Author Richard Hinkie featured on the talk show Briggs on Books [10:01-15:06]

I just want to say, hi, I want to find out what they do. Another one is, gee, do you have a mentor? And there are mentor as in big M and there's mentor as in small M. The big M typically is, if you're in a larger organization, maybe the human resources department. We'll say, okay, you know, yeah, we're going to assign you one, right? But small M mentor is a situation where, no, you just kind of look around, you know, and maybe you go ask for advice over here or whatever. So either way, you've got kind of a coach now, right? And you can ask them questions and they can advise you. And I can tell you a story that nearly cost me my job once upon a time. I like these stories. And I was an up and coming manager, the younger of them, and I was in charge of sales. And I was depending on two more senior people. Probably old enough to be my dad, actually. One was in charge of public relations, the other was in charge of marketing and advertising. And they weren't giving me what I needed. So in a staff meeting, I hit through on the table in front of the mall and said, look, you're not giving you what I need. I went out and bought what I need from other vendors outside the company. Well, you can imagine the vice president of the room. He wasn't happy. These two guys weren't happy at all. And there was another vice president in the room from a different place. And he called me aside after the meeting. He said, you know, you dug yourself a big hole here. This didn't go well. And everybody in the room knows they're going to work for you someday. They knew that well. But you just told them they were incompetent. So how's that going to go down the road, right? Well, that guy became a mentor to me for the next 10 years. And I knew I could talk to him. And I knew he would invite me. Okay. So not enough about me. But I mean, there are stories like that about mentoring that really matter on the other side. Another thing is, you know, you want a better reputation? Trust your employees. Treat them openly, honestly, and they will buzz about you to other people. Volunteer for charitable organizations. You know, I was a Boy Scout leader. I was a Habitat for Humanity Committee, those kind of things. The other folks that helped me contribute to the book. All did those kind of things. And then another quicky thing is, you know, if let's say you're the head IT person or you're in the IT department, and you want to build some relationships, well, probably your organization belongs to some kind of regional or national association, meaning your organization. I was in the energy industry. So my utility was part of the American Gas Association, right? So I could get involved with them and be with my peers from other companies across the country. And then they could give me advice because it didn't cost them anything and we weren't competitors, right? So there's that. And then I guess the last thing is, you know, Rotary Club, Lions Club, Postmasters, those kind of things, there are people in those groups that know folks in your organization. So that's just... Everybody should be in a service club, probably. If you want to move up and become known, I guess you should be in a service club. Yeah, absolutely. And then another benefit besides getting, you know, word out about who you are. I mean, there was a guy who volunteered to help run the golf tournament. And, you know, he had plenty to do, but he was going to try to get people to sign up for whole sponsors, you know, put a sign up on whole number six that belonged to XYZ organization, right? He did a really good job. And so the guy that was organizing the golf tournament for this big charity happened to know this gentleman's president. And the president of this gentleman's company, and the guy that he did all this work for, happened to have a coffee. And the guy that organized the big thing said, you know, Joe is really an outstanding guy. And he performs well. And the president, the Joe workforce, and I don't even know who Joe is. Tell me about it. So there's an example of how this works. How that works, right? Now you're talking about those people who like to go to work and just sit there and get their work done and get home. Are you not talking about those people? No, I mean, I understand that, believe me. Even theoretically, as a writer now and an investigator and all the rest, there are times when I'd like to say,