Today is Tuesday, so this post is on positive personal impact.
I went to college at Penn State. When I was there from 1968 to 1972, Joe Paterno was -- and still is -- the head football coach there. Last Saturday, he missed only his second game in 40 years. The previous week, he was hurt – a broken fibula and ligament damage – when a Penn State player was tackled into him as he stood on the side line. He watched the game on TV from his home.
As I was thinking about Joe Pa (as he’s called at Penn State, and pretty much everywhere in the college football) on Saturday, I remembered a time I ran into him in New York about 10 years ago.
I was walked on Sixth Avenue near Radio City Music Hall, when I looked up and saw a small man in a navy blue toggle coat coming towards me. As soon as I saw the coat and thick glasses, I recognized Joe Paterno. As we approached one another, I said, “Joe, Bud Bilanich, Penn State class of ’72.” He stopped and we shook hands.
He asked what I was doing in New York, and then said, “Bud, right”. I said “yes”, and told him I was there for business. As it turns out, he was there for the ESPY Awards show which had been held the previous evening at Radio City.
Joe was quite a gentleman. We chatted for about 10 minutes. As we spoke, he would say, things like, “thanks, Bud”, or “well, you know, Bud”, or “Bud…”. He worked my name into almost every sentence.
There’s an old saying, “the sweetest sound to anyone’s ears is his own name.” Joe knows that. He spends a lot of time recruiting – trying to convince the best high school football players to attend Penn State. He must be pretty good at it. He has the third most wins of any college football coach.
Creating an immediate and positive personal impact is key to successful recruiting. One of the ways that Joe Paterno does this is to call people by their names.
Today’s common sense point is simple: call people by their names. They like it, and will appreciate you for it. Joe Paterno does it – and it’s helped him recruit enough good players to win over 360 games.
That’s it for today. Thanks for reading. Log on to my website www.BudBilanich.com for more common sense. Check out my other blog: www.CommonSenseGuy.com for common sense advice on leading people and running a small business.
I’ll see you around the web, and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.
Bud
PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand – my fundraising page is still open. Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.
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