We recently received a note from a young man in Maine, Owen McCarthy, who works as an account rep for Ashland Hercules Water Technologies. “I am writing to you today to sincerely thank you for writing the book The Go Giver,” he began. “This book has reaffirmed everything I have been trying to do in my life since a young age. I am so passionate about the Five Laws I have now referred it to more than fifty people.
“Most recently, I encouraged my whole sales team to read the book. They did, and now it has become commonplace for them to quote it when making decisions on a daily basis. It has completely changed the culture of the team and I know will lead to long term success. I one day plan to be an executive of a Fortune 500 company — and I will owe a lot of that success to your book.”
We thanked him and said we were curious how his team uses the book’s ideas at work. Here is his reply.
The Go-Giver is the single most powerful book on the market. I read it about a year ago and have ever since been spreading the word aggressively, in both my personal and professional life. In terms of impact I’ve seen this book have on those around me, two specific stories come to mind.
As background: I work as a technical sales representative for Ashland Inc., a Fortune 500 specialty chemicals company. My sales territory is covered by a team of five people. Earlier this summer, I introduced the book to four out of the five people on the team. It was amazing! After reading the book, each of them began to reference the book when making decisions.
For example, my supervisor was working recently with a customer to improve the safety of their facility. The customer had asked that we provide them with a piece of chemical feed equipment that added to the safety of the facility. The issue was that the equipment would severely cut into the profit of the chemical being provided. Normally, my supervisor would have insisted the customer pay for the equipment; however, in this instance he decided to give it to them. He told me that the pivotal point during the negotiation was when his mind started recalling the story of Pindar and Joe in The Go-Giver.
The second story involves the inspiration that The Go-Giver has given me and two of my colleagues, James Morin and Matt Ciampa. After reading the book, the three of us decided we wanted to find a macro way to be a connector and give to a cause that we are the most passionate about. The result was the creation of the UMaine Business Challenge (UBC), to be held annually starting in the spring of 2012.
The UBC is a one-day business competition with the goal of giving collegiate entrepreneurs the support to transform their business dreams into a reality. In parallel, the competition strives to contribute to the long-term growth of Maine’s economy and the mission of the University of Maine as a partner with the state of Maine. We feel that this competition clearly embodies all five Laws of Stratospheric Success, and would not have been created without the inspiration provided by your book.
Owen is too modest to mention this, but we will: a recent graduate of the University of Maine, he also served there as student body president (serving nearly nine thousand students) and concurrently CEO of the University of Maine Student Government, where he oversaw a budget of about $800,000 and had the responsibility for creating a shared vision and leading an organization of seventy-five people. Here’s what one of those seventy-five says about him:
“Owen was an incredible team leader. What draws people to Owen is his strong sense of professionalism and passion for all that he is involved in. He is incredibly reliable and is able to see the big picture without forgetting the importance of small details. When working for Owen I always felt supported and inspired. I thoroughly enjoyed working with him and would jump at the chance to work with him again!”
We have a feeling this young man will indeed be executive of his own company!
