No Excuses Series: Communication

About two months ago I was asked along with about a dozen other alumni to speak to the students at my fraternity. I was/am an ATO and went to USC. It was one of those great afternoons, I gave up my tennis for the day something I don’t do easily but when my close friend and CFO of our company by the way, comes calling you drop what you are doing and say yes.

He asked people in all different industries with different experiences and levels of expertise to sit on panel’s to talk about planning for the student’s futures. I thought it was a great idea, I don’t think our universities or college’s offer enough practical experience courses as it is so when this opportunity came up I was first in line to say yes. The first thing I noticed was how smart some of these kids are and how intuitive their thinking was, to set the record straight I would never get into SC today my grades or scores probably wouldn’t even warrant consideration. But as the sessions progressed I also realized the tremendous lack of interpersonal skills most of these students possessed. A few things hit me as the day went on, first most of their handshakes were not firm, second several students didn’t look at you in the eye when we were talking one on one and third their curiosity level and ability to think ahead was almost nonexistent.  As smart as most of these students were when it comes to things like formulas and codes statistics and social media, that’s how inept some of them seemed with regards to in-person interaction. The straw that broke the camel’s back was the fact that I only received six thank you notes, all email none hand written from the 60 kids that attended. This was especially disparaging since we were brothers from the same fraternity who could be a direct conduit to their first job. I told the students, having two kids of my own exactly the same age as them, that written and verbal communication is what will set you apart. Most of you are very bright, all basically on a level playing field but the ones that speak up; ask questions, show passion and follow up are the ones that will get the job and rise to the top. For better or for worse this generation is easy to separate. Six months ago the wife of a very close friend of mine who recently died asked if I would take her son to lunch and talk to him about his direction in life. He was 21 years old and was transferring schools because of his father’s death and to be closer to his mother. We spent about 90 minutes together talking about his feelings, some stories about his dad and where he wanted to go. I told him I would do whatever I could to help him with phone calls, reviewing his resume whatever he needed. Other than the thank you he said at lunch I hadn’t heard back from him until yesterday asking if he could borrow something for a camping trip.

The ones that will be running companies one day are the ones that know how to pick up a phone not just a blackberry the ones that can write a hand written note not just a text, the ones that can present themselves in front of a audience not just write a proposal and email it. Parents are every bit as responsible especially when kids are young, to promote communication the way we did when we were in high school, when you get a present send a note, when someone goes out of their way for you show appreciation. Obviously today’s technology and perspective is faster, more efficient and more direct but never forget we are people who have emotional touch points and the more points you can touch the faster you will reach the pinnacle especially when you are the only one doing them.

Bill Barnett
CEO