Storytelling

I grew up in Nepal in a fairly traditional way. Having a respected job was important. Sciences and mathematics were important. As long as I did well in those subjects, I was okay. I didn't really need to do well in social sciences or literature. Oh man, literature. I was streamlined early and I knew that as long as I knew maths and was comfortable with it, I felt sufficiently on-track.

Then I got older. Six years of work experience later, I started to see how the world actually works. What matters shifted from what I thought. Speaking, reading, articulating your thoughts, being able to influence and motivate people. All of that started mattering way more than I expected.

Being able to describe a complicated problem simply. Knowing your audience and speaking to them properly based on what they need. I still love coding. I like building websites, apps, data platforms. I'm grateful I learned to code before the AI era. But now a lot of my role is talking to customers and talking to my team.

At my work, yes we've all got a high baseline of technical skill. But whether at Microsoft now, or at KPMG and PwC before, the main reason I've progressed when looking back is that I could articulate my thoughts. Not just to customers but to my own team. Juniors, graduates, managers, directors, partners.

I became an engineering manager at 24 at KPMG. I thought that was pretty cool. But it happened because I could communicate clearly. That's really the differentiator.

Speak with the intent of yourself being understood, not just listened to.

So what does speaking really mean? I think every time we speak, we're telling a story. People love a story. I want to tell mine better. The story of my day, an event, a year, my life. That's something I want to get better at every single day. What about you?