A Love Letter to NYC

By Shaun Skura

Below was written as a social media post to Instagram on June, 23rd, 2016. All Photos throughout were taken by Author

“Dear New York, 

A love letter, I've owed you for far too long... Thank you for all those hard lessons about life, love, & real friendship. Thank you for kicking me while I'm down & showing no remorse. Thank you for spitting in my face and never saying sorry. Thank you for not giving a damn that you made me late from one appointment to the next while laughing in my face with yet another train delay. Thank you for the 8 hours a day I wore my suit in the fiery sauna of your underbelly and for the brutal rain and snow that never seemed to care to the damage done to my vibe, or for that matter, my shoes. Thank you for the hours of relentless traffic from Brooklyn, to Queens, to Staten Island and back home to Manhattan; over the bottleneck clusters of your bridges across the East River. Thank you for the countless dark descents through your network of tunnels from midtown and the Brooklyn-Battery; showing signs of life as I came up to breathe. Thank you for alternate side parking. While we’re on the subject, thank you for the obstacle course parking challenges amongst and between dunes made of snow when there was nowhere else to plow it. Thank you for the umbrella sidewalk wars and the delicate games of chicken with Park Avenue princesses. To that point, thank-you to the graveyard of broken umbrellas that stood no chance to the gale force winds whipping through the channels of your storied architecture. All of these things may seem trivial, however the grind is real...

Today is one of the most monumental days of my life; this is my last official day as a salesman in the World's greatest city. A badge of honor I hold close to my heart and a job I have proven gritty for. I've spent 12 years of my life trying to master the art of influencing others and have perfected the act of celebrating small wins, no matter how big. The following shot was taken on the morning of my last descent to the Lexington Avenue Express Line.

A shout-out to the city that taught me hustle; to the city that made me a better person; and the city I call home. To all of the incredible people who became my teachers living on little islands that make up this crazy place, I am forever in your debt. I've hung up my suit and dropped my briefcase for the last time. No longer will I be clocking 6 miles a day on foot across midtown or running down Madison Ave juggling coffee and avoiding stampedes of school childern. I will be reporting into headquarters and cubicle land for a job I could only dream of, as a performance consultant to our US Sales Leadership.

New York… one last thank you giving me the butt-kicking I needed to get there,

With #love forever ???????? - @thevillagemayor”

It’s been two years since that moment as well as that post. I took a major leap in my professional development on a hunch and a dramatic step out of my comfort zone disguised as a promotion.

During this career pivot into consulting, the limits of who I thought I was were tested.I joined Merck in 2004, through a passion to prove and some good old fashioned networking. I landed my first pharmaceutical sales role in San Diego, CA with our Specialty Neurology franchise. I had excelled through the highest ranks as a sales representative and became a Lead Executive Customer Manager and held multiple roles as a mentor and representative trainer. I have sold over 13 Pharmaceuticals, and 11 Vaccines and juggled multiple brand portfolios and priorities.

Largely, figuring out what I wanted to do with my life has been an exercise in curation and timing. In my current role as a consultant, I am constantly challenging myself to become a leading agent of change during a trans-formative time for this industry. I left my comfortable concrete bubble in NYC which took some coaxing, coaching and one giant leap of faith. It has forever changed the lens I look through the world through, and I have never looked back since. Staying curious is an attribute of mine, for better or worse.

As a child, I grew up in New York [State]; Rochester in fact. I always knew one day, I would end up in “the city”, as so many kids like me had aspired to. I didn’t realize my career would take me to Philadelphia, and then to Southern California before I came back home. I remain open to possibilities and refuse to limit myself. Knowing where you “fit” into an organization as you navigate the jungle gym of your career is half the battle. Through my experience, it’s the best advice I can give.

Discovering “fit” for your next role is a critical step that builds credibility and offers you the opportunity to persuade your interviewer that you are exactly who they’ve been looking for.

The best candidates are those that truly know who they are and are informed about the position they’re going after. They also have strong internal drivers that compel them toward their targets. Their transition is logical; the interviewer doesn’t have to guess how they’ll make the jump or pivot, or worse, question why are you sitting in front of them in the first place.

Some food for thought: How are you going to solve the problems on the desk of the hiring manager for the role you’re interviewing for?

If you can answer this question definitively, you’re already ahead of your competition. Simon Sinek said, “Be competent in your confidence.” Know how your strengths transfer and be fluent when speaking to them. Develop a succinct pitch or better stated, a UVP aka unique value proposition as to who you are; avoid long winded responses and practice. Nailing that introductory pitch when you first sit down to interview is telling, and sets the stage for the remainder. I cannot underscore the importance of this seemingly innocuous intro - The answer is not to summarize your resume and or your life story at your first handshake, but to give the interviewer a reason to dig deeper. Believe me; they have a battery of other questions for you...

When you’re looking for the next role or promotion to pursue, take the time to be introspective and really ask yourself the following questions:

1.   How well do I know myself?

2.   What is my brand?

3.   Do I have an honest, succinct value pitch into what I offer when an interviewer asks the inevitable, “Tell me about yourself…”

These simple things can create major impact if you take the time to know yourself before trying to sell yourself; you’re out of the gates and already ahead of the pack!

What else have I learned since I’ve been here at Headquarters? I’m still gritty, and definitely scrappy to the core. Merck has allowed me to be 100% authentically myself, and also awards opportunity to those who chase it. Largely I’ve been proven wrong as to what I thought working a HQ job would yield or be like. I’ve grown as a trainer, consultant, and peer leader. I forged friendships and built relationships with leaders I never thought I would be on a first name basis with.

This company has allowed me to throw my passion for selling into a developmental assignment with our Global Talent Acquisition team as a recruiter and employer brand ambassador. I’ve also been asked to lead our Next Gen Network’s Intern Mentor Program as the enterprise Mentor lead after I found a passion in developing early talent.

The skills I’ve gained since my first day here have been invaluable and if I had not taken that leap, I would have done an incredible disservice to myself. I look back at the time when I never thought I would leave the sales profession and laugh, as I have been gladly proven wrong.

Opportunities to learn never stop for those that seek them.

 Back to the Love letter thing. New York is a city of 5 boroughs: all unique, beautiful-ugly, and undeniably American. The city is a school and a teacher. A teacher you secretly feared but respected more than any of the others at school. You know the one, the one with the crazy reputation. The one you listened intently to. The one you might have aspired to be one day. Above all and no matter how hard that class got, the one you respected above all others; the one you never forgot…

For those that have never lived in New York City but only visited, it’s an entirely different experience than going to Times Square, grabbing a Nathan’s hot dog and soaring to the top of One World Trade to witness a view that will bring you to tears. Living and visiting New York are two incredibly different adventures. The latter, an indescribable experience of living a life so full and rich, you understand why Frank Sinatra’s sung the words, “If I can make it there…I can make it anywhere.”

Thank you New York for affording me the opportunity to genuinely experience the cultural and cognitive diversity of your streets, A life changing experience on all fronts, it has been an education in and of itself.; To the leaders, managers and mentors in my life without whom I would not be writing this article, I relish the challenge and the ability to continue to show what I'm made of.

Those that saw potential in me and helped me understand that sometimes the best path forward is the one you’d least expect. The late Charles Bukowski so eloquently said, "Wherever the crowd goes, run in the other direction." In my mind, truer words have never been spoken. This is the story of how I got here…

One last shout-out to New York City, the place that made me…

#tireless