Category Archives: Career

The people you associate with and the books you read

May 16, 2018Career, Family, LifeKeith Thompson

I heard a speaker say some years ago that the person you will be in five years will be greatly influenced by the people you associate with and the books you read. There is never an exact formula to our future because we all know of people that came from diverse backgrounds, poverty and other social barriers that went onto do something great with their lives. That said, what the speaker said all those years ago is a pretty good formula for how to start to become the person you most want to be.

I didn’t go to college and I stutter when I talk so when I was young, my sphere of influence was lacking. When I was younger I began to read books of all kinds from history, motivation to suspense thrillers. These books largely shaped how I think today about life, family and business. So, the idea that books could have an impact on our life, at least for me is true.

I bought some restaurants some years ago and lost my shirt in the process. The funny thing was that the guy I bought the restaurants from, also sold hotels. At the point of bankruptcy, I showed up on his front door and told him I wanted to learn how to sell hotels. The only reason he even let me in the door was because he felt bad for me. I had no experience, no education and no concept of selling commercial real estate but he let me sell hotels anyway. Bill Hodges and Jack Ward who owned the hotel brokerage firm, literally changed my life.

When I started selling hotels, I began to meet people from a whole different position in life and developed close friendships in the process. These people spoke words of affirmation and influence into my life that literally changed the course of my future and that of my family. When I look back over the lives of my family, my children and grandchildren, I can see in reverse the impact that association with people and the books I have read have had on our lives.

Nothing in life is simple and nothing works every time for everyone, but for me, this little piece of wisdom had an incredible impact on me and my family. Possibly the simplest, first step, is to go buy some books, turn the TV off and spend some time each night reading and letting your imagination experience a different world. That is what happens when you get into a good book. It transports you into the story and allows your mind to imagine and experience a different setting than your current life. Over time, these impressions can help you think more clearly and began to imagine life in a different way. It’s worth a try, right? KT

Selling against elimination

May 14, 2018CareerKeith Thompson

Here is something that people in business just never think about but it is so very true. Let’s say you are interviewing for a job and there are ten other people waiting to be interviewed as well. The person interviewing you is NOT looking for a reason to hire you? They are looking for a way to eliminate you from consideration. Sounds strange, right? It is the same in our business when we do presentations to be hired.

The person interviewing you is looking for faults and a reason to move on to the next person. They don’t even know that they are doing it because no one ever really thinks about it. Let’s say you are looking to hire a firm to sell or market something. People in the decision process unknowingly look for the firms with the fewest flaws. Many times, the person presenting needs to answer questions before they are asked. To do this you need to think like the person interviewing you and ask yourself, what is most important to him/her and then gear your presentation around those things. When you answer their questions before they ask them, it leaves a very important impression with them and makes you memorable and that is one of the keys to winning the job or the account.

Asking yourself, if I was in their shoes, what would be the most important points to consider? Other than not showing up with food in your teeth, this is probably the most important thing you can do to prepare for an interview. You want to leave the room having made an impression because when they compare notes, it is the things you said and did different that the others that makes you stand out when the decision is made. KT

The horse named Secretariat

May 10, 2018Career, Family, LifeKeith Thompson

Last weekend I was watching the Kentucky Derby and remembered going to the Derby a few years back. What an event. The Derby will draw almost 200k people rain or shine and is one of the top sporting events in America.

In 1973, history was made by a horse named Secretariat and many of his records of the three races that make up the triple crown, still holds today. His margin of win at the Belmont stakes has never been even close to duplicated.

The thing about this story that impresses me is that the horse, its owner, its trainer and its jockey were never supposed to win. They didn’t come from the right background, the right location and had no history of winning and they were shunned from the establishment and told they didn’t have what it takes. That is why I love this story.

If you haven’t watched the movie Secretariat, you should rent it and watch it. It is simply an inspiring movie about not listening to what others say about how far you will go in life and your potential. We all have those types of people (and even family members) in our life that speak words of discouragement to you. The movie is about reaching your God given potential and shutting out what others think about you.

In our office at Avison Young, I have an original picture of Secretariat taken at the finish line of the Belmont Stakes in 1973 signed by the jockey, Ron Turcotte. The picture shows the 31 length (length of a horse) winning margin at the Belmont Stakes, the race that won Secretariat the Triple Crown in 1973. That same year, Secretariat won the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes and all three records still stand today. Secretariat was named the 35th best athlete of the 20th century, and I believe the only animal to ever be so named. He was simply the best race horse of all time.

Why am I writing about a horse? See, the horse was owned by Penny Chenery who had no experience in horse racing and was a woman and very much unwelcomed by the establishment. The trainer, Lucien Laurin, had never trained a horse that won any triple crown events, and he was considered by many, a loser. The jockey, Ron Turcotte, was unproven as a competitor and shunned by the racing establishment. Secretariat was never supposed to be fast and or be able to run long distances because of his bloodline; in short, because of who his parents were. There was no reason to expect any success from this team because they didn’t come from the right class of folks, grow up in the right places, and come from the right family. Sound familiar?

If you look at the greatest inventors, the greatest leaders, and the greatest wealth creators, they mostly come from backgrounds and environments that should have limited their success and ensured they would only achieve average at best. The story of this horse is like many of us, we’ve been told we will never make it and we don’t have the education, talent, looks or background to go very far in life. Yet somehow, God has a different plan if we will listen to him. KT

Acting like you are entitled

May 2, 2018Career, LifeKeith Thompson

Have you ever been around someone that acts like they are entitled? The dictionary definition of the word entitled is, believing oneself to be inherently deserving of privileges or special treatment. The example used in a sentence shone in the dictionary is “his pompous entitled attitude is etc. etc.”

In the business world, I believe one of the greatest leadership qualities one can acquire is the adoption of a servant’s heart. Meaning, I am here to serve our people, our clients and our customers and I don’t need recognition for it.

Jesus Christ, the night before he went on trial and was crucified, wanted to demonstrate (not just talk about it) to his disciples what a servant’s heart looks like. He got on his knees and told his disciples to all sit down and he then proceeded to wash their feet which in that time era, was synonymous with what servants did. He was God incarnate but chose to lower himself to show love and to show how to love.

Years ago, when I was in the restaurant business, we were having some new coffee equipment installed by Standard Coffee. I got to talking with the equipment installer and about life and work. The equipment installer had the same last name as the chairman of Standard Coffee so I asked him about it. He told me he was his son. I asked him why he was installing equipment instead of other executive roles and what he said left an impression on me to this day. He said, “If I want people within the company to respect me, I need them to know I was willing to start at the bottom.” What a leadership attitude.

Whatever the job role is, the person knows in their heart when they go home at night if they did their best. There is something about going home, knowing you did your best, that effects every area of your personal life. Why? Because every day you do your best, it makes you a better person and every day your self-esteem goes stronger and stronger until you look up one day and realize that you have become the person you most wanted to be. KT

The rule of three

April 18, 2018Career, LifeKeith Thompson

I was in a one-day sales class last week on the proper way to do presentations and the focus was on a term called, the rule of three. The class was being taught by a very accomplished instructor and the time I spent that day, really helped reinforced the basics of selling. As I have often said, everyone is salesman regardless of your job title. Everyone is making an “impression” with everything they say or do and basically selling themselves.

The rule of three is not just a business term. It can help you in an interview, lead a meeting or even work with your neighborhood association. Basically, any situation where you are asked to, contribute, lead, or give advice. Anyone who has ever had teenage girls knows that telling your daughter you want to talk to her about three things lets you ease into the third point which is usually the real reason you needed to talk to her. ha

The rule of three is basically boiling down all your thoughts into three main points. The beginning, the middle and the end. If you waffle or get caught on some other tangent, you will lose your audience. Three is the universal number that is founded all through history and it is also the exact number of things most people remember best. If you go into a meeting with 15 things, you will lose your audience after three. There needs to be three main points that can have minor topics within them but by telling the person or persons you are meeting with that you want to cover three things, it helps hold their attention and gives them a gauge on where you are in the presentation. It is so simple, yet so very hard to do.

I cannot tell you how many church sermons I have sat through where the pastor has twelve pages of notes and thinks, by God, I need to get through all 12 pages. If he would just look up, he would see that after 20 minutes (which is also the magic attention span) that the people have drifted and thinking about anything else other than what he is talking about. Mostly what they are having for lunch. In business, you need get their attention within the first 30 seconds, then hold their attending with a compressed outline and then end the presentation by giving a summary of what you have discussed. Simple, right? So again, start off with an opening that gets their attention, then give them the meat of the presentation and end with summary of the three things you discussed.

The next time you are asked to lead a meeting, practice this a few times in the mirror and you will be amazed how well the audience receives what you say. You gave them the fast opening, then got to the main points and then reinforced in your closing what you needed them to remember. It is classic speaking 101. KT