Before we begin BIG SHOUT OUT TO ALL OF OUR VETS!! THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE

I had a chance encounter last week that turned out to be enormously fruitful.

But I get ahead of myself.

There are two small lunch shops near my office. One is a regular sandwich shop, done up in neutral colors, and serves the typical fare. The staff is inside, waiting for patrons, and takes their orders.

The other is brightly decorated with the cook and kitchen on display in the front window. It has Latin music playing and often has happy staff members on the street offering empanadas, mini tacos, and other samples of the food they serve.

Which one do you think does better? Which one has more opportunities to make money (people in the store, seeing other happy people and other things to buy with their lunch)?

Some of us are like the Latin place open and outgoing, while others are like the sandwich shop waiting for folks to come to us. Whichever you are is OK as long as it suits you.

In my line of work, speaking, selling, fundraising, I need to all Latin music and free empanadas wherever I go.

So, about my chance encounter. I was walking down east 45th street in light rain. I had my umbrella up, and when I got to the light on Lex, a young, umbrella-less woman was waiting next to me and, with the crowd of the intersection, wound up partially protected by my umbrella. As we stepped off the curb, we smiled at the serendipity of our unintentionally shared umbrella, so I held it a higher and wider so that it better protected both of us. Then I asked how far she was walking. She said, “to the UN.” I asked if she were brokering a peace deal, but she said no, she was meeting a friend for lunch. I asked what she did when she wasn’t hanging out at the UN and learned that she is a doctor currently doing research. I inquired further, and she told me she was doing research in oncology but just for now. “Just for now?” I asked. “What’s next for you?” She said she wants to go into hematology. Most of you know about my 35-year affiliation with the Cooley’s Anemia Foundation. Still, you may not know that one of the most significant challenges we have is attracting hematologists to work in the field.

I told her a little about the foundation and handed her my card as we reached our parting point.

So what are the chances, in a city with millions of people walking about, that I’d meet a budding hematologist looking to practice in the field? Zero if I’m closed and pretty damn good if I’m open.

Own Your Sales Gene…