Our will NOT to act… matters more
I remember what it was like working with an entrepreneurial consulting managing director 10 years ago.
Terry, like many high-performing achievers, is always on the move. He pitched 3 times a day when his peers averaged 1. He chairs 4 meetings a day and attends 2. We die by the third one. He is sharp as a tack and is always alert.
Many of us in our late 20s and early 30s could not sustain running at his tempo. One of my peers [an analyst] offered to buy back her notice period so she could leave the firm immediately. It was no joke.
Deep down, I found Terry entrepreneurial and impressive in his day job. He was running a small business on the side. Yet, burning the candle at both ends did not take him down.
He rose with the tide.
And that got me wondering.
How did he cope with his demanding day… day after day?
The chat
Grabbing Terry for a coffee chat is next to impossible.
He had 3 executive assistants. They worked hard to prevent anyone from reaching Terry. There was no open-door policy. Terry closed his.
It took me 3 months to get a 30-minute mentorship chat.
Strangely, I wasn’t too upset about it. Instead, it prompted me to prepare for our meeting. It forced me to weed out all frivolous questions. This taught me one thing.
People value their access to us when we value our time.
Of course. Terry taught me more.
The first question I asked was about his monster-like productivity and time management. I was intrigued. Terry ran an entire industry segment with at least a [grand] total of 100 million worth of projects in his pipeline. How?
Terry mentioned leveraging competent senior managers to run projects and new bids. I got that.
“Terry, I know you have committed senior managers with you. I was referring to you. How do you manage your productivity and time without spreading yourself butter-thin?”