The MOST important lesson you can learn when interacting with high level people.

I've lived a pretty amazing life. During my 10+ year career working in Radio and Event Management and living in Australia, Canada, the UK and Japan, I had some pretty amazing and unique experiences... (*photographic evidence by request only)

I've met U2, Adele, Alice Cooper, KISS, Imagine Dragons, Charlie Day, Jason Sudeikis and a few other famous names including Oscar winning Directors,

I've sipped Champagne at designer rooftop parties in the south of France,

I've attended the Cannes Film Festival twice (including walking the famous red stairs and interviewing the cast and crew of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides),

I've enjoyed amazing themed parties where I got the hold giant white pythons, owls, and had wine poured for me from an acrobat suspended from the ceiling, and even had private tours of some of the best royal level hotel suites in London (with complimentary champagne of course),

I've had an intimate dinner with the entire Executive team of a FTSE 100 company,

I've taken part in escape room games with the leadership team of the same FTSE 100 company (despite not being a member of the leadership team),

I've networked at conferences and events in Australia, Canada, the UK, US, Japan, France, and Germany,

and so much freakin more...

And do you know the one thing I learnt from interacting with all these amazing people and experiencing all these 'luxurious' things?

PEOPLE, ARE JUST PEOPLE.

And more importantly...

THESE PEOPLE ARE DESPERATE FOR SOMEONE TO TREAT THEM AS JUST THAT - A PERSON.

When you first start meeting people who have a certain level of 'status' it's easy to get overwhelmed by that giddy feeling of being close to someone 'important'. Someone you can brag about to your friends later, maybe catch a quick selfie with. But what we forget is how tiring that kind of treatment can get...

To put it into perspective... Have you ever had a boyfriend or girlfriend who put you up on a pedestal? Who worshipped you, thought you were completely perfect and that the sun shined out of your a$$?

At first it's fun right? You feel incredibly special, you are treated like a King or Queen and life is just wonderful! Until you accidentally fart in front of them the first time... Or they find out about your manky toe nails or weird birthmark, or the fact that you hate cleaning so your house is always a mess, or you're allergic to cats and they love them, etc etc...

The point is, the pressure to somehow remain this 'perfect' shiny creature that they believe you to be... is utterly f**king exhausting.

NOW, imagine that it's not just one person... It's the whole freaking world that thinks you are perfect, or they hate you because you are perfect, or they expect you to always look perfect in the paparazzi shots taken just after a hard core workout, or expect you to always say the right thing in the monthly executive meeting even when your kids kept you up all night.

I think you can see where this is going...

People, are just people.

We all have shit we are dealing with, we all feel a bit less shiny sometimes even with the mass teams of assistants or make-up people, and we all want one thing...

To be seen, to be heard, to be understood.

This realisation about how to interact with high level people was a huge game changer for me. The moment I started treating everyone with the same level of respect (from the hotel receptionist to the CEO or A-List celeb) I noticed a huge shift in how THEY reacted to me.

Suddenly they were wanting to spend time with me, wanting to hear my story, giving me undivided time at the first ask when others were begging for it for weeks, responding to my requests with 'How can I help?'.

And if you're still thinking that you could never be that person to someone so powerful, think about the people you would help most if they asked you for something. Not family who you might feel obliged to, but friends or co-workers. People you choose to be connected with. I'll bet that the ones you are thinking about, are people who have made you feel seen at some point, heard, and understood. Who have treated you, not like you are some impossible level of perfect, but that you are a human being with regular faults and also with unique talents and skills that are valued.

So be that person. Be the one who can meet the A-List celeb, or CEO and treat them EXACTLY the same as you would the guy who just made your coffee at Starbucks this morning. Because people really are just people. And we all want to be treated with the same level of respect and acknowledgement of our faults, as well as our perceived strengths.

To help you on this journey, I'll leave you with these questions...

Who was the most powerful person you met, and how did you react to them?

If you had been that person, and someone had reacted the same way to you, how would you have felt about that?

And the kicker... What would you do differently with that in mind?

If this resonates with you and you'd like to book a free coaching session to talk more about your own goals, send me a PM.