Pitching push leads to new leader/follower relationships

An instance that really stood out to me during this week at my internship that pleasantly surprised me was the event that I hosted on Saturday. The pop-up event was held at Madewell (a women’s clothing store at Short Pump Town Center) with the main purpose of encouraging shoppers to sign up for the Here. Weekly newsletter. This particular store hosts “Hometown Hero” events meant to showcase local businesses, and sips, snacks and a discount are part of the event as well (what a bonus!)

My supervisor was the only employee to attend the event with me that day. When we arrived, she was particular about setup, as one would imagine someone would be about their budding business, and therefore I assumed that she would be taking on a stronger leadership role than I would be during the event. After the setup for the event was complete, my supervisor put me on the spot when she asked what my pitch would be when approaching customers encouraging them to subscribe to Here. I appreciated this push, but I appreciated even more her feedback before customers began approaching our setup. She left it to me to do the majority of the pitching to customers, and took a step back to do so. After a success, she praised me for good pitches and assured me that I was doing fine when there were failures.

Although the event was brief, it was successful in more ways than one. Not only did I break my goal of acquiring 25 new followers during the course of the two hour event, but I also felt as if I had acquired a new level of respect and admiration from my supervisor, or leader. I feel grateful to have had such a positive experience with someone who I consider a strong leader in the workplace, and I look forward to seeing how this may translate when we are back in the office this week.