I was asked recently by an educator, how I went from being an educator and athletic coach into my current field of work. As I thought about my answer I realized that my transition was not something I had planned on or even envisioned (contrary to how it is “supposed” to work, as in having a vision of oneself in the future and then taking steps to make that happen). Actually, I just kept following those things which I found intriguing. Most of the time, these “new interests” didn’t seem to relate to anything that I was currently doing or ever expected to do. For example, I was interested in how weight training might improve the performance of my baseball team, which led me to open up a gym. I had a friend who asked me to open up a car wash with him. I did that and in the process learned a little bit about how things work in a world that was very different than the world I was living in within the school system (as in, you have to earn money rather than if you just keeping your nose clean and getting a check once every two weeks, no matter what the economic climate is). My little forays into those kinds of things gave me the confidence to say yes to an opportunity to take over and run a business when that opportunity presented itself. That decision changed my life.
I have always been a curious “how does this work” kind of guy and so I would read up on the stuff that interested me. At one time I was interested in the psychology of money, a concept called Motivational Interviewing, and finishing my doctorate. For a long time I had absolutely no sense of what any of these things had to do with one another, but found that eventually they all came together and I went “aha, look at this, these three things have come together in a way I could have never imagined”. Throughout my life my experience has been that if I follow my interest and curiosity, eventually seemingly unrelated “things” come together in very unique ways. I’ve realized that the same skills that I had honed long ago in the classrooms and playing fields are transferrable into the larger world. Things like “you better make the lecture interesting or you are going to have a problem”; “telling is not teaching”; “show them don’t tell them”; class room management; knowing the difference between a big deal and a little deal; motivational techniques; and working as a team. All these things are useful in the larger world. I just took the opportunities as they manifested themselves. I would go anywhere anytime and talk to anyone about one or more of my current passions.
One time, a parent of one of my parents came to me and said that their daughter had come home and shared with them some of the interactive exercises I did with her in class and wanted to know if I could come to his next corporate meeting and facilitate an in-service to help them solve an employee retention problem. Initially I thought, “What do I know about corporate consulting?” Despite my self-doubts, I suited up and showed up. I did some of the very same exercises that I used in class with this group of corporate people and, lo and behold, they came up with their own answer. The fellow approached me afterwards and said “If you ever decide to get out of education here’s my card, you’ve got a job”. He ended up being the CEO of a fortune 50 Company. I didn’t take him up on his offer, because at the time, I had two young children and I was not willing to relocate, but it gave me the sense that what I was teaching kids had a bigger audience.
A more recent example of this occurred right after we did our first money workshop. That workshop was featured in a Wall Street Journal article. The day after the article appeared, I got a call from a lady who I had never heard of who said “We need your help”. She went on to say that she was the president of a major entertainment management group, they had a very high profile problem client that was about to crash and burn and didn’t know what to do with her. I thought to myself “What possible help could I be, I don’t know anything about the entertainment business”. I think I even told her that. She asked me to come visit with them anyway and when I went to the meeting I still didn’t know what, if anything, I had to offer. As I sat there and listened to them talk about the problem they were facing, I realized that they had never all met with this lady at the same time and told her what they were telling me. I suggested that they do that. I told them how to orchestrate the meeting and it turned out unbelievably well. They thought this was genius level stuff. The problem client totally changed her behavior, ended up writing a book about her experience, and is a model client these days. That entertainment management group has since asked me to be their consultant for other troubled clients.
Now I am working with people all over the world, from all walks of life, sports figures, movie people, music people, civilians, etc. I am still doing the same thing. Teaching the same lessons I did in school; adapting the methodology to the audience and having a ball doing it. For example, I was really interested in how to help my baseball players manage the anxiety that got in the way of their performance, so I came up with a lot of exercises I used with them. 30 years later, I am working with NASCAR and IRL race car drivers, movie personalities, and musicians, using the exact same tools. Who could have ever imagined I would be doing that?
If you are looking to make your own transition, go play in the bigger world from time to time. Hang out with people outside your normal sphere and find out what they know. Be open to hearing how they see themselves, other people, the world, and how “it” all works. Research suggests that we will be about as successful (however you might define success) as the five most successful people we hang around with. Everyone can teach us something.
Read, learn, and follow your curiosities and interests, even though it may not seem to make any sense at the time. I promise you that if you stay with them long enough, they will all come together and in a very unique way for you. Be open to opportunities when they present themselves. (A number of my colleagues commented, “Someone with a masters degree, opening up a car wash, you’ve got to be kidding, don’t you know what that looks like?)
As I look back on my life, seldom have I made a choice to change my life in any substantial way without having a “safety net” of some kind, just in case. I don’t advocate the “quit what you are doing and, with your back against the wall, you’ll make it work” approach. Looking at options, making plans, considering the risks, getting good advice and taking time to decide have always served me well.
