Interested. Interesting.
I never meant to run anything.
The facts suggest, somehow, I’ve been responsible for hitting pay roll on time for people who chose to stand by my side for 20+ years now.
From 4 people out of a house to 90 people in downtown San Diego, each courageous organism I’ve tried to lead varied from one another. What has not been different have been the traits of the people who have jumped in with us.
I can only sum up those expert thinkers as being:
1) Interested
2) Interesting
The brilliant innovator Albert Einstein once shared, “I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.”
While we can debate Einstein’s humble musing, what separates special people doing special things from the rest is the joy one feels when they’re engaged in something they deem worth paying attention to. It’s not a chore; but an endeavor they enjoy on the regular. Like a detective on the prowl for the truth, the quest of the questions leads to more learning. And the more they learn, the more they gain energy for doing so. Or to share from another brilliant innovator, I am reminded of Da Vinci’s, “Learning never exhausts the mind.”
Not surprisingly, those who sustain being interested are often interesting.
One of the most talented individuals I’ve worked with in this lifetime was Scott “Scojo” Johnson.
When someone first suggested I meet ScoJo, they struggled to describe him and simply said, “You have to meet ScoJo.” They were right. ScoJo loved ’80s heavy metal, wore sunglasses to client meetings, and was a profound writer based in San Diego, not LA, SF, or NY. He was unapologetically himself.
ScoJo played by different rules, deeply caring about his craft while disregarding the norm. He was both interested and interesting. He wasn’t trying to stand out for the sake of standing out; it just who he was.
Being interested lead ScoJo to always being prepared.
Being interesting lead to ScoJo’s welcomed elevated perspective.
ScoJo was taken from us far too soon in 2020 from cancer. But his lasting effect on me lives on today.
When we look to hire, outside of roles like accountants and controllers, we are always on the lookout for individuals who are both interested and interesting. Keep this in mind as you build your resume, website, and social media profiles. Often, we come across candidates who try to present themselves as “smart” with a flawless resume that highlights their “interested” qualities. However, these candidates often miss the opportunity to stand out by not showcasing what makes them “interesting.” If you don’t put effort into differentiating yourself from others, you might find yourself lost in the all-too-common sea of sameness.
I’ve always been a fan of the rule of threes. Maybe admitting that makes me a little less interesting! When helping people “fit out” like Scojo, I recall Ralph Waldo Emerson’s words:
“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.”
