Is your executive biography boring?
When visitors to your website check you out – and you know that happens, right? – do they come away amazed and impressed or do they fall asleep before they can leave the page?
Your executive bio doesn’t need to be a yawn fest.
Yes, you should certainly include your education and history or accomplishments, but you should find a way to do it in an interesting manner.
Here are some examples:
If you’re an attorney who practices family law, wouldn’t it fitting to include a sentence about coaching a youth league baseball team?
If you’re the manager of a golf club, wouldn’t it be fun to include your handicap and the favorite courses you’ve played. (Don’t forget that hole-in-one at Muirfield.)
If you’re in the communications business, it might be fun to include the fact that you once met Jack Nicholson or Michael Keaton or stood in the wings of while the Rolling Stones performed.
Too many times people think of themselves as boring. But that’s not true. In fact, with a little prodding and some carefully crafted questions, you can generally ferret out some nuggets that will make a reader say, “Wow. That’s cool.”
For example, one year our family was having Christmas dinner at my in-laws house. My father-in-law was talking about when he was in elementary school and recalled the day that Henry Ford came by to talk to his class.
My wife, who was probably 55 at the time, put up her hand and said, “Wait, wait, wait. The Henry Ford? The guy who essentially created the car industry? That Henry Ford? He came to your class when you were a kid? Why have I never heard this story before?”
He just shrugged his shoulders. He didn’t think it was a big deal that Henry Ford came to visit his small elementary school in the mountains of North Georgia.
There’s probably a Henry Ford story inside of everyone.
And it can probably be included somewhere in your executive biography to keep people from clicking away!
Look for ways to include your own personality on your executive biography. Sure, people will always be impressed that you finished in the top 5 percent of your college graduating class. But they won’t forget that you once shared an airplane ride with Buzz Aldrin or sat next to Warren Buffet at a baseball game.
Think about it and search for ways to make your executive biography unforgettable.
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