The Mentors

This is a rebroadcast episode that was inspired by a recent class in our Sales Module at School16.

We decided to give you an inside look into a recent phone call we recorded where we ask a high school principal for a speaking budget. 

For many people, asking someone what they might be willing to pay is the most uncomfortable part of any sales or business development conversation - aka, going for the close. But with practice, you can learn how to do this quickly and effectively, creating new opportunities that may have been left on the table before. 

You'll hear how to use active listening to rephrase your line of questioning when asking for something like budget or a commitment to finally get the answer that you want.

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In our new weekly series at School16 we interview experts at big tech companies like Facebook, Google, Twitter, and Slack to find out how they've navigated their careers to land lucrative and dynamic roles at some of the most sought after companies in the world. In this episode we highlight what one expert who does Strategy and Operations at Twitter, noticed early on in her career when she was transitioning from consulting into tech. 

In tech, as in life, there really is no such thing as a true meritocracy. Being good at what you do is table stakes, but getting the best opportunities is fundamentally a matter of: 

• Making sure you invest in relationships over time
• Making sure your work gets noticed
• Being willing to ask for help when needed

If you're not seeing results from your efforts, be it entrepreneurial or career related progress, ask yourself - am I doing everything I can? Am I being as strategic and proactive as I can? People that get the best opportunities go above and beyond to position themselves for them, and that's actually a good thing because it puts things more in your control than you may have thought.

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Online education has been around since the 1990s but when Andrew Clark decided to start a fully remote accredited college, students weren't yet used to the idea of going to a school without a campus. His solution? Raise money to buy a small liberal arts school with a central campus that students could choose to visit any time, with the option to complete their education completely online.

In this episode we talk about Zovio's origin story (formerly Bridgepoint Education) and how Andrew was able to convince a private equity investor to give him $20 Million to build his vision after knocking on doors to raise capital for over a year. Andrew proved his credibility with his decade long management experience at University of Phoenix and his profoundly forward thinking approach to education.

We discuss how his team created a highly sought after program by standardizing their curriculum and allowing students to enroll any week of the year, and talk about his outlook on the future of remote learning given the rapidly changing global environment that's forcing all higher education institutions to move online. 

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Great business leaders come from all sorts of backgrounds but the one skill that all of them prioritize developing over time is learning how to write effectively. The reason for this is clear - as a creator you're communicating through the written word all of the time - by writing speeches, landing page copy, job descriptions, thought-leadership content, business proposals, social media posts, etc. But how do you develop this skills if it hasn't been a priority for you? 

The best writers (and entrepreneurs) are voracious readers, so before you develop your own style you need to get into a habit of consuming the work of other writers, but the best way to get better at it yourself is to start writing every opportunity that you get. 

In this episode we discuss four main tactics for becoming a better writer: 

1) Write about what you know or care about

2) Get critical feedback on your writing early on

3) Pick a medium or format for your writing (like long form essays) to create constraints around the type of writing that you do

4) Make your writing public

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Almost all sources of conflict stem from someone feeling like they're not being heard. Sometimes this is knowingly perpetuated by two sides that are proactively unwilling to make concessions but other times we unknowingly ignore warning signs that a conflict is escalating.

In this episode we discuss two cases - a prisoner of war negotiation highlighted in Chris Voss' book Never Split The Difference and a story of a founder dealing with a partner that wasn't pulling his weight.

In both cases resolution was only achieved once the source of the problem was actively acknowledged, validating the concerns of the other side, and achieving the coveted "that's right" response.

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Many entrepreneurs prioritize building a great product that people want but fewer prioritize building a great team that allows your business to grow. In this episode we talk about the importance of developing a business that's designed to work even when you're not working on it. The only way to achieve this is to move away from being an individual contributor and becoming a manager and leader that learns to effectively delegate.

This comes down to two fundamental principles. 

1) Having the right people in place

2) Investing the time upfront before you delegate 

Tune in to learn about the character traits you should look for in the talent you recruit and the preparation required to set them up for success. 

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Most of us assume that taking a step back in our career can be a fatal move but in reality it can actually help you skip several steps quickly. 

This week we decided to feature a story that was shared by sales influencer Kevin Dorsey (KD) during a live class at School16 about how taking a pay cut and a demotion in title ended up catapulting his career in technology sales, leading him to become a VP of Sales just a few years after he started working in tech. 

KD explains how he was able to take on responsibilities that weren't part of his job description to quickly get promoted to management and leadership roles and why having the confidence to take on a more junior role ended up paying off in the long run.

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One of the greatest misconceptions about career progression is that the consequences of our choices should always be predictable and linear. It’s this thinking that creates risk averse decision making for fear of irreversible outcomes, potentially closing you off to opportunities that could lead to something you can not yet foresee. Over the last few weeks we’ve had several people come to us expressing trepidation in making the right choice in the next step of their career. To help anyone else that might be going through this, we reshaped this question to three simple prompts:

1) What are the soft and hard skills you can learn to fill your own skills gap?

2) Where do you need to grow your network, whether it’s industry or expertise based?

3) Is this next step helping you level up in a measurable and significant way?

What should also help inform your decision is the understanding that most careers today are not linear and that the old way of deciding the next step in your career does not fit the model of the new economy.

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When you're just starting out it's easy to get caught up in what your competition is doing because naturally they're further along than you. But once you learn that your competition isn't perfect and that there's likely a lot about their business that could be improved upon, start focusing on the opportunity instead of fixating on your relative position in the market. 

In this episode we discuss the true benefit of being a nimble startup and why young companies constantly beat out incumbent competitors. When you don't have to worry about a public track record, existing investors, or a large set of existing customers that require your attention you can move in any direction you want on a dime. So, don't make the mistake of worrying about the competition at the expense of action. Your ability to act fast is what will pull you ahead of them in the long run.

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