Act I. Last week I had breakfast with a successful entrepreneur, the CEO of a company which has raised two rounds of capital, retooled once or twice and prospered. Unsolicited, he reached out to me and invited me to breakfast. Without qualification I accepted. What the heck? I eat breakfast anyway. Why not do so over stimulating conversation, right? During our breakfast our conversation wandered in a number of directions. Silently I thought to myself, “what’s his agenda?” and “Where’s this going?” It went everywhere and nowhere.
Act II. A young entrepreneur invited me to lunch. He prefaced it by sharing that he was wrestling with the decision to stay in Seattle vs. moving to silicon valley and wanted my advice. I accepted, honestly with a little anxiety that I’m so constrained for time that I didn’t know if I even have an hour to give another entrepreneur. We had a great conversation over lunch. The discussion wandered all over. We found common ground in a number of areas. We found areas where we differed. We both left respecting and understanding each other a little more.
I’m a busy guy. Time is my constraint. Both times I accepted a meeting that “on paper” I probably shouldn’t have. Both times I was rewarded for taking the time to listen and work through what was top of mind for someone else.
Since my breakfast and lunch with these two gentlemen, they’ve both emailed me about ideas about how blist can improve. They’ve introduced me to people who can help blist. They’ve reciprocated disproportionately to the time I invested.
My point is that sometimes if you keep a predictable, rigid agenda, you get predictable, rigid outcomes.
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In a time when even Google is laying folks off it never hurts to make friends. The world of technology startups is not that large, and what goes around tends to come around. Two quotes I try to bear in mind as we head into turbulent times.
“The work of an unknown good man is like a vein of water flowing hidden in the underground, secretly making the ground greener.” Thomas Carlyle
“The mature man lives quietly, does good privately, assumes personal responsibility for his actions, treats others with friendliness and courtesy, finds mischief boring and keeps out of it. Without this hidden conspiracy of good will, society would not endure an hour.” Kenneth Rexroth