I Was Introduced to The Go-Giver (and did something about it)

Later in the same week I met with John Woodhead.  I had been introduced to John, again my Mike Neubaurer, as an executive level sales manager with a really strong background of success with corporate giants like PepsiCo.  I was excited beyond belief that a guy like that would agree to meet with me at all.  When we met, I still hadn’t taken seriously all of Jerry’s advice so I was not really prepared for this meeting either.  John’s approachability and laid back demeanor were very settling.  In minutes, I was sharing career search struggles with John that I had only shared with my wife up to that point.  As we talked, John made a couple of suggestions.  First, get prepared by knowing exactly what career I am searching for.  Second, be ready to tell anyone who asks very crisply what career I am searching for and third, read The Go-Giver.

Now the first two ideas are important and I did them.  The third, I made note of in my notebook and John stopped me by saying, “I see you’re writing that down, but this is one you need to read.”  He explained that it is the reason he was meeting with me.  The reason he was sharing his hard earned knowledge with someone he’d never met and had very little reason to trust would follow through and make his time worth while.  John’s endorsement was so strong I had little choice but to read the book.  He was so passionate about following the Go-Giver philosophy that he carried the five laws of stratospheric success around in his wallet with him. (An idea I’ve also borrowed).

Furthermore, to give credence to the ideas in the book John referred me to a friend of his Chris Stark, who is a recruiter focused on sales roles in the St. Louis Market, and Kelly Woodhead, John’s wife, has since partnered with Chris at The CAS Group.

I worked with Chris and got had an interview within the first week.  The opportunity turned out to be a mismatch but the lesson was learned well.  Networking, with a focus on giving, was the way to go.  Needless to say, I have since read the book and learned much, much more.