Wall of Success

Throughout my career, I have been fascinated by how people in organizations handle tensions between their own and collective interests. I became particularly interested in organizational gossiping. Do people gossip to forward their own selfish goals or to benefit group goals? And do their motives matter for the effects that gossip ultimately has? To answer these questions, I submitted an ERC Consolidator Grant proposal.

The Text Consultant helped me develop a presentation for my grant interview. We focused on creating preference rather than on informing the panel members, who had, after all, already read the elaborate proposal. The clear and constructive feedback I received on my slides, my spoken sentences, my tone of voice, my time management and body posture helped me tremendously. My message to the panel was framed to exhibit self-confidence and to remain authentic at the same time. This resulted in a very engaging conversation with the panel members, and more importantly, in receiving the €2 million grant that enables me to build a team to start this exciting research project.
 
Bianca Beersma
Professor of Institutions and Identities at VU Amsterdam