About two weeks ago, while my son was taking a much needed shower, the pilot light on my water heater went out. My son is 12, so pretty much any shower he takes is much needed. For the handyman/woman inclined, this is clearly not a huge problem; however, when you have a paralyzing fear of imposing, fire laden objects as I do, this presents a huge problem. I’ve always been deathly afraid of large boilers, industrial ovens, pretty much anything that breathes fire. Given I didn’t want to take a cold shower that day, and “Joe the Plumber” was too busy with his new found fame, I decided now was the time to confront my fear and attempt to light the pilot on my own.I drove to my local neighborhood hardware store and spoke with the Methuselah of the place, Roger. Roger has been there since 1927. I figured he would have the sagest advice on lighting my pilot light without blowing up half a city block in the process. I returned home, read the directions on my water heater (per Roger’s wise counsel), double checked that my insurance policy was paid up, prayed to the God’s of Fire that they not pour out their wrath up me, and armed myself with a flash light and candle lighter. The inside of the water heater was this collage of eerie looking, dark iron plates and tubes. I reached inside with my candle lighter and clicked on the light. Nothing happened. Click. Nothing again! Click, a third time. Then, suddenly the pilot light had lit and the water heater roared with the sound of fire rolling back into its belly. Mind you my heart was in my throat the entire time, but now it was beating with a sense of pure triumph. I screamed out “I DID IT! I DID IT!” and then proceeded to do “The Happy Dance” around my garage. OK… like none of you have done “The Happy Dance”? My only audience was the dog, who seemed equally excited but clearly had no clue what I had just achieved. I had overcome the creepy looking insides of the water heater, past the cobwebs, dusty tubes and grates and lit my pilot light.
What drove me to overcome this fear; to grab the water heater by its horns and face this beast head on? Necessity! The necessity to take a hot shower, have hot water for the dishwasher, washing machine, and cleaning. All too often we’re thrown into a situation that pushes us outside of our comfort zone; that completely terrifies us. Frequently we go kicking and screaming, knowing deep inside it’s the best thing for us.
I’ve recently been challenged by my client to hire an R&D Director. Mind you, R&D Directors are few and far between. I’d probably have better luck finding a leprechaun with a pet unicorn. As part of my sourcing strategy it became necessary to call R&D experts in major organizations in an attempt to network with them; and if the Recruitment Gods saw fit, even hire one of them. I have no problem cold calling candidates, but to call experts and try to get a few minutes of their time to network with me, when there’s truly nothing in it for them, made me shy away from the task. All I could think about were the hang ups or irritated, brusque responses from those I had to call. Knowing the deep necessity to fill this position, and because I like having money to pay my mortgage, I knew I needed to overcome any silly fears I had about being rejected by the R&D experts of corporate America. Much to my surprise as I started making calls I came to realize that the R&D experts were truly that, experts; experts at networking. They were professional and courteous and didn’t make feel rushed. I was able to speak their language and garnered not only their attention, but their respect. One gentleman spent 30 minutes on the phone with me going through his rolodex. At least 7 people I spoke with said they wanted to forward the job description on to their networks. I noticed that I was actually enjoying speaking with my contacts. I was learning more about the R&D industry as a whole, I was able to brand my client and they now had my name and contact information. The best call was when I was speaking with the president of an R&D firm and at the end of the call he informed me that he was good friends with my client’s National R&D Partner and that he’d put in a good word for me. I told him it wasn’t necessary, but was thrilled to know that by overcoming my fear of calling such high level experts I was making headway in filling my opening.
I’d like to challenge you over the next month to face a professional fear you have. Maybe it’s the fear of cold calling, networking, taking on a new project, or perhaps, the fear of failure. Whatever it is, push the negative thoughts prohibiting you from getting your professional pilot lights lit. Face your fear head on and then do your happy dance once you’ve set that baby ablaze.
copyright 2008
