group become your voice,
you will lose. You're never going to win in the
corporate space. So you have to create a presence that
(13:16):
creates a balance if you want to, if you want to,
as Sin and what you've done very well in this
academic world, you know if in this corporate world, if
you read our story, she'll tell you I was here.
One year later, I was here, I mean not two
years later. One year later, she was here, Which means
that you had a presence and a clear understanding despite
the environment, despite how you look, that was not going
(13:38):
to stop you talk to us.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Yeah, I mean I think again, Like it's when I
was at LinkedIn. I started off the book talking about
my experience there. Loved it, did so many cool projects,
but had trouble reaching that next level. And a lot
of it was because I wasn't understanding how corporate America worked.
I wasn't taking control of my own career, and so
when I went to my next roll up, Prezzy, I
(14:01):
was very very intentional six years yeah. So at Prezzy,
pretty much right away I was like, Okay, this is like,
these are all the things I'm going to do differently.
I'm going to meet with my manager once a month
and let her know I want this promotion and to
figure out what it takes to get there, to figure
out where my weak spots are, what my strong spots are,
and really to lean into you know, how am I
going to make this happen? And so I think that
(14:23):
was just such an important mindset shift in that I
don't have to be a victim or I don't have
to let things happen to me. I can make things
happen for myself.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
And it's important that she's saying these things audience and
fans who are listening, because a lot of bad words
can come, people saying sucking up do it too much,
making us look bad. It's your goal. You set your goals,
you create your relationship and you win with it. You're
not going home with these people who are complaining, You're
not sleeping in the bed with these people who are complaining.
(14:54):
You have to set the goals that work for you.
And that's what I had to learn when I was
an IBM and I still care care those values to
this day because there's a certain structure that you have
to be able to have no matter who you're talking to,
no matter whether you meet them at a restaurant, you
meet them at the club, you meet the better picnic
or are social event, their standards and that's what you're
(15:16):
talking about in this book. Your presence matters no matter
where you are at.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
Correct correct, Yeah, one hundred percent. And you know, I
interview some content creators as well for the book is
of course presence is like huge for them, and yeah,
anywhere you go, presence is not about one big moment.
It's as I say in the book, it's about those
little moments that build up over time, that create an impression,
that create your reputation in someone's mind. So the book
(15:43):
hopefully is you know, is level setting and not freaking
people out like, oh presence, I just have to be
like this executive on day one. But here let me
build up my presence across all these really different important channels,
and over time this will create my overall presence.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
A book Unforgettable Presence Gets Gain influence and catapult your
career by Lorraine K. Lee. I have one from the
liner before we get into Moorrow. More questions commanding attention
with executive presence.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
Executive presence is one piece of the presence pie, or
presence puzzle, as I like to say. Executive presence has
also changed a lot over the years. So there was
this really interesting research in Harvard Business Review that showed
the difference in how people perceive executive presents or what
they thought it was, from twenty twelve to twenty twenty two.
And you'll see a lot of new words started appearing
(16:35):
in twenty twenty two, for example, authenticity, command, a zoom room,
body language, listening to learn. So there are a lot
more people centric skills, whereas in twenty twelve, perhaps it
was the more stereotypical version of executive presence that we
might think about. So I talk about the three c's
of modern day executive presence, communication, career, brand and credibility,
(16:57):
and so you know, go into more of that in
the book. But these are the new new ways I
think to exude executive prices.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
Absolutely, we're not trying to give way the book and
this interview. We're trying to tease you so you can
go to the book.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with more
Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Welcome back to the Money Making
Conversations Masterclass, hosted by Rashaan McDonald.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
Now, there was a couple of things that were sent
to me as questions, and you know, as we go
through life, you know you look back and go, wow,
this is what I should have done differently. And one
of the questions that came to me is how you
bounce back from getting fired?
Speaker 2 (17:42):
Spot. Yeah, my layoff happened at the end of twenty
twenty two is part of you know tech layoffs happening
at the time happening.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
There's a layoff in a fight. There's two different.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Things, two different I mean, some people might say layoff
is being fired.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
It wasn't performance Emotionally, Emotionally, there's a different sature the
lanes of justification. You go, you get fired, Yeah, you're
like those persons layoff be disappointed in May. Yeah, yeah,
because you were doing your job.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
Sure, sure, Yes. I got laid off at the end
of twenty twenty two, and yeah, I mean a little
naively was like, oh, is this gonna happen to me?
I don't know. I hadn't gotten laid off before because
I've been in tech for you know, the past decade
and it was a wonderful time in tech. But got
laid off and that was really the catalyst for me
reaching this whole new level of my career, starting my
(18:29):
own business, doing the speaking, writing the book. And So
for anyone who's gotten laid off or you know, has
experienced this, uh, you know, I want to say that layoffs,
as many people say, are a blessing in disguise. I
know it doesn't feel like that in the moment, but
it was such a Yeah they.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
Can say that, yeah, okay, no blessing when you get
fired or laid off.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Okay, yeah, but usually people like it gives them the
time to think and to find something better down the line.
It doesn't feel like that in the moment, but you know,
I didn't feel like that to me in the moment either.
But you know, I've come out about strong longer. On
the other side, I'm thankful for it. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
Now there's another question that comes about the way the
best way is to get promoted, because you have shown
the examples of your book at you come in at
this level and you already looking at that next wrong
talk to us about.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
It the first thing. I know it sounds so obvious,
but you have to make it known that you want
to get promoted. I talk about the story in the
book my coworker great work, had been at the company
for a while, hadn't gotten promoted. One day she comes in,
She's promoted. I'm like, oh, my gosh, like, what happened.
I'm so happy for you. And she says, oh, I
my manager didn't even know I want to get promoted.
Once I let him know, then I got it. And
(19:38):
so I know it sounds like as an ambitious person,
you're like, oh, doesn't everyone want to get promoted? Doesn't
my manager know that they don't? Some people don't want
to get promoted, they're happy where they are. They have
to you have to let them know.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
And you can't pressure in A supervisor can't pressure you
to do something that you're uncomfortable.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
Don't. Yeah, if you don't feel ready. Yeah, and then
and then after that you need to again be really proactive.
So it's not during annual review time that you mentioned
your promotion that you want to get promoted. You need
to start thinking about it like six months at least
ahead of time, and making sure you know who's going
to be in the promotion room and talk to them
and let them know about your goals. Right, There's so
many moving pieces that I didn't realize when I wanted
(20:17):
to get promoted at LinkedIn. I was like, oh, just
my manager just says something and it happens. Right. No,
there's like a lot of conversations. They're all putting up
their people for promotion. You need to get the right
feedback from the right people who have influence. Right. So
there's just there's so many moving parts. So it's about intentionality.
And then there's additional tips in the book. But yeah, wow, you.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
Know I've mentioned this story several times on my show
about my ivy and experience. So I worked two and
a half years, they hired me full time, and then
I was hired a long with the two white guys.
So I'm just gonna say race because my mind was
operating in that coin. And six months later they were
buzzing around doing different things, and I was still trapped
(20:56):
at my desk, and so I went and stormed into
the off for some of my supervisor who had interviewed
and brought us all through on board at the same time.
And I used to miss an example. I said, you know, hey,
what's going on with Sean McDonald And he said, well, Rashan,
doing your initial interview, I asked you what you wanted
to do, and your statement back to me I wrote
(21:19):
it down, was I'll get back with you.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
Six months later, Rashan, I'm still waiting for you to
get back with me. Now, since you were complaining about
those two gentlemen, they had a plan in place when
they sat down, they said they want to do this, this, this, this.
So since they gave me a plan, I work with
their plan and they're doing all the things that they
asked to do. Now, ra Sean, what do you want
to do? And at that moment, I said, I'm gonna
(21:44):
get back with.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
You when I got.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
Because again I still came the mad without playing and
so and so that's why I really enjoyed reading your
book because it was so relatable to a lot of
conversations I have on the show motivating people and warming
them with action plans and things like that. But it
was just my stories. Now we officially have a book
called Unforgettable Presence, where a lot of the dialogue that
(22:10):
I talk about on the show motivating people, strengthen your values,
understanding your presence, you know, being able to communicate your
goals and your brand to anybody, and then you can
win and this really helps. It's really funny. My wife,
she always she always maddened me. It's not mad in
the good way because I go into restaurants and they
(22:31):
treat me differends. You know. It's always no matter what
restaurant I go into, the chef or the owner of
the restaurant is going to come to my table. She says, why, Wow,
what do you do? I said this presence? I said,
when I said, I walk a certain way, I say
hello to people, when I come into the room, certain
(22:52):
way to matri Die, I just it's just natural things
I do. And so when I sit down, people go, okay,
want to go speak to that guy? And these are
just natural brand presence that I've created over the years.
Some people might call it confident cocky. I just call
it presents and it's part of your brand. And so
(23:13):
because that's part of my brand to walk into a
room and I tell people, I generally walk in the
room like I own it, and there's nothing wrong with that.
And that's called confidence. And that's all believing in yourself
and a lot of those values is what you talk
about in this book, correct.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
Yeah, And I love what you said too about how
you've cultivated it over the years. Right, that's not going
to happen overnight. This takes some time. You have to
build trust right, consistent actions, and so yeah, I love
that story.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
It's reality. So it teaches us. I get I get
free desserts a lot of time. We went to this
new restaurant just the other day and we sat down
and got the owner or the manager of the restaurant
came over and go, hey, we'd like a free dessert.
And she went, wow, what are the seeing And it's
(24:04):
just that when I came in, I specifically said hello, hello,
my energy levels is always a little bit higher. And
when I asked the waiter, waitress or their name and
that all those different things, and I always and here's
the thing I always say when I sit down, when
I go to the restaurant, I'll tell them this is
I tell this specifically. I said, like, if you're with me,
(24:26):
miss Lee, I go first time, I'm a regular, you
know it just that's just my style, and I go, hey,
I'm back. This is one of my favorite places. So
I will broadcast my intentions about why I'm there. If
I bring somebody in, I'll tell them because that's how
I naturally do it. Now, if it's promoting people and
(24:48):
encouraging people to want to treat me differently in a
positive way, I'm winning. Okay, I'm winning and I'm gonna
keep winning. But that's what you're talking about.
Speaker 2 (24:57):
Yeah, that is like so much intention and that is
a very common theme. That's that runs throughout the book.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
Yeah, okay, let's talk about because I want I don't
want the use of all my time talking about the experiences.
But it's four key sections that will help you strongly
build your presence. That's what I want to talk about,
not in detail, about these four key presidents that you
outlined at the very top of the book. The first
one is setting a strong foundation.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
Yes, so career brand slash mindsets, your virtual presence, your
LinkedIn presence. Those are i think unconventional and traditional ways
to think about, Oh, this is the foundation of my career.
But those things are things that are we, that are
we that we are using every day that are so
important and so you need to have the foundation before
(25:43):
you dive into anything else. And then we have you know,
essential essential skills for today's workplace. So a lot of
that is communication practices, things that I've seen people make
mistakes about. And then we go into leading teams and
like thinking more like a manager because my hope is,
like you know, people want to get promoted, they want
to reach that next level. And then the last section
(26:04):
is really okay, now, how do you expand your presence,
how do you expand your team's presence, and how do
you really get into that executive mindset?
Speaker 1 (26:10):
Right? So as an individual, but let's talk about somebody
who doesn't want that, who doesn't want to supervise, doesn't
want to lead. How does your book handle that type
of personality?
Speaker 2 (26:21):
Definitely, someone can still get a lot of takeaways from
the book. We don't always have to be managers, but
there's a lot of things when you are a manager.
That are still great qualities to show when you are
an I see individual contributor, contributor for example, being a
someone who elevates others and cheers on other teammates. That's great.
You're going to be seen as a leader, even if
(26:43):
you're not leader by title. It's so important to be
seen as a leader at a company because that is
still what's going to help you advance and grow.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
This was the way positive personalities get paid. Yes, let's
go to number two. Key skills for the modern workplace.
We talked about COVID has shifted and Zoom popped up,
and video and television the whole media world changed. Are
we saying about that period or you just talk about
the last ten fifteen years as the modern workplace?
Speaker 2 (27:12):
It's generally I do you know, talk a lot about
virtual communication, virtual presentations I think are super super critical
and people are still not doing them in the ideal way.
So that's definitely a chapter there.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
What's the wrong way? Don't want to help myself out,
don't need to put makeup on what's going on now?
Speaker 2 (27:27):
No, it's it's the start. It's the way you create
the content and the way that you deliver the content.
A lot of people are pouring over in person to
virtual and not making any changes. But virtual, there are
some nuances and things that you have to adjust in
order to make it suited for virtual environments.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
Right, And there's also let's talk about that virtual environment
because you know all the people use these little virtual
or three D looks behind them. Are they are virtual
backgrounds or they or you see the real backgrounds? You're going,
what's going on over there? So that's part of the
whole precientation? Correct?
Speaker 2 (28:01):
Oh yeah, yeah, that's that's chapter two. I'm having a
strong virtual presence. Yeah, yeah, I say no to the
virtual backgrounds ideally, and then also, yeah, curate, curate what's
behind you, and no to the.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
Virtual background, and no to the plain white walls.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
Please too too. Yeah, a little personality?
Speaker 1 (28:19):
Yes, good Number three. How to approach career advancement? You
an expert your book. I'm gonna tell you this up,
ladies and gim when you read this book, read the background.
This is I'm sitting across a true go getter. I'm
sitting across a person who walks in the door. You
sit in a chair, but that's not the chair. She's
going to stay in. I love that about you. When
(28:40):
I did the background research on you in your book,
what what built that in you?
Speaker 2 (28:45):
What?
Speaker 1 (28:45):
What?
Speaker 2 (28:45):
What?
Speaker 3 (28:45):
What?
Speaker 1 (28:46):
What? DNA just just just that made you the person
you are.
Speaker 2 (28:52):
I appreciate that. I think it was a lot of
trial and error because I did not start off super
confident in my career. I was very much like, oh,
tell me what to do, do it. But I wasn't proactive.
I wasn't super strategic in the way I thought about things,
and so lucky to have had many great managers, many
great mentors. And then also that period of self reflection
after I left LinkedIn like what went wrong? What could
(29:13):
I have done differently? That really allowed me to grow
a lot faster build my confidence. And then with every
sort of career move that I made, the confidence grew exponentially.
So again, this is not an overnight thing. It took
time and a willingness to want to learn and to
do it.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
Cool a last one because I don't want to keep you.
You know, I can keep going because you're such a
great interview. What's need to be? What need to be
an unforgettable leader and manager?
Speaker 2 (29:44):
I think first and foremost, you really have to care
about leading people because a lot of people they want
to become a manager because it means they're going to
reach that next level. But you actually have to care
about the development of your people, helping them grow, and
I think that's such an essential piece to being a
really strong manager. And then building out your team's presence,
teaching them how to advocate for themselves. You also being
(30:07):
the voice for them when they're not in the room.
I think those are all fantastic ways to become unforgettable
to your peers and also to your team who you're supporting.
Speaker 1 (30:16):
She's the one and only Lorraine Klee Unforgettable Presence, Get seen, Gain, influenced,
and cateaborty career tell us about your Is it only
on LinkedIn that we can find you?
Speaker 2 (30:27):
You can find me on LinkedIn. You can find me
on my weekly newsletter Career Bites, Bye sized tips to
supercharge your career in three minutes or less. And then
I also have many many LinkedIn learning courses that you
can watch.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
Just talk about it. Before I didn't know about the newsletter.
Tell us how do you just submit your email address?
Speaker 2 (30:45):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (30:46):
Where can we go?
Speaker 2 (30:47):
Lorraine Klee dot com slash subscribe Okay.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
See I just got it. I need a manager. I
gotta full of these vital information out you. But thank
you for govering on money Making. It's been a wonderful journey.
They really do comment to a lot of things I
sell on the show, but in your words, and I
think that's wonderful. I feel that's one.
Speaker 2 (31:05):
Yeah, thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
This has been another edition of money Making Conversation Masterclass
posted by me Rushaun McDonald. Thank you to our guests
on the show today and thank you o listening to
audience now. If you want to listen to any episode
I want to be a guest on the show, visit
Moneymaking Conversations dot com. Our social media handle is money
Making Conversation. Join us next week and remember to always
(31:28):
leave with your gifts. Keep winning.
Hi, I'm Rashan McDonald host this weekly Money Making Conversation
Masterclass show. The interviews and information that this show provides
offer everyone It's time to stop reading other people's success
stories and start living your own now. If you want
to be a guest on my show, Money Making Conversation Masterclass,
please visit our website, Moneymakingconversations dot com and click to
(00:21):
be a guest. Butudon. If your entrepreneur, small business owner,
got a product, motivational speaker, influencer, I want you on
my chop. Let's get your show started. My next guest
has over three hundred thousand LinkedIn followers, only got ten thousand,
so you know she's a baller. She's a bawler. She's
recognized as a LinkedIn top voice in workplace communication and presence.
(00:42):
She is passionate about helping ambitious professionals go from invisible
to unforgettable in the modern workplace, and we know that
changed during the COVID area. Lorraine is on the show
to discuss her best selling book, Unforgetable Presence, Get Seen,
gain influence and catapult your career. Please welcome to the
Money Making Conversation Master Class. Lorraine K how you doing,
(01:05):
Lorraine wonderfully? Well, first of all, thank you for coming
into town Atlanta, be in my town. Why are you
in town?
Speaker 2 (01:12):
I am speaking at an event later today and then
you reached out and I was like, oh, you're in Atlanta.
I got to come in person.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Oh great, Great. So you speak a lot, So you
tell us about the whole motivation part of speaking before
we getting into your book, which I've read, by the way,
And there's a great book by the way, which is
Unforgettable Presence, Get seen, gain influence, and cat catapult your career.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Yeah, so I speak for a living. I will not
have anticipated that this was going to be what I
do because I used to be in corporate but really
passionate about helping professionals go from overlook to unforgettable. So
this book achieves that goal. And then I go to
companies to speak on various topics that are really important
to excelling at works or things like executive presence, virtual presence,
(01:55):
video presence. LinkedIn presents all those really important topics.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
I'm gonna teasing when I've got the book. Shift the book.
I really didn't understand when I saw Unforgettable Presence, I
didn't understand that. When I read the book, it would wow,
totally get what she's talking about. So why did you
say Unforgettable Presence as your primary title and then you
had get seen and influence and catapult your career underneath?
(02:19):
Because that threw me off a little bit.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
It was it was quite an ordeal coming up with
a good title. And so I think, you know with
this title, I knew I wanted to include the word
presence because the whole concept of the book is that
presence is a really important thing for your career. And
presence has also changed a lot over the years. You
mentioned COVID, right, So presence, I think traditionally people think
executive presence, how I'm showing up in person, and then
(02:45):
COVID happened and I realized, oh, presence is all these
other things as well, including where you are seen. So
it's not just about in person. It's on video, it's
on LinkedIn, it's in chat channels, it's in all these places.
And then the Unforgettable piece was okay, it's so it
is really hard to stand out, it's hard to make
an impact. That we're now all distributed, we're all over
the place where there's communication and information coming at us
(03:07):
at all times, and so in order to stand out,
you really do have to become unforgettable. And that's you know,
you're all going to have your own definitions unforgettable, but
really finding that special way to stand out amongst all
the noise, well.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
You know, there's very true. Like I said, my career
in the corporate space started IBEAM many years ago, and
so a lot of these buzzwords like branding and motivation
and we're not even there. I was just naturally going
through the process. And so when you talk about unforgettable
presences of finding your moment, mine was always being in front.
(03:39):
And I always tell people this, and I always tell
people making the decision looking straight ahead, they never make
a decision looking left or right, and they never turn
around making the decision trying to find out who's behind them.
And so that to me was my definition of presence,
being in front of the decision makers and also going
(04:00):
above and beyond in the decision maker because that was
the platform. There was no internet, there was no cell phones.
That was just the basic way of life that you
have to deal with. Now fast forward, like you said,
it's a different era we're living in today, but still
the same principles, correct.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
I would say, same principles, and there's even more on
top of that. So, like I said, like, we have
to think about our video presence and how we're showing
up and does it align with our in person presence
because a lot of times people will meet us and
or will form an impression of us and quote unquote
meet us virtually before in person. And so I've had
people say to me, oh, Lorene, you have such a
(04:38):
strong LinkedIn presence once we finally meet, so they've already
been having an impression of me and thinking a certain
thing about me. You know, ideally you wanted to be
a positive thing, So you're going to try to make
a really strong presence that way. But that's such a
powerful tooled our disposal that we have to be aware of.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
Now, Okay, this is important because we're talking about careers.
We're not talking about putting paths on Instagram or vacation
trips on Instagram. We're talking about LinkedIn. Okay, tell us
more about LinkedIn and the value in establishing your presence.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
Oh, LinkedIn my favorite platform. So and I'm not just
saying that because I work there. So LinkedIn has really
become our virtual landing page, our virtual water cooler, and
what I like to call our ultimate virtual office. And
so I think previously people used to think, oh, LinkedIn is,
I'll just go there if I'm looking for a job,
and now LinkedIn is, oh, my gosh, like you can
do so much on there. It's a place to stay
(05:29):
top of mind, to build thought leadership, you know, to
expand your network and meet really interesting people. And so
if you are not being seen in the virtual office is,
it's going to be like did you even exist? And
I'm sure you've had this experience too, where you meet
someone or someone sends you a message on LinkedIn, and
if you don't know who they are, you're going to
go to the LinkedIn to assess like is this person credible?
(05:49):
Are they legitimate? Like what are they about? And so LinkedIn,
you know, I call the profile the foundation. And then
creating content, commenting, engaging with other people. That's where the
real magic happens because you're creating community and you're learning
new things and also getting to share your expertise as well.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
So because at LinkedIn, at least when somebody in the
social media world, they call it dming o. Send you
your message. If somebody messaged you in the LinkedIn world,
like you said, you click their profile you can find
out exactly who they are. You do that on LinkedIn,
you gonna get more pictures, I'm excuse me. On Instagram
or Facebook or x you're gonna get more pictures. And
(06:27):
so you really don't have a background of that person.
And so that's a career starter right there. And I
think it's important people understand and value that. I know
one of my clients, huge celebrity, big on Instagram, big
on eggs, huge on Facebook, and I told him LinkedIn
and he went, huh, and so now his LinkedIn account
(06:50):
is huge because he's now into productions and pitching. I said,
see now you see so the people you're trying to reach.
Now I can see your brand and understand what you're
doing outside of being a talent, which really the social
media world that you created over there pushes what this
pushes your business platform? Is that correct?
Speaker 2 (07:10):
One hundred percent? And I would also say if you
are in corporate and you're not working for yourself and
you're not a talent like it still benefits you. There
are a lot of things I wasn't expecting when I
started posting more on LinkedIn, that helped me in my
corporate role. So, for example, the more you post, the
more you find your voice and gain confidence, and that
translates into the workplace. The more you figure out what
(07:31):
you're passionate about speaking on that also translates into the workplace.
And I had the situation once where I was posting
on LinkedIn and my team saw me putting myself out there,
and they saw that I was doing public speaking. And
I had a coworker who I think he was sick
or on vacation, and he was supposed to be part
of the media round table, but he wasn't available for
whatever reason. They saw me on LinkedIn, they saw that
(07:53):
I was willing to kind of be the face of
or put myself out there, and they invited me into
the media round table. And since then those keep will
have actually become, you know, when I later started my
own business, became clients and friends, and so it's just
it's just a very wonderful place to establish that credibility
and then also have it connect to corporate Still.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Lorraine kay Lee, what's the case for my middle name?
Her book is unforgettable presence, get seen, gain influence, and
catapult your career. Let's talk about something here. When I
was reading a book, it was it was something in
the beginning right here that I wanted to I wanted
to read out loud, you're saying. Drawing on her decades
(08:34):
long career as the founding editor editor at companies like
LinkedIn and pressy right, Lee combines personal stories and actionable
tactics that are tailored for today's digital first workplace, such
as explain this to me, advocating for yourself and your
team with confidence? What does that mean?
Speaker 2 (08:54):
One of the things that I wish I had learned
earlier in my career is that if I want to
get ahead, if I want to be known, it's not
enough to put my head down and do hard work.
I have to really talk about my work and be
willing to share and let others know that I even exist. Right,
And so I think, especially in the way that we
(09:14):
work now, it's even more critical. Again because I mentioned earlier,
you know everyone's all over, we're communicating through different channels,
and so advocating for yourself is such an important piece
to making yourself stand out. And then if you're a manager,
same thing applies. You need to advocate for your team
and make sure that their work is known. And so
I talk in the book this concept of becoming the
(09:35):
CEO of your own career, and part of that is
being really proactive, being intentional, taking charge and knowing that
you have some control, some influence over the outcome of
your career and advocating for yourself is one of those
key ways we all have a brain. Yes, when we
hear brand, I think for ourselves as corporate workers or
(09:57):
even a solopreneur entrepreneur, I think sometimes there's a disconnect
because we hear personal brand and we think, oh, brand
isn't that for companies, it's not for individuals, And then
we hear personal brand. I feel like personal brand has
sort of sometimes for some people become like kind of
a slimy word, like, oh, I don't want to be
promoting myself all the time or bragging about myself. But
what a personal brand really is is what I call
(10:19):
in the book your career brand, and your career brand
is essentially your reputation. So the whole thing about a
brand is that you already have one, and that we
have to be intentional about it, in forming it. Otherwise,
if we're not intentional, someone else is going to form
it for us. So I start. I mentioned it early
on in the book because I feel like it's such
a foundational piece.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
Yeah. I remember when I was managing Steve Hardy and
it was a about two thousand and I show it
for IBM. So I had that corporate culture culture in
my mind, and then I went to him, I said,
why can't we teach you like a corporation, have the
same standards, the same rules, the same expectations. You know,
because you go, you perform, and so people they don't
(10:59):
like you, they ask for their money back, they make
the decisions your product in a sense, and so and
so I didn't realize at the time, like there was
like two thousand and one and that I was really
using the word branding and tying it to a personal
an individual, which kind of shifted the narrative because, like
(11:20):
you said earlier, a brand, usually IBM, a brand is Ford,
the brand is Burger King. Well, my mindset was a
brand could be an individual. And in your book, you
are telling everybody you are a brand, and you need
to deliver that and understand how you how your presence
ties to that brand makes you successful. Miss Lee my
(11:42):
next one off of it, because like I said, this
is I got started early with these questions. Okay, navigating
under representation in the workplace.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
Okay, I am an Asian American woman.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
And people who don't see it. She needed to.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
Say that, And so I wanted to make sure that
I talked about the experiences in the book. It's not
all you know, The book is not all about it,
but I wanted to make sure I included voices and
insights that talk about this because sometimes it feels like
corporate America is not built for people who look like us,
or who have our certain values or background or whatnot.
And so I have the chance to introdew three dozen
(12:20):
leaders in the book, and some of them gave some
wonderful insights on how to stand out as an upper
underrepresented professional and then also still stay true to your
values and who you are at the same time.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
You know, because I'm a minority African American and I
remember my early years that IBM. I worked three two
and a half years part time basically in turning and
two and a half years professional and what I learned
was you know there is going to be racism. There
is going to beople going to judge you part of
color your skin. But what I did learn is that
your presence matters. That's why this book was important to me,
(12:53):
and I thought it was really championing a lot of
my thought process and it's a good read. If you
read it, you understand exactly what miss Lee is talking about.
Because when you participate with who you are and you
allow the negative energy of that group become your voice,
you will lose. You're never going to win in the
corporate space. So you have to create a presence that
(13:16):
creates a balance if you want to, if you want to,
as Sin and what you've done very well in this
academic world, you know if in this corporate world, if
you read our story, she'll tell you I was here.
One year later, I was here, I mean not two
years later. One year later, she was here, Which means
that you had a presence and a clear understanding despite
the environment, despite how you look, that was not going
(13:38):
to stop you talk to us.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Yeah, I mean I think again, Like it's when I
was at LinkedIn. I started off the book talking about
my experience there. Loved it, did so many cool projects,
but had trouble reaching that next level. And a lot
of it was because I wasn't understanding how corporate America worked.
I wasn't taking control of my own career, and so
when I went to my next roll up, Prezzy, I
(14:01):
was very very intentional six years yeah. So at Prezzy,
pretty much right away I was like, Okay, this is like,
these are all the things I'm going to do differently.
I'm going to meet with my manager once a month
and let her know I want this promotion and to
figure out what it takes to get there, to figure
out where my weak spots are, what my strong spots are,
and really to lean into you know, how am I
going to make this happen? And so I think that
(14:23):
was just such an important mindset shift in that I
don't have to be a victim or I don't have
to let things happen to me. I can make things
happen for myself.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
And it's important that she's saying these things audience and
fans who are listening, because a lot of bad words
can come, people saying sucking up do it too much,
making us look bad. It's your goal. You set your goals,
you create your relationship and you win with it. You're
not going home with these people who are complaining, You're
not sleeping in the bed with these people who are complaining.
(14:54):
You have to set the goals that work for you.
And that's what I had to learn when I was
an IBM and I still care care those values to
this day because there's a certain structure that you have
to be able to have no matter who you're talking to,
no matter whether you meet them at a restaurant, you
meet them at the club, you meet the better picnic
or are social event, their standards and that's what you're
(15:16):
talking about in this book. Your presence matters no matter
where you are at.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
Correct correct, Yeah, one hundred percent. And you know, I
interview some content creators as well for the book is
of course presence is like huge for them, and yeah,
anywhere you go, presence is not about one big moment.
It's as I say in the book, it's about those
little moments that build up over time, that create an impression,
that create your reputation in someone's mind. So the book
(15:43):
hopefully is you know, is level setting and not freaking
people out like, oh presence, I just have to be
like this executive on day one. But here let me
build up my presence across all these really different important channels,
and over time this will create my overall presence.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
A book Unforgettable Presence Gets Gain influence and catapult your
career by Lorraine K. Lee. I have one from the
liner before we get into Moorrow. More questions commanding attention
with executive presence.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
Executive presence is one piece of the presence pie, or
presence puzzle, as I like to say. Executive presence has
also changed a lot over the years. So there was
this really interesting research in Harvard Business Review that showed
the difference in how people perceive executive presents or what
they thought it was, from twenty twelve to twenty twenty two.
And you'll see a lot of new words started appearing
(16:35):
in twenty twenty two, for example, authenticity, command, a zoom room,
body language, listening to learn. So there are a lot
more people centric skills, whereas in twenty twelve, perhaps it
was the more stereotypical version of executive presence that we
might think about. So I talk about the three c's
of modern day executive presence, communication, career, brand and credibility,
(16:57):
and so you know, go into more of that in
the book. But these are the new new ways I
think to exude executive prices.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
Absolutely, we're not trying to give way the book and
this interview. We're trying to tease you so you can
go to the book.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with more
Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Welcome back to the Money Making
Conversations Masterclass, hosted by Rashaan McDonald.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
Now, there was a couple of things that were sent
to me as questions, and you know, as we go
through life, you know you look back and go, wow,
this is what I should have done differently. And one
of the questions that came to me is how you
bounce back from getting fired?
Speaker 2 (17:42):
Spot. Yeah, my layoff happened at the end of twenty
twenty two is part of you know tech layoffs happening
at the time happening.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
There's a layoff in a fight. There's two different.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Things, two different I mean, some people might say layoff
is being fired.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
It wasn't performance Emotionally, Emotionally, there's a different sature the
lanes of justification. You go, you get fired, Yeah, you're
like those persons layoff be disappointed in May. Yeah, yeah,
because you were doing your job.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
Sure, sure, Yes. I got laid off at the end
of twenty twenty two, and yeah, I mean a little
naively was like, oh, is this gonna happen to me?
I don't know. I hadn't gotten laid off before because
I've been in tech for you know, the past decade
and it was a wonderful time in tech. But got
laid off and that was really the catalyst for me
reaching this whole new level of my career, starting my
(18:29):
own business, doing the speaking, writing the book. And So
for anyone who's gotten laid off or you know, has
experienced this, uh, you know, I want to say that layoffs,
as many people say, are a blessing in disguise. I
know it doesn't feel like that in the moment, but
it was such a Yeah they.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
Can say that, yeah, okay, no blessing when you get
fired or laid off.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Okay, yeah, but usually people like it gives them the
time to think and to find something better down the line.
It doesn't feel like that in the moment, but you know,
I didn't feel like that to me in the moment either.
But you know, I've come out about strong longer. On
the other side, I'm thankful for it. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
Now there's another question that comes about the way the
best way is to get promoted, because you have shown
the examples of your book at you come in at
this level and you already looking at that next wrong
talk to us about.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
It the first thing. I know it sounds so obvious,
but you have to make it known that you want
to get promoted. I talk about the story in the
book my coworker great work, had been at the company
for a while, hadn't gotten promoted. One day she comes in,
She's promoted. I'm like, oh, my gosh, like, what happened.
I'm so happy for you. And she says, oh, I
my manager didn't even know I want to get promoted.
Once I let him know, then I got it. And
(19:38):
so I know it sounds like as an ambitious person,
you're like, oh, doesn't everyone want to get promoted? Doesn't
my manager know that they don't? Some people don't want
to get promoted, they're happy where they are. They have
to you have to let them know.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
And you can't pressure in A supervisor can't pressure you
to do something that you're uncomfortable.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
Don't. Yeah, if you don't feel ready. Yeah, and then
and then after that you need to again be really proactive.
So it's not during annual review time that you mentioned
your promotion that you want to get promoted. You need
to start thinking about it like six months at least
ahead of time, and making sure you know who's going
to be in the promotion room and talk to them
and let them know about your goals. Right, There's so
many moving pieces that I didn't realize when I wanted
(20:17):
to get promoted at LinkedIn. I was like, oh, just
my manager just says something and it happens. Right. No,
there's like a lot of conversations. They're all putting up
their people for promotion. You need to get the right
feedback from the right people who have influence. Right. So
there's just there's so many moving parts. So it's about intentionality.
And then there's additional tips in the book. But yeah, wow, you.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
Know I've mentioned this story several times on my show
about my ivy and experience. So I worked two and
a half years, they hired me full time, and then
I was hired a long with the two white guys.
So I'm just gonna say race because my mind was
operating in that coin. And six months later they were
buzzing around doing different things, and I was still trapped
(20:56):
at my desk, and so I went and stormed into
the off for some of my supervisor who had interviewed
and brought us all through on board at the same time.
And I used to miss an example. I said, you know, hey,
what's going on with Sean McDonald And he said, well, Rashan,
doing your initial interview, I asked you what you wanted
to do, and your statement back to me I wrote
(21:19):
it down, was I'll get back with you.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
Six months later, Rashan, I'm still waiting for you to
get back with me. Now, since you were complaining about
those two gentlemen, they had a plan in place when
they sat down, they said they want to do this, this, this, this.
So since they gave me a plan, I work with
their plan and they're doing all the things that they
asked to do. Now, ra Sean, what do you want
to do? And at that moment, I said, I'm gonna
(21:44):
get back with.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
You when I got.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
Because again I still came the mad without playing and
so and so that's why I really enjoyed reading your
book because it was so relatable to a lot of
conversations I have on the show motivating people and warming
them with action plans and things like that. But it
was just my stories. Now we officially have a book
called Unforgettable Presence, where a lot of the dialogue that
(22:10):
I talk about on the show motivating people, strengthen your values,
understanding your presence, you know, being able to communicate your
goals and your brand to anybody, and then you can
win and this really helps. It's really funny. My wife,
she always she always maddened me. It's not mad in
the good way because I go into restaurants and they
(22:31):
treat me differends. You know. It's always no matter what
restaurant I go into, the chef or the owner of
the restaurant is going to come to my table. She says, why, Wow,
what do you do? I said this presence? I said,
when I said, I walk a certain way, I say
hello to people, when I come into the room, certain
(22:52):
way to matri Die, I just it's just natural things
I do. And so when I sit down, people go, okay,
want to go speak to that guy? And these are
just natural brand presence that I've created over the years.
Some people might call it confident cocky. I just call
it presents and it's part of your brand. And so
(23:13):
because that's part of my brand to walk into a
room and I tell people, I generally walk in the
room like I own it, and there's nothing wrong with that.
And that's called confidence. And that's all believing in yourself
and a lot of those values is what you talk
about in this book, correct.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
Yeah, And I love what you said too about how
you've cultivated it over the years. Right, that's not going
to happen overnight. This takes some time. You have to
build trust right, consistent actions, and so yeah, I love
that story.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
It's reality. So it teaches us. I get I get
free desserts a lot of time. We went to this
new restaurant just the other day and we sat down
and got the owner or the manager of the restaurant
came over and go, hey, we'd like a free dessert.
And she went, wow, what are the seeing And it's
(24:04):
just that when I came in, I specifically said hello, hello,
my energy levels is always a little bit higher. And
when I asked the waiter, waitress or their name and
that all those different things, and I always and here's
the thing I always say when I sit down, when
I go to the restaurant, I'll tell them this is
I tell this specifically. I said, like, if you're with me,
(24:26):
miss Lee, I go first time, I'm a regular, you
know it just that's just my style, and I go, hey,
I'm back. This is one of my favorite places. So
I will broadcast my intentions about why I'm there. If
I bring somebody in, I'll tell them because that's how
I naturally do it. Now, if it's promoting people and
(24:48):
encouraging people to want to treat me differently in a
positive way, I'm winning. Okay, I'm winning and I'm gonna
keep winning. But that's what you're talking about.
Speaker 2 (24:57):
Yeah, that is like so much intention and that is
a very common theme. That's that runs throughout the book.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
Yeah, okay, let's talk about because I want I don't
want the use of all my time talking about the experiences.
But it's four key sections that will help you strongly
build your presence. That's what I want to talk about,
not in detail, about these four key presidents that you
outlined at the very top of the book. The first
one is setting a strong foundation.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
Yes, so career brand slash mindsets, your virtual presence, your
LinkedIn presence. Those are i think unconventional and traditional ways
to think about, Oh, this is the foundation of my career.
But those things are things that are we, that are
we that we are using every day that are so
important and so you need to have the foundation before
(25:43):
you dive into anything else. And then we have you know,
essential essential skills for today's workplace. So a lot of
that is communication practices, things that I've seen people make
mistakes about. And then we go into leading teams and
like thinking more like a manager because my hope is,
like you know, people want to get promoted, they want
to reach that next level. And then the last section
(26:04):
is really okay, now, how do you expand your presence,
how do you expand your team's presence, and how do
you really get into that executive mindset?
Speaker 1 (26:10):
Right? So as an individual, but let's talk about somebody
who doesn't want that, who doesn't want to supervise, doesn't
want to lead. How does your book handle that type
of personality?
Speaker 2 (26:21):
Definitely, someone can still get a lot of takeaways from
the book. We don't always have to be managers, but
there's a lot of things when you are a manager.
That are still great qualities to show when you are
an I see individual contributor, contributor for example, being a
someone who elevates others and cheers on other teammates. That's great.
You're going to be seen as a leader, even if
(26:43):
you're not leader by title. It's so important to be
seen as a leader at a company because that is
still what's going to help you advance and grow.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
This was the way positive personalities get paid. Yes, let's
go to number two. Key skills for the modern workplace.
We talked about COVID has shifted and Zoom popped up,
and video and television the whole media world changed. Are
we saying about that period or you just talk about
the last ten fifteen years as the modern workplace?
Speaker 2 (27:12):
It's generally I do you know, talk a lot about
virtual communication, virtual presentations I think are super super critical
and people are still not doing them in the ideal way.
So that's definitely a chapter there.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
What's the wrong way? Don't want to help myself out,
don't need to put makeup on what's going on now?
Speaker 2 (27:27):
No, it's it's the start. It's the way you create
the content and the way that you deliver the content.
A lot of people are pouring over in person to
virtual and not making any changes. But virtual, there are
some nuances and things that you have to adjust in
order to make it suited for virtual environments.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
Right, And there's also let's talk about that virtual environment
because you know all the people use these little virtual
or three D looks behind them. Are they are virtual
backgrounds or they or you see the real backgrounds? You're going,
what's going on over there? So that's part of the
whole precientation? Correct?
Speaker 2 (28:01):
Oh yeah, yeah, that's that's chapter two. I'm having a
strong virtual presence. Yeah, yeah, I say no to the
virtual backgrounds ideally, and then also, yeah, curate, curate what's
behind you, and no to the.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
Virtual background, and no to the plain white walls.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
Please too too. Yeah, a little personality?
Speaker 1 (28:19):
Yes, good Number three. How to approach career advancement? You
an expert your book. I'm gonna tell you this up,
ladies and gim when you read this book, read the background.
This is I'm sitting across a true go getter. I'm
sitting across a person who walks in the door. You
sit in a chair, but that's not the chair. She's
going to stay in. I love that about you. When
(28:40):
I did the background research on you in your book,
what what built that in you?
Speaker 2 (28:45):
What?
Speaker 1 (28:45):
What?
Speaker 2 (28:45):
What?
Speaker 3 (28:45):
What?
Speaker 1 (28:46):
What? DNA just just just that made you the person
you are.
Speaker 2 (28:52):
I appreciate that. I think it was a lot of
trial and error because I did not start off super
confident in my career. I was very much like, oh,
tell me what to do, do it. But I wasn't proactive.
I wasn't super strategic in the way I thought about things,
and so lucky to have had many great managers, many
great mentors. And then also that period of self reflection
after I left LinkedIn like what went wrong? What could
(29:13):
I have done differently? That really allowed me to grow
a lot faster build my confidence. And then with every
sort of career move that I made, the confidence grew exponentially.
So again, this is not an overnight thing. It took
time and a willingness to want to learn and to
do it.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
Cool a last one because I don't want to keep you.
You know, I can keep going because you're such a
great interview. What's need to be? What need to be
an unforgettable leader and manager?
Speaker 2 (29:44):
I think first and foremost, you really have to care
about leading people because a lot of people they want
to become a manager because it means they're going to
reach that next level. But you actually have to care
about the development of your people, helping them grow, and
I think that's such an essential piece to being a
really strong manager. And then building out your team's presence,
teaching them how to advocate for themselves. You also being
(30:07):
the voice for them when they're not in the room.
I think those are all fantastic ways to become unforgettable
to your peers and also to your team who you're supporting.
Speaker 1 (30:16):
She's the one and only Lorraine Klee Unforgettable Presence, Get seen, Gain, influenced,
and cateaborty career tell us about your Is it only
on LinkedIn that we can find you?
Speaker 2 (30:27):
You can find me on LinkedIn. You can find me
on my weekly newsletter Career Bites, Bye sized tips to
supercharge your career in three minutes or less. And then
I also have many many LinkedIn learning courses that you
can watch.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
Just talk about it. Before I didn't know about the newsletter.
Tell us how do you just submit your email address?
Speaker 2 (30:45):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (30:46):
Where can we go?
Speaker 2 (30:47):
Lorraine Klee dot com slash subscribe Okay.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
See I just got it. I need a manager. I
gotta full of these vital information out you. But thank
you for govering on money Making. It's been a wonderful journey.
They really do comment to a lot of things I
sell on the show, but in your words, and I
think that's wonderful. I feel that's one.
Speaker 2 (31:05):
Yeah, thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
This has been another edition of money Making Conversation Masterclass
posted by me Rushaun McDonald. Thank you to our guests
on the show today and thank you o listening to
audience now. If you want to listen to any episode
I want to be a guest on the show, visit
Moneymaking Conversations dot com. Our social media handle is money
Making Conversation. Join us next week and remember to always
(31:28):
leave with your gifts. Keep winning.
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