Who Have You Interviewed Lately?

Having the opportunity to author How They Did It allowed me to do something that I think most of us shy away from. I got to interview seriously accomplished people, and not be embarrassed about why I was asking them questions that were so obviously working to get at their secrets of success. I eagerly wanted to learn from them, and then get what I thought was the best of what they had to say on paper and in eBook form for you.

Mike Domek & Jim O’Connor at the Four Seasons

We all have interviewing experience, starting with being job applicants – and then at some point as the boss doing the interviewing. These employment settings are so well established that we know our roles intuitively. How to be on best behavior. How to be witty, provocative, dazzling – well you get the point – Shakespeare nailed it when he wrote “All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players.”

But I think back to when I just entered the work force after graduating college, and I didn’t know anything, and what was perfect was that I knew I didn’t know anything. The problem came a couple years later. I got good at one thing – in my case I was trained as a sales professional by a computer graphics company. So I got cocky and maybe wasn’t as open to naively asking veterans in various industries about how they accomplished their own success.

Why is this important? Because lifelong learning is the way to success and accomplishment. And I don’t mean learning as in sitting in class. That makes me shudder.I still have my greatest insights on all of the projects I’m working on – from just listening to the people around me, my family, friends, customers, staff – not to mention watching and absorbing advice from bona fide champions in business and professionals in other fields. You can’t believe the golden nuggets people will freely and generously drop in your lap – the billion dollar advice that flows from just being open to ask and then listen fully.

To learn more about how to ask and then interview – sign up for the newsletter and see a sample video interview (#6 in the newsletter series).