Books Can Change Lives—These Two Changed Mine
I've always loved to read. As a teenager, I read books of all kinds: Fiction, non-fiction, and any topic that was interesting. There have been specific books that were so incredibly impactful in my life at specific times. Someone told me as a teenager: The person you are today is a result of the people you hang out with, the books you read, and the tapes you listen to.
The idea that you could grow as a person through reading books was new to me at that point in my life. I wasn't raised in a house where my mum read a lot of books. But she always encouraged me to read.
Rich Dad Poor Dad
Things changed for me when I was 19. My uncle was given a book at Christmas called Rich Dad Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not! He already had a copy of it, so he gave it to me to read. I always saw him as pretty successful, so I thought I should read any book he recommended. So on Christmas Day almost exactly 20 years ago I read that book.
Once I picked it up, I read it within a few hours. The next day, I read it again and within a few weeks, I had read it yet again.
It changed the course of my life.
There are many takeaways from that book, but the one that stuck with me most was that you should never take a job for the money. You should take a job for what you can learn from it. If you're not stretching and learning and developing, then you're probably not in the right place.
I had a goal to be a tax accountant (perhaps an odd goal for a young person), and because of that book, I asked myself a simple question: If I want to learn tax accounting, where is the best organization to do that?
I deduced that the New Zealand IRD (our version of the IRS) was the best place to learn tax. Where else in the world could you understand how tax worked, except at the organization that administered those taxes?
After two years in that role, it was time for me to move on. I had learned what I wanted from that role, and I decided I wanted to work in a Big Four accounting firm next. Applying my previous learning again, I said to myself, “Where else in the world could I learn to run an accounting firm, except one of the four biggest and best organizations on the planet?”
There was only one problem, of course. Big Four accounting firms didn't hire people like me from government jobs. I don't want to say it had never happened before, but I couldn't find any example of a time where it had ever happened. I was trying to do something that was pretty much impossible.
How to Win Friends and Influence People
At the time I read the book How to Win Friends and Influence People. Like Rich Dad Poor Dad, it changed the course of my life.
The main idea I took from the book was that we should be more interested in others than in ourselves. Dale Carnegie encourages us to think (and I mean really think about the other person). Put yourself in their shoes and think about what their day is like. Think about what their job is like. Then think about what their response would be to your actions.
He used the example in the book of a time that he was trying to hire a receptionist. As someone pretty famous, he got thousands of applications. He was digging through the many applications and started to get discouraged because none of candidates really seemed up for the job.
After reading through hundreds of them, he came across one that stuck out. The application said something to the effect of, “Mr. Carnegie, I'm sure you have thousands of applications for your job advertisement for a receptionist. Rather than me telling you how good I am, why don't you allow me the privilege of coming down to your office free of charge and sorting out the applications for you. If I do a great job in helping sort your applications, then you can give me the job. If you don't think I'm a fit, then no need to pay me for my time. We can part as friends."
Now, I'm paraphrasing the book of course, but who do you think got the job? The applicant who made that offer, that’s who.
After reading that example, I started to think about how I could get a job at KPMG. I realized that if I sent my resume, they would promise to keep it on file ( in the round file under the desk) in case something came up. They got thousands of applications, and less than 1% of those people who applied actually got a job there.
So I started thinking, “What does an accountant at KPMG even do all day?” If I'm going to give years of my life to a company, then I should really seek to understand first (another key principle from the book).
That’s when I decided to write to the partner in charge of the firm and ask if they would meet me anywhere, anytime for a coffee. I wrote that their helping out early in my career would mean an immense amount and that I would even pay them for their time and for breakfast/lunch/dinner (of course, a partner in a large firm didn't need the money, but it showed them how serious I was).
I sent the email off, closed my eyes, and prayed.
About 20 minutes later, I got a call, and the partner I emailed was on the other end of the line. I stuttered and stammered my way through the call and agreed to meet him at 7 a.m. for coffee in a few weeks.
Before that coffee I prepared like never before. I learned everything I could about them, the firm, their customers, their employees. I turned up half an hour early with my questions meticulously written out.
When Alan turned up, I introduced myself and proceeded for the next hour to ask him a lot of questions about what KPMG was like and took pages of notes. I talked very little about myself and what I wanted and sought to understand him, his challenges, and all of the good things and bad things about working in a large firm.
The hour went by very quickly. At the end of the hour, I told him how much I appreciated his time, paid for coffee, and started to leave.
As we were leaving, he asked me if I was interested in joining KPMG. After some stuttering and stammering, I got out a “Yes, I would be honored.”
There were many steps after that such as more interviews and a barrage of IQ tests. But when we got to the end of the process, I learned I would be joining as a graduate, which was a huge step backwards. I already had two years of work experience. This would mean a 20% pay cut and going backward from a title perspective. But because I was focused on what I could learn, not what I could earn, I said yes.
KPMG was an incredible experience. I got that job because I read a book. That book taught me how to really empathize with other people. To think about other people.
Bonus: Building a StoryBrand
The book Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen by Donald Miller (which some of us are currently working through at Leadr) is also great at reminding us how important it is to empathize with others. We are not the hero of the story. We are the guide that helps the hero achieve their goals.
At Leadr, we exist to help organizations grow their leaders. Our role is about serving, assisting, cajoling, influencing. But never, ever are we the hero of the story. Getting this wrong can have some catastrophic consequences and turn people away from engaging with us.
Miller uses the example of the different messaging approaches during the last US presidential election. Hillary Clinton's messaging was "I'm with her!" Clearly stating that she was the hero of the story. Trump’s slogan was "Make America great again,” inviting us to be a part of the story. Personal politics and opinions aside, you can see the stark contrast here in messaging.
A great deal of marketing is focused on company advertising: Look how great we are. But Apple is really the best in the world at flipping this around. Apple shows the customer how great they could be with an Apple product. A better version of themselves is attainable if only they had Apple products.
Check out their recent advertisement showing a snowbrawl filmed on iPhones (by a famous director) or this one here. Take a few minutes to go and watch it, and try not to cry. Look at how these videos show the user as the hero of the story, and Apple is assisting the hero.
Pulling it All Together
I often think about the paths I took. How many other graduates could have taken the time to reach out to a partner at KPMG? How many other applicants thought for hours about what it might be like to work in a particular role in order to understand it? How many other job-seekers spent weeks researching a company, writing questions, and preparing for a simple one-hour meeting? And how many others when they finally got that meeting had the self-control to only listen and ask questions?
I’m not asking these questions to toot my own horn. I’m asking because these are very simple things that anyone could do. They require no particular skill or money. And yet, if everyone did these things, I would never have gotten the meeting. Clearly, most people don’t.
Here’s a few takeaways:
Read a book. Read any book that might help you learn something. Books are cheap and only take a few hours to read, but the impact of a book could change the course of your life. It’s worth the investment.
Listen to people. Since we’re in the middle of Christmas season, this is a great time to listen and seek to understand your family members. Find out who they are and what their life has been like. Empathize and learn.
Apply what you learn. As you head back into the office in the new year, think about how you can apply what you’ve learned. Look for opportunities to be a guide in your work and help your customer become the hero.
→ Your turn. What’s the best book you’ve ever read, and how did it impact your life?