Doers Who Are Givers: Helping People and Becoming Successful

Here are three stories that illustrate people helping one another, good things happening, and bright, energetic young people taking the lead.

Brittany Skoda
Six years ago, when my wife, Leland, was the head coach of Georgetown’s women’s golf program, she recruited Brittany Skoda, an extremely talented nationally ranked junior golfer. Just as Brittany arrived, Leland had to take long-term disability leave and could no longer coach.

Without Leland to coach her, she withdrew from the golf program and instead focused on academics and extra curricular activities. Even though she couldn’t golf, Brittany dove headlong into all that Georgetown had to offer. She joined several academic clubs and developed a passion for the learning opportunities that were available to her. Brittany, a doer, took full advantage of Georgetown’s offerings.

After graduation, Brittany joined Goldman Sachs. A year later, she asked if I would help a friend, Lily Cua, a Junior in the business school who was on the board of the local chapter of “85 Broads”. 85 Broads was the address of Goldman Sachs’ home office in New York City. A group of women had formed an informal club years ago to help and encourage one another at Goldman Sachs and subsequently in the financial services field. This informal club grew and expanded and, last I heard, has 20,000 members around the world and a great many chapters, including at a number of colleges. Brittany, a helper, went out of her way to assist her friend, Lily.

Lily Cua
This year, Lily, also one to take full advantage of academic opportunities, invited me to speak with members of Compass Partners, a very impressive and high-energy group of students with a passion for socially responsible entrepreneurship. Lily, also a doer, jumped right on the opportunity to ask me to present to the Compass Partners group, with the hope that I could add value and that it would help their learning and growth.

Rob Dunn
After I spoke to the group, several of the students contacted me to discuss what I had presented, essentially principles to succeed in business. I had several interesting, and I hope worthwhile, conversations. One young man who was in touch with me was Rob Dunn, a Junior in the business school.

It turns out that Rob, in addition to his academics, his involvement with Compass Partners and I’m not sure what else, works part time for Leonard Pfeiffer & Company, an executive recruiting firm in D.C. He said he thought Mr. Pfeiffer and I should meet, being that we are both keenly interested in effective leadership at high corporate levels.

The next evening, it occurred to me that a friend, very accomplished and very active within the Georgetown alumni community, is considering a new career opportunity. I emailed Rob, explained the situation. He got right back to me, asked me to send him more info, and that he would be in the firm’s office the next morning to discuss it with Mr. Pfeiffer, which he did. Leonard Pfeiffer was in touch with me later that day. It turns out they did not have specific ideas in this case, but it wasn’t for a lack of trying. Rob Dunn jumped at the opportunity to help someone. He, too, is a doer.

Leonard Pfeiffer
Leonard Pfeiffer and I met one morning, had a great conversation about success in business – especially the need to be a great listener and for extremely hard work.

There is no easy way to make a living today. It’s sweat equity – long hours surely, and also being a great team member, knowing what is expected, needed and wanted from us and from our colleagues and our company. Please see my post Earning That Promotion!

I had a great talk with Leonard and am very impressed with the successful company he has built. He does it with hard work and lots of breakfast meetings. He finds breakfast meetings a way to spend quality time with people. And he does it by learning exactly what clients want, and delivering to that standard.

While I could write more about Leonard Pfeiffer and how he has built his successful company, my real intent is to highlight that bright young people like Brittany Skoda, Lily Cua and Rob Dunn took initiative and jumped at opportunities to help others. They are doers!

Taking initiative, helping others, being a doer – these are all important principles of success!