how i got over the 'cringe' and reached 120k views on a reel

thought leadfership โ€ข december 20, 2025

When I posted this reel, my main concern was getting over the 'cringe' I felt. Then, the reel hit over ๐Ÿญ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฌ๐—ž views, numerous shares, comments and private messages in such a short period of time. ๐Ÿš€ 

Turns out, my concern was unfounded. It wasn't about me. It was about people relating to what I was sharing.

โœจ ๐—œ๐—ป๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜๐˜€ ๐—ถ๐—ป '๐—ฒ๐˜…๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฑ' ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€ ๐—ณ๐—ฒ๐—น๐˜ ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ป.

โœจ ๐—œ๐˜ ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—น๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ด๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ฐ๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐—ฝ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐˜€๐˜‚๐—บ๐—ฝ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜€ ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐˜„๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ฎ๐—ป ๐—ถ๐—ป๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜ ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜€ (๐—บ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜† ๐—ถ๐—ป๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜, ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜† ๐˜€๐—ผ๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐—ฎ๐—น, ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ป๐—ผ๐˜ ๐˜€๐—ต๐˜† ๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—ฎ๐—น๐—น).

โœจ ๐—œ๐˜ ๐—ด๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—ป ๐—ฒ๐˜…๐—ฎ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐—น๐—ฒ ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐—ฎ๐—ป ๐—ถ๐—ป๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐—ฎ ๐—ฝ๐˜‚๐—ฏ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ฐ-๐—ณ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—น๐—ฒ, ๐˜„๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ต ๐—ต๐—ผ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ณ๐˜‚๐—น๐—น๐˜† ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐—ธ๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐—บ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฎ๐—ด๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ธ ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ณ๐—ณ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐—น๐˜† ๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜ ๐—ต๐—ผ๐˜„ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐˜† ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐˜€๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€ ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฎ๐—น๐—ถ๐˜๐˜†, ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ฒ, ๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—ถ๐—น๐—ถ๐˜๐˜†, ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ต๐—ผ๐˜„ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐˜† ๐—ป๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐˜๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฝ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ ๐—ฐ๐˜‚๐—น๐˜๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ฒ.

๐Ÿ’๐Ÿปโ€โ™€๏ธ STORY TIME: When I auditioned for my correspondent and presenter role at Euronews / NBC News, I remember walking into the office half an hour early and quietly sitting down in the waiting area. I was observing how they worked. I wanted to feel settled in the environment. I said hello to anyone who walked by, but mostly kept to myself as I mentally focused on the task at hand: nailing that audition. 

I was given my topicโ€”at the time, French President Emmanuel Macron was trying to push through reforms that triggered widespread protests. I was given a few minutes to gather my thoughts. The director gave me the countdown in my earpiece and off I went. 

One of the NBC execs that hired me later told me that he was initially surprised at how different I seemed to a lot of "media types," but as soon as I started talking on camera, he said to those around him, "๐—ก๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐˜‚๐—ป๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜๐—ถ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ ๐˜€๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฒ ๐˜„๐—ต๐—ผ ๐—บ๐—ผ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐˜€๐˜€ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐˜„๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—น๐—ฑ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ฝ๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐˜€๐˜‚๐—ฒ ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—ฑ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—บ๐˜€."

There are certain skills, character traits, competence levels that will get us far in our careers. But that doesn't include having to be someone you're not. If you're an introvert, that's a NEUTRAL fact about you, and it's up to you to make it a STRENGTH regardless of external circumstance.

I noticed a lot more people talking about introversion and as a lifelong hashtag#introvert, I welcome the conversation around this. What I'd love to see are good people thriving regardless of how they define themselves and workplaces more inclusive and aware of different communication styles.

A former boss once said in an editorial meeting, "It doesn't matter if you're the main presenter, the intern, the camera guy or the technician. If you have a brilliant idea, share it in a meeting or privately. And to the rest of the team, ๐—Ÿ๐—œ๐—ฆ๐—ง๐—˜๐—ก. You never know where the next brilliant idea will come from." 

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