Never underestimate the little guy.
Back in my all-boys middle school in Dublin we used to pick on each other relentlessly. I remember one boy who had made some remarks about me in front of the class. I was born in England by happen-chance which wasn’t looked upon kindly in 1980’s Dublin, so I found myself the target of many such attacks. The mouthy red-head was about 6 inches shorter than me so I felt confident I could take him at a later time when the teachers weren’t watching over us.
The following Saturday I was walking with my brother in the neighborhood when I spotted him across the street. This was my opportunity to exact revenge for his insults and also show off to my big brother, so I called him out. He refused to engage, pointing out that my brother would defend me. Feeling momentarily dominant I called him a ‘chicken’ and strutted off down the road with my chest puffed out.
A couple days later I was at school walking across the yard from the gymnasium to my math class when out of nowhere someone jumped on my back like a spider monkey. I lost balance and fell to the ground. Before I could writhe myself into a defensive position my head was getting bashed repeatedly into the concrete.
Finally a teacher came to pull the savage little red-head off my back. When I got up I was bleeding profusely from one eyebrow and had two lumps the size of walnuts on my head. That was one of the most important lessons I have ever learned ... never underestimate the little guy.
What that feisty scrapper lacked in height, he made up for in preparation and execution. He knew my routine and waited in the perfect spot to pounce on me when I would least expect it. That was the last time I was ever taken by surprise, and from that day forward I picked my battles carefully.
When I first joined ServiceNow as an associate solution consultant we were mostly unknown and fairly new to the space. We were the little guy. Colleagues would often jump in and do work way out of scope of their job descriptions in order to get things done and create happy customers. We had a roll-your-sleeves up attitude which fortunately I still see today in many of my colleagues.
We would often end up at fiercely competitive meetings where we were pitted against the dominant 800 pound gorilla in the market. Why did we win most of those deals? Because we prepared exhaustively and listened to our customers’ needs rather than simply dictating to them what the solution was going to be.
Now that?ServiceNow is?grown up and?has?become a big player in a market?surrounded by smaller start-ups, I always remind myself of that feisty red head when going into competitive engagements. I could swagger into the meeting brandishing the recognized name, and risk getting caught off guard; or I could choose to be humble, listen carefully to the customer’s needs, and keep a close eye on the little guy who has been secretly doing push-ups behind the gym.
“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” ― Abraham Lincoln