by Billy Jones - Jan 15, 2010
I challenge all of you, that if you look at the wealth, knowledge and experience in this small group here. What do you have? This is my running contacts for the last 10 years. Nobody's deleted, only added to this list here.How many of you write on the back of business cards, where you met the person, when, and who they associate with? Like right now, not tomorrow. When, where, date, how connected, whatever the case may be. That's leveraging a contact. It's not about a handful of business cards.
Let's focus just a bit further...
My background is in college athletics. I coached college basketball 16 years at Stanford, UC Santa Barbara, head coach for 12 years. And I wanted to get into something. I don't know what it is. As coaches we recruit, we manage, we must give a budget to adhere to, etc. These are the core skills. And so I thought maybe HR. And I thought the resume would shout it out, but had more rejection letters than you could shake a stick at. With so many rejection letters, I wanted to cry. I got this talent but nobody wants me. Are they crazy, since I'm talented? My profile did not fit typical HR.
So one day I had a brainstorm. I'm going to leverage what I have. I've done a radio show, I've been in the newspapers, I've been on TV, in the sports page for over 16 years. People might know who I am. Let's take a shot at this. In Baltimore there is McCormick spices, Westinghouse, Martin Marietta, etc. So I decided on a spiel. You've got 30 seconds to get though the secretary to get through to the big person.
I put a little spiel together. I must have been practising for a week. If I got a $1 for every time I picked up the phone and hit that number, and then put it down, I'd be rich today.
But I put this spiel together, under the wrath of big shots that could put people at introductory levels - resume comes into the company. They're all telling me "No. Get lost. Don't want you." I've got to do something not normal to get some access. Let me leverage what I have. Some self examination.
You have to realise you are a consulting firm. Think about it. Leverage the tools that you access.
So I decided, I'm going to do this spiel. I'm going to approach these VP levels with the "Big 7" companies of Baltimore, and I'm going to go enter, not ask them for a job right now. "I want you to access my skills as a basketball coach. How does it fit into the HR discipline?" And I made it very clear, "I am not looking for a job." I still had a job, but I wanted to get into this next job. So I got this spiel and got on the phone. It took me several days to do it, but I actually got through. There was seven of them. I got in to 5 out of 7. And I brunched, lunched and breakfasted. Out of those 5 discussions, I was offered 3 jobs.
My point is. I tried traditional approaches. And guess what, it ain't happening. It's not happening folks.
On my resumes I'm switching paper, and fonts, and whatever the case may be, and it's not happening. So I took the risk. And my thought was, what are you going to do to me if it fails? Seriously, think about it. What are they going to do, send you home? If you try this and it doesn't work, what has happened? What threat is there? It's a minimal risk where I sit, a minimal risk. But do leverage what you do have.
I mean it very seriously. Do a self inventory and leverage what you have. And if you're not sure yourself, you'll be giving your business card to each other, exchanging phone calls and meeting people. Sit down and talk with each other, and let this person give you some assessment when they see in you. Other people see attributes that you don't see in yourself. That's an asset. That's a tool. You leverage that.
Another story...
I was an HR manager at Tupperware. I just left Lockheed. And I put together a plan, North America, Latin America, South America, and Spain. They were going to make a change at a facility. My boss asked me what would you do. So I told him what I would do. I would condense this, this and this. And guess what, they did it and 6 months later I was impacted by it. So I couldn't be mad, it was a great plan, it was my plan that sent me out the door. So I was a little upset about that.
So I left Tupperware. I treated the whole seeking job thing like a job. Everyday I would get up with a tie, and I went to work. I was there 5, 5:30, 6:00. I took it as a job. I didn't want to get out of that doctrine by my routine, and I stayed with it. Coming home with no pay check. So lunch looked a little differently. Instead of Chilli's it was a peanut and jelly and crackers, whatever the case may be. But I went through the process.
I was called, I got to go Disney not because of my HR background. Disney was looking to build a sports complex. Sports is like the music industry. Unless you come out of that world, and know that world, it's tough to operate freely in that world. They were having trouble recruiting, people, leaders around the country for the sports complex. Somebody told them my background was in college athletics. And to this day I don't know who told them that. Who knew that?
Somebody referred me to them, and I got latched into one the greatest jobs ever. For 6 months, that was the year the Olympics were up in Atlanta, my job was NBA, NFL, NCAA, the Olympics. You're asking me, and pay me what to do this???
My point again, somebody gave them my name. I was very fortunate there in that regard.
One last story...
I was in Stanford, and I've got dibs on 5 year head coach. 5 years of not being head coach and I'm going to give it up and do something else. University of Maryland Baltimore opens. I played basketball for the University of Maryland, so I going to apply to this job. I'm going to call Jack, the big contributor to the University of Maryland, and let him know what I'm doing. I call Jack and say "Jack, I'm applying to UNM Head Coach and I just want to let you know I'm doing that."
Jack is filthy rich, first of all, has tremendous influence over the University of Maryland. He bypassed the Athletic Directory and went straight to the Chancellor. I get a call from the Chancellor, not the Athletic Director, and some 4 weeks later, I'm the head coach at the University of Maryland. I hadn't seen Jack in years, but Jack made the phone call, and connected the whole thing. And the next thing you know, I'm the head coach of the University of Baltimore.
And many cases people will call and ask to do things just because somebody else sent them.
I'm very lucky in that regard. But I think it's not because I'm unique, but I tell you what - I will work the network. It comes naturally for me. Relax and be yourself. Be honest and be straight, and you're going to network.
People are afraid to ask. They're afraid to ask. What's the risk in asking? I ask here, Bob, can you help me? And Bob says, what's the trap? Seriously, what's going to happen if he says no? I'm back to where I was. That's one less resource I know I don't have. There's some risk involved. If your serious, there's a risk. You must be willing to take the risk.
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