Mike Silvestro, a former walk-on soccer participant on the prestigious Notre Dame College, says that a few of the finest concepts he’s applied in enterprise have come from listening to his purchasers, understanding their wants and utilizing their enter to resolve essential issues.
He recollects one event when he was instructed that his Ohio-based Flexjet employees didn’t have the sophistication of its prospects. Whereas it’s true that an worker making $25 an hour could not have the identical way of life as a non-public jet consumer, Silvestro determined he may do one thing to enhance his firm. As an alternative of accepting the criticism and saying, “That’s simply who we’re,” he initiated a program the place his gross sales group may spend 36 hours residing like their purchasers.
“We developed a coaching program the place we took a bunch of our customer support of us and put them on considered one of our airplanes,” defined the previous gridiron gladiator in a current Company Competitor podcast. “We stayed in a single day at a five-star resort, had dinner, wined and dined, after which flew dwelling.”
The end result? Hand-written notes from his workers who participated within the coaching train, thanking him for the eye-opening expertise—notes that Silvestro nonetheless retains at this time.
That transient experiment allowed Flexjet’s employees to know the lofty expectations that their prospects carry onboard when selecting to fly with the corporate. It offered priceless perception that allowed them to do their jobs that a lot better. Not solely was it a as soon as in a lifetime expertise for his employees, it was an excellent instance of listening after which going above and past the decision of responsibility.
Nevertheless it wasn’t exhausting for Silvestro to go that further mile. His work ethic will be traced again to his days as a walk-on at Notre Dame, the place he was anticipated to undertake the exhausting work of this system but in addition obtain little to no glory on the sector. These classes in grit, humility and teamwork formed how he leads.
Certainly, the previous school teammate of Joe Montana shared that and different insights on the podcast, together with:
• Flip private wins into shared victories. In case you have an excellent day, make it some extent to share that feeling along with your complete group, he says. That means “everybody can get pleasure from it and really feel proud.”
• Overcommunicate. Even for those who don’t have all of the solutions, the previous D-1 athlete says, it’s vital to share what’s in your thoughts and say what you’re considering. “Leaders,” Silvestro notes, “can fall into the journey of considering they should have all of the solutions each single day.”
• Construct belief. In any profitable group, tradition is paramount. However, says Silvestro, whose 1979 Notre Dame group received the hallowed Cotton Bowl in last-second style, you’ll be able to’t have a robust tradition with out belief.
