There's a giraffe in my bathroom!

The moment you enter, you know it’s different. We stayed for one night at an Aloft Hotel, one of the Marriott chain’s new wave, concept hotels.

I am a sucker for cool design, and everywhere I looked, something unusual and unique drew me in. Surrounded by really cool elements everywhere.

The lobby, decor in the alcoves for private conversation throughout, a very well-appointed exercise room, the elevator (yes the elevator), and then the room itself. Spacious and open, designed for efficient use of the square footage, furnished with details to ogle, and finally, the bathroom wall beaconed me most. Yes one wall in the bathroom. Well, it was the wallpaper.

So why am I gushing? Because I was impressed and wanted to tell others.

Pivot to your LinkedIn profile.

The moral, by design: make others want to refer you to their significantly important “others,” even if a giraffe on the wall has no place on your LinkedIn profile. To win, it often takes being different. Memorable. Commentable. Referable.

Be yourself. Stick in their mind, like the giraffe and his cohorts on the wallpaper (above and below) did for me. And a few more designer impacts below: POW pillow, the number motif on the windowshade, and the squiggle laminate on tabletop. All fun and unexpectedly impressive.

Make them want to tell why you step out from the rest. Why you are the one they need. Then it’s up to you to tell why you do what you do.