4/1/1 Wednesday
4 Random Thoughts, 1 Tool, and 1 Quote
Hey everyone, welcome to February, the month of love! Speaking of love, there was a lot to love about this week’s guest, Faraz Syed, Senior Director in GTM/Sales and Processional Services, North America at Genesys. He shared a lot about what he looks for when hiring for SEs and the different frame of minds that a person should have as an SE.
Listen to our episode with Faraz here.
As you could probably tell, there was a lot that could be taken from this show when we have a guest as accomplished as Faraz on. As a result, this week’s 4/1/1 takes from a lot of the topics we heard about.
4 Random Thoughts From Me:
1- You’re never too young to do great things. Faraz starting a viable company before becoming a teenager was incredible to hear about. And he wasn’t selling lemonade on the curb either, he was doing some pretty technical stuff with some pretty technical customers. Sure, he had some support from his dad and network, but still, to have the drive and tenacity to do something so significant so young is super impressive (and inspirational!).
2- There always the opportunity to get better at something. On that note, while most of us are probably past that ripe age of 13, it also serves as a reminder to mention that it’s never too late to learn or get better at something you want to learn or get better at. Whether it be a new skill or honing an existing one, it’s never too late to become your best self.
3- The importance of inter-departmental communications. We’ve seen it recently with some past guests, but Faraz is another example of a leader whose role by design promotes communication between the pre- and post-sale sides of a business. Additionally, just having better lines of communication between departments (even if they start informally) is a huge step forward for a company as silos will lead to inefficient processes and issues stemming from miscommunication.
4- Have a north star and work towards it – this is the attitude that will build towards your aptitude. When Faraz spoke to what he looks for in hiring, product knowledge, attitude, and aptitude, it was cool to hear that product knowledge was the least important of the three. Those types of skills can always be learned given: you have the attitude to learn, which speaks to your aptitude, which when put together, can result in your knowledge of any topic to reach a high altitude!
1 Tool:
10 Steps to Effective Listening
This tool isn’t really a tool by itself per se but following after Faraz’s distinction between great SEs and the rest being those who can listen well, here is an article from Forbes that breaks down 10 steps to effective listening, so that you can then add it to your “professional toolbox”.
1 Quote:
“Most of the successful people I’ve known are the ones who do more listening than talking.”
–Bernard Baruch
