"You're what?" he said, shock registering, peppered with disapproval. "You own two companies. Every time you travel, you make a fortune. How can you turn down speaking gigs?!? If you're so serious about philanthropy, why don't you just hire someone to run your foundation, so you can build up an endowment? Give four talks and you've paid your director's salary for the year!"
I've been struggling with this a bit myself. After all, though arguably successful, it isn't like we own a helicopter or anything - my definition of "rich." We aren't rich yet.
Meanwhile, he's right: I have been turning down business quite a bit lately. When possible, I line up another customer service expert to do the training. The thing is, a lot of potential clients want Jane or me in particular - after all, we're the authors. When we take a pass, many times the deal is off. So... well, my pal is right about that. I should do this philanthropy thing as a hobby, rather than making it my (completely unpaid) day job.
Well, yes and no. I'm giving myself an education, and that's never free. While I know a thing or two about business - and it is proving quite valuable in this new endeavor - I'm completely new to the nonprofit realm. I'm teaching myself the ropes.
I'm also new to Naples. I couldn't imagine a better way to meet my neighbors, to immerse myself in the community. I am quickly becoming one of the most connected men in this wonderful little town, simply because I'm in the mix fifty hours a week or more.
Chairing the CAN Ride is teaching me how to throw a fundraiser. Modest as this one will surely be, I'll be able to undertake the next event with a running start. I'll have a great Rolodex of sponsors, donors, and volunteers - and I'll know who not to bother. I'll be able to guide my team in all of their efforts. As Naples Social Action grows to national prominence under the moniker Local Social Action, I'll be able to draw off of this experience, and I'll thank myself for it. You can only start something once.
I'm a big proponent of a boss' getting his hands dirty, and knowing the job his subordinates are doing as well as they do. That has helped Coine Language School tremendously - we wouldn't be the leader we are without it. Ditto with Coine Training. This is Six Sigma in action. If Jack Welch likes it, it probably makes sense to at least give it a try.
Then there's that intangible but all-important aspect of this adventure: it's fun. I'm having a very, very good time. Perhaps this is a selfish pleasure, and I'm indulging myself. But I don't care. I haven't done door-to-door sales... well, ever. Even as a salesman in my mid-twenties, I was higher on the ladder than that. Walking into a storefront and asking the owner for sponsorship of a good cause is really neat. And every day, I make more friends, and more connections, and learn all sorts of cool things about our community that I'd probably never know if I kept traveling.
Barring a truck's running me down, I figure I only have forty more years of work in me. I want to enjoy every one of those years. And changing the world, making it a significantly better place for all mankind... no other work matters once you've started such an undertaking.
If The Coine Foundation is going to end poverty through education - and it will, just watch - its leader will have to know what he's doing. He'll have to be an expert. If Naples Social Action is going to transform how philanthropy is done, again, its leader can't be a dilettante.
I like to start things. To master them like no one else. To hand them off to outstanding people and then help those people as they continue to develop the organization. Can I run two companies and two nonprofits as each becomes a global player? Of course not!
But running things yourself isn't what leaders do. Developing and mentoring leaders is what leaders do. I know this because I've spoken to a few thousand leaders by now. I teach what they've taught me, and now other successful leaders pay me plenty to share my knowledge with them.
Here's how you build any great organization:
1. Be an expert yourself. Learn by doing.
2. Work out the kinks. Make mistakes and learn from them.
3. Recruit the absolute best people you can find.
4. Develop those outstanding people to become phenomenal leaders themselves.
5. Get out of the way and let them do their magic.
6. Advise as necessary.
7. Never forget this most important of all rules of success: HAVE FUN. And make sure everyone else is, too.
Repeat this aloud several times daily:
"A leader's job is to make himself obsolete."
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