X+Y.
CEO @ Pavilion | Co-Host of Topline Podcast | Join Top GTM Execs at Pavilion's GTM2024 | October 14-16 2024 | Austin, TX | Get Your Tickets Now
In 2004, I walked into my boss’s office to ask for feedback. “You’re doing fine,” he said. But that wasn’t the truth… “Fine? I don’t want to be doing fine. I want to be doing great!” “Well, Sam, here’s the thing. When I ask you for something, say X. You give me X. You give me exactly what I asked for. But you know what would be great? It’d be great if you took a minute to think about why I asked for X what X meant, and all the other things that might come out of getting X and then took it upon yourself to deliver those things as well. You can call them Y. So that when I asked for X, you delivered X + Y, and didn’t make me have to ask for them.” 💡 There’s moments in your life when you realize you’ve been doing it all wrong. In that moment, you feel vulnerable, ashamed, embarrassed. But in the long term, they are some of the most valuable experiences you’ll have in your life. Even if they’re tiny. That was one of those moments for me. Since then, X+Y has been a core part of what I tell up-and-coming professionals. If all you do is what’s asked of you, you’ll be replaced by robots sooner or later. If you anticipate, if you take on more, if you look for new opportunities to make yourself indispensable, that’s how you make it to the top. X+Y.