What do you want to be when you grow up? Even if you’re 40, even if you’re 75 it doesn’t matter you can still be that person you’ve always dreamed of being someday. The same person you dreamed about becoming back when you were 8 years old.
You see in 2015 at a leadership/sales/personal development conference that I attended I chose a breakout session because I thought the title of that particular talk was a good outlier. I love a good outlier. But that’s not the point. Out of all the talks I could have attended, the one that asked us what we wanted to be when we grow up was the only talk that wasn’t centered around closing a deal, or how to lead. It was something I could relate to. Something I believe we can all relate to.
Think about the question for a second. What do you want to be when you grow up? The speaker that day had us draw a picture with a crayon. Yeah, I guess it’s fair to say I was immediately hooked (you had me at hello)! I have a friend who always says “let me think about that for 10 minutes,” then proceeds to answer immediately. That’s how quickly I went to work with that Crayola and drew my masterpiece. As the time came to stand and present our pictures to the audience there were pictures of firemen, police officers, baseball players, doctors, and then there was mine. I drew a picture of Hulk Hogan. I don’t think the Hulkster was having that great a year back in 2015 but I didn’t care, I wasn’t going to lie. When I was a kid I watched Hulk Hogan body slam Andre the Giant on pay per view during Wrestlemania III. That was my Super Bowl! Before my stellar hockey career (just kidding) and before my dreams of playing soccer in a World Cup, I was pure Hulk-a-maniac brother. Nearly everyday before elementary school my brother and I would wheel the TV stand into the kitchen and eat 4 bowls of Captain Crunch while we watched recorded VHS tapes of WWF wrastling. Big difference by the way between wrestling and wrastling but I won’t get Into that now because I’m not here to argue with you.
As I got older my dreams like so many of us faded. I never did become a pro-wrestler. I’ve been many things but unfortunately that job description never hit my resume…..or did it? As the talk was ending that day the speaker asked us to write down the characteristics of the person we had always dreamed about becoming. I thought to myself, strong, entertaining, creative, looks great in a tight outfit (wait, what?), spontaneous, a leader, I could keep going. The speaker then challenged us to find the differences between the characteristics of who we are now and who we dreamed about being years ago. I may never have been suplexed or pile-drived anyone, but I had several of those same characteristics. By the way, this was a great exercise, we all could benefit from it.
As the Chief Sales Officer for Roofle I am responsible for the customer experience. Meaning I ask and answer questions. So much so that we’ve taken those questions and posted them on our website for everyone to see and understand. And it didn’t start with Roofle, I’ve been asking and answering questions for years. In fact, I’ve interviewed hundreds of people in my profession over the years on and off camera. That’s where it hit me. I guess I’m not Hulk Hogan after all but maybe more like Mean Gene Okerlund. You know Hall of Fame broadcast interviewer/narrator/host and most importantly…entertainer. The voice of the WWF during it’s prime.I think that has a real nice “ring: to it.
In life we all start out with so many dreams. Dreams of becoming something crazy, something only our eight-year-old versions could come up with. That is until we find something truly worth dreaming for.....
