I rarely don’t take the call. Sometimes people say to my why? What could a startup with little money, an innercity tackle football program, an aspiring elder Olympic hopeful, the idea of a building a media hub for soccer leading into World Cup, a referral for a high school friend, a germ of an idea to use AI with legacy media companies etc etc. What could they lead to?
The answer is who knows, but if you don’t take the call after doing a little homework, you may miss a connection. None of it is frivolous, it’s very little small talk, it always corditial it is a lot of learning especially on my end, it can be blunt, but rarely is it a waste of time.
One thing we like to remind students or job seekers is that sometimes the path chooses us, and we have to be open minded enough to take a risk and go down the road. Sometimes it leads to a dead end, sometimes to an off ramp, sometimes to the yellow brick road. We don’t always know, but unless we try the path, and that does take courage, we will never know.
In the case of many of these calls, it’s easy to do a little research, especially on LinkedIN, to find out a little more. IF it seems like spam, or something that has little to do with me because someone was doing blanket outreach, I respectfully pass. But if there is a chance to pick something up, to learn a bit more, to educate oneself on something that is outside the comfort zone, or just to connect with someone whose life appears to have been quite interesting, then I’m usually up for it.
Now I agree that time is often money, and I know of many who will not do random calls unless there is a dollar figure attached, but sometimes those calls can be priceless learning experiences. Sometimes, sure they are a half hour you don’t get back, but there are usually ways to extract oneself if need be politely, and correctly.
I will say that I have found far more often than not that the information seeker, or the info provider, is pleased to have also learned a bit, and while you don’t always have the answer someone was looking for or don’t tell them what they want to hear, just the effort seems to be valuable from both sides. I have also found that more often than not, that connection comes back around in a beneficial and meaningful way. The wide net catches lots of stuff.
One thing I do believe though, is if you make too many assumptions on the why and decide to not go down that road, you miss Something. If you choose to walk the walk, you see things along the path that are most likely worth while.
The curious try on the end of the line usually makes the effort worthwhile. Build bridges, make connections, you miss the ones you don’t take.
