When I Larry Pothast and Mike Kennedy walked into my office on a cool spring day in April of 1984. Larry and Mike worked for the Bank of San Francisco in the marketing and finance departments. The appointment had been on my calendar for two weeks; they wanted to introduce us to a new program the bank was using. Okay fine. I was always willing to listen. I believe that managers are too quick to dismiss the input and ideas of other people. In fact, keeping an open mind to new ideas can't be overestimated. How many times have you hung up on a salesman or said, "Take me off your call list," even before you've heard what they have to say?

Hard I have a rule of thumb: if a salesman has the guts to call me, I always do him the courtesy of listening. If he or she leaves a message, I call back. I never know what I might hear. And Larry and Mike were the perfect example. Had I not invited them into my office that day, my career path may have gone in a completely different direction. (Read more)