Communicate Your Value - THE PICASSO STORY

Here's a fun story about how to communicate your value, even when your customer doesn't agree. Communication is the difference between knowing what you're worth and getting other's to place that same value on you and your ideas as well. This is a story about how the artist Picasso did exactly that.

A long time ago at a sidewalk cafe, somewhere in France, sat Pablo Picasso, the famous artist. An admirer comes along and sees him sitting there. She says, "Oh my goodness, it is Pablo Picasso". Because, you know, it's, it's in France. So she has to have the French accent.

And he says, "Yes?"

She asks him for his autograph and he's happy to oblige. As the story goes, she asks him to write it on the back of a napkin and he does.

He goes even farther and scribbles a doodle. He hands it back to her and then asks for a great deal of money. "I am shocked. I am appalled. Why are you charging me so much money? This only took one minute." 

So this is how the story goes, right? You've heard this. I didn't make this up. Who knows if it's real or not, but basically Picasso hands her his signature on the back of a napkin with a little doodle and then asks for a lot of money for it.

And he says, "No, no, no. You are not paying for that minute. You are paying for the lifetime of experience that went into that drawing. You are not paying me for that minute of work. You're paying me for the lifetime of work that allowed me to create it."

Now, what lessons does that hold for us?

Well, if you don't know your value, then no one else will. You've got to know your value and be capable of expressing that, communicating that value to others. Because you are the sum total of every experience you've ever had, every person you've ever met and everything that you ever done in your entire life. Everything that has gone into making you who you are determines what your value is today.

So recognize that. And then develop your confidence and your ability in communicating your value to others, because you are worth it.