I had the good fortune to spend 36 hours on Cape Cod a couple weeks ago at the tail end of a whirlwind New York/New England trip that started with a back to college drop off for my daughter “Bella”, included some college visits with son “Jack”, a visit to my mother, and finally Orleans, MA.
I was sitting on the couch in my brother’s house when I noticed a book that caught my attention because of the cover. Who says you can’t judge a book by it’s cover? Let me come back to that notion in a couple minutes…as there is a through line here.
Anyway, my brother gave me the reader’s digest ( I am dating myself with this reference, I know…) overview and now I was really intrigued so I opened the book and tore through the prologue and first chapter. Wow, I had to finish this one…”Jeff do you mind if I take this with me?” No problem and into my bag it went and back with me home. Long story short, what a story. I won’t spoil it for you if you haven’t read the book, but if you want to learn about one man’s story of triumphs in the face of incredible hardship and the ongoing pursuit to breakthrough seemingly impossible limits…and so much more, give this a read. You’ll be frightened and inspired. Trust me.
While my journey pales in comparison to David Goggin’s, I can relate. I didn’t have a comfy childhood. Parents divorced, family addiction issues…I could go on. But it was ok and thankfully I tapped into a relentless inner drive that has propelled me to achieve with lots of grit and persistence, many times in the face of doubts and a chorus chanting “you can’t do that”. I got news for you, “you can do that” if you stay with it and figure out how to get there. Most of us just give up too soon. David Goggin contends most of us get to maybe 40% of our potential. Think about that.
Start ups and sales has been my life and if there ever was a more relevant testing ground than this in business, I don’t know what it is. Most days test your will to keep pushing and find a way to continue, win that deal, make quota, make payroll, stay alive to continue the mission. Did you know that 90% of startups fail within the first year? I could have stayed with the early career corporate path, but that would have been a lie. I love the challenges of startups and sales.
I had the good fortune of going through a few successful exits (cold start to exit) and now I mostly spend my days giving back and helping other startups with their go to market execution. What fun. I thought I was pretty good, but boy have my skills been sharpened over the last 10 years now that I have been involved with dozens of different businesses across many different industries and many different cultures and and many different founder types.
Back to the through line…Unfortunately, most of us still do “judge a book by it’s cover”.
I got lucky with David Goggin’s biography, but boy, do so many of us get it wrong when it comes down to talent acquisition and only make decisions by the “cover”. My grandfather used to say it takes a 100 years to get to know someone. Ok, so maybe we don’t need a century to evaluate a candidate, that’s not practical, but we need more than a piece of paper, a predefined checklist, or a 30 minute chat before a judgement is made. Don’t you think? I like to say “hire slowly and fire quickly”. Most do it in reverse.
I’ve had my share of failures – bad investments, failed startups, consulting assignments that ended abruptly for no apparent reason. Like anyone else who has achieved success, there are losses along the way. But every loss has been a learning experience and has sharpened my skills even more.
More recently, I’ve had a few at bats for various consulting assignments and for whatever reason, the other side didn’t like the “cover”. They should have opened the book and read the first chapter.
You “can’t hurt me”
Brick
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