I look across the office at the top of the credenza. In the center are a few dozen books between heavy brass bookends, and I know them intimately after years of multiple readings and reference. Stacked underneath lie many more that I’ve yet to read … my unopened books. An author or friend may have sent the unopened books, or they might be works that I’ve ordered and set aside. Regardless, I realized just now they represent gateways unexplored. Potential untapped.
One of my favorite all-time quotes is from Charlie “Tremendous” Jones, a well-known author and speaker:
“The only difference between who we are today, and 5 years from today – are the people we meet and the books we read.”
How profound, the people we meet and the books we read. How unfortunate that I’ve left so many words unread, so many worlds and literary perspectives uninvestigated. Even more unfortunate, how many people – people that I’ve met – remain “unopened”? How many people do I meet and relegate to a lower shelf? In most cases it’s because I’m preoccupied with my own world, my own champagne problems. There’s often no real thought or judgment involved as to who stays in the unread stack, I’m just full up. Or, am I?
As a practicing leader and coach, we can do more. Let’s do something different – let’s live and interact with intention. We can’t help but get better:
- Inventory the people around you – who do you see that you have met but don’t know. Pick 3 people who present a gateway unexplored.
- Make the 1st move – start a conversation or suggest a next step with someone. Ask them to lunch, breakfast or coffee. Break bread with them, and ask them open questions.
These very conversations can provide significant new frontiers for you and for them. After all, you too are an unopened book.
-Don Brown
Don Brown dedicates his career to ‘helping people with people’ in leadership, sales and customer service. Bilingual and experienced at the executive and line-level alike, you see the results of his work across dozens of industries, including brewing, automotive, airline, banking and medical equipment.
Speaking, writing, coaching and selling to the best – Ford Motor Company, Anheuser-Busch, United Airlines, Harley-Davidson, Jaguar Cars, Hilton Hotels and many, many more – Don takes great pride in long-standing customer relationships (some running well over twenty years).
