How 15 Years Ago A Cup of Coffee Changed My Life

A cup of coffee changed my life forever. Sounds crazy right?

It was 2006 and I had just graduated with honors from the University of California, Santa Cruz with a dual B.A. in business management economics and psychology.

I was VERY excited to join the corporate world.

My plan was simple. Get a good job, work hard, go back to school to get my MBA, and then climb the corporate ladder to be an executive at a company like Coca-Cola or IBM.

Simple right? Nothing went according to plan.

My first job out of college was working for a technology company in Southern California. When I interviewed there I was told that I would be working on all sorts of amazing projects, meeting with business leaders, traveling the country, and changing the world.

Just what I wanted!

In fact, I was willing to forgo my 3 hour daily commute to and from work to be a part of this great company.

A few months into my job I was stuck doing data entry, cold-calling, and powerpoint presentations.

One day, an executive comes out of his nice corner office and says, "Jacob, I have some really important I need you to do!" Naturally I got excited and I ran over to him. I figured I paid my dues and my time has finally come.

"What is it?" I asked.

He took out his wallet and handed me a $10 bill. "I'm late for a meeting and I need you to run to Starbucks and get me a cup of coffee, and get something for yourself as well."

I was crushed...deflated...demoralized...and forever disengaged.

That was one of the last full-time jobs I ever had working for anyone else. I realized at that moment that something about work and leadership was and is broken.

I didn't know at the time but that experience would set me on my current path of helping create organizations where we genuinely want to show up and developing leaders who we want to work with and that's what I've been doing ever since.

A few years ago I was speaking at a conference and a business leader came up to and asked...

"What do I need to do now and teach my leaders now, so that they can be prepared to lead in the future?"

I certainly had my ideas and theories about this but I decided to see if I could find any books or research studies that tackled this. After all, the world is changing quickly and what worked in the past is not going to work in the present (or the future for that matter).

While there is a lot of great content on leadership, sadly, I couldn't find much content or research on The Future Leader.

What I did find was mainly based on a few stories, anecdotes, or observations, but it didn't feel concrete.

So, I set off to try to create something unique. I wanted to answer a very basic question, "will the leader of the future look that different than the leader of today, and if so, how?"

To answer that question I wanted to interview the world's top business leaders who are shaping their organizations, society, and the world at large. I wasn't sure how many CEOs would agree to speak with me, maybe 10? 20? 30 if I was lucky?

I was very fortunate that over 140 of the world's top CEOs agreed to speak with me. CEOs from companies like Oracle, Unilever, Audi, Mastercard, Best Buy, Verizon, Kaiser, KPMG, and dozens of others.

I was am also grateful for LinkedIn's partnership - together we surveyed nearly 14,000 employees around the world to see how employee perspectives align with CEO insights.

What emerged is the most comprehensive and in-depth research project I've ever come across which looks at the trends shaping leaders, the greatest challenges leaders must overcome, the mindsets that leaders need to embrace, and the skills that leaders need to master.

Who would have ever thought that a cup of coffee would have set me on this current path nearly 15 years ago?

Today, my community is large enough (over 100,000 LinkedIn newsletter subscribers alone!) where we can collectively make a difference in the world.

To create organizations we are all want to show up, and to develop leaders who we all want to work with.

If you have gotten value from my content over the years I'd love it if you consider grabbing a copy of the book for yourself and your team. Here are some quick purchase links for you:

Amazon (available for any Amazon geography, also available on Kindle)

Books-A-Million

Bookshop.org (Supports independent bookstores)

Barnes & Noble

Porchlight Books (great for bulk copies)

If you do end up getting a copy please let me know in the comments so that I can thank you personally. If you're interested in large bulk copies for your team please email me, Jacob@TheFutureOrganization.com.

2020 has clearly been a tough year for everyone. But it's been amazing to see how many people around the world are using this tough time as an opportunity to invest in their own personal growth and development.

I appreciate all of your support. I know that together we can make change happen. Life is short, we all deserve to work for organizations and with leaders who help build us up and make us more successful.

We need more Future Leaders and that starts with you.

Lead on!

Jacob

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