The highly successful businesswoman Mary Kay Ash, founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics, once gave this sage piece of advice:
“Pretend that every single person you meet has a sign around his or her neck that says ‘Make Me Feel Important.’ Not only will you succeed in business, you will succeed in life.”
Truer words were never spoken! Every single person on this planet desires to feel important—whether or not they realize or admit it!
Just think about it. What does it mean to “feel important?” In my opinion, feeling important is not about thinking “hey look at me, I’m a big shot!” While that can be true for some people, I think feeling important is more often about feeling seen, valued, appreciated, noticed, affirmed, cared about, and listened to… and everyone wants that!
Now imagine a scenario—whether personal, professional, or organizational—during which you’re interacting with someone and they are doing none of the above; they are not noticing, valuing, or listening to you. They don’t care. In short, they are not making you feel important. How likely are you to contribute to that person’s success? I’m guessing not very likely!
In turn, to achieve greater personal, professional, and organizational success, you should continually strive to make others feel important! Just as Mary Kay Ash suggested, imagine others are wearing a sign around their neck that says “Make Me Feel Important,” then think about how you can do just that. How can you make them feel seen, valued, appreciated, noticed, affirmed, cared about, and listened to?
That, ladies and gentleman, is the key to success in business and in life!
