Not
too long ago John Doerr gave a talk at my alma mater. If you do not
know who Doerr is, he is a self-made billionaire. John started
working at Intel in 1974. And, since 1980, he has been with the
venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.
At
KPCB Doerr has backed companies such as Google, Amazon, Intuit, and
Sun Microsystems. Quite the pedigree, wouldn't you say? And yet, Doerr's
demeanor is remarkably down-to-earth.
So,
what was the advice? What did Mr. Doerr talk about that day at Cal? Many things, of course. But, a couple things, in particular, grabbed
my attention.
Below
the title of my blog you can see a quote from the great Tom Peters.
I love that quote because it is so matter-of-fact. Yet it is
profoundly important. That day, at Berkeley, Doerr echoed Peters's
sentiment.
Throughout
the talk Doerr gave a lot of good advice. At one point he says, “If
you are going to be the CEO and a founder of a company (aka an
entrepreneur) I think you should learn how to sell.” Sounds exactly
like Peters.
Doerr
continued, “You really ought to learn how to get orders. If you
don't find customers, and customers are going to pay for what you are
doing, you are going to fail.” He sure did not hedge on that one! If you do not know how to sell, you are going to fail. Hey! That
rhymed!! I think I shall use it more often...
From
an entrepreneurial perspective John spoke of the importance of
learning leadership and management. The importance of building and
leading a team. And, if you do not think leadership entails selling,
you are fooling yourself.
He
also said, “Whatever the stage of your development, I think it is
really important to always network. To develop personal and lifelong
networks.” We always hear a lot about the importance of networking.
But, what does it mean, really?
Well,
networking is relationship building, and it requires the exchange of
value. Everybody wants to network but nobody wants to pick up the damn phone. Doerr did not specifically say that. But, he did say, “Have
the confidence to cold call anybody that matters to you.”
Hey!
Good news! If you are reading this blog, there is a fair chance that
I cold-called YOU!! Related to networking, and cold-calling, John
recommends that we locate and cultivate mentors. This is tough
because a lot of people think a mentor is like a sensei in a dojo.
It
does not really work that way. If someone is willing to “take you
under their wing,” do not take that cliché too literally.
Mentoring tends to occur, here-and-there, on-the-fly. You are not
going to move into the person's house.
Doerr also recommends that we get good at public speaking. He said, “I think
people are judged by their ability to think, and speak, on their
feet, more than any other skill.” Strong words!
The
way I figure, it generally does not hurt to listen. Here are a few snippets, of
the audio, from the talk: Click here.
